Losing Daylight, My Olde Site Produces Again

Well, once again, the federal-era foundation site yields yet another pre-1820 coin. This time, after about two hours of deep digging and as the sun sets and the mosquitoes set upon me, a coin is located in the side wall to make the dig worthwhile. I ran the detector along the upper walls and heard a good signal near where I knew some tin scrap was lying on the surface.  It sounded too good to ignore so I dug into the wall and the coin simply dropped down in front of me as shown in this blurry video.

This is the 13-star variety of the 1817 which is less rare than the 15-star. In 1817, the Mississippi territory was divided into the Mississippi and Alabama territories. The first Seminole War was begun in this year and the first school for the deaf was established in Connecticut. An interesting year.

Root & Rock Medicine with a dose of Vitamin B

Another hut excavation yields rocks and a few nice artifacts.


Here, my first glass of the hut becomes visible. Using my dig knife vs. the shovel insures that any glass I come across doesn't get the hatchet job. Using the knife affords one to feel when the blade crosses the smooth surface of glass. A very different sensation than even smooth rock. This bottle was directly under a couple of tightly wedged rocks and a root to boot.

This tiny medicinal came from the 9 o'clock location as you look down into the hole and hidden in the undercut. As you can see, some very large rocks have already come out.

Digging in the same direction as the location of the bottle led to the eventual recovery of the second part of the doctor's prescription. A perfect Company letter B, a weak signal that I scraped out well after sundown.

Lead Rations

Digging out huts can be interesting to say the least. As buried objects come to light they may present as something familiar...then turn out to be the oddity or the unusual. It's a fun aspect of the recovery. Case in point, while excavating a hut, this object was uncovered in one corner. Upon first glance, it appears that I have just uncovered the oxidized solder-filled back of an eagle breast plate or perhaps the back end of an artillery shell and its lead sabot. It is almost identical in circumference for an eagle plate or an 8-10lb shell. But there are some flags that go up that make my mind detour and 2nd guess my initial wish-driven reaction.

Looking closely, a clearly visible rust ring suggests this is neither plate nor shell. If it were an eagle plate then there should be rusty remnants of the two attachment loops within and across the disc, not a full ring of rust encircling. A lead sabot would likewise show no rust ring.

Upon extraction and closer inspection it becomes evident that a soldier has melted lead in a tin ration can to a depth of about 1.5". What remains is the tin can wrap around an oxidized lead hockey puck. The soldier has used his knife in the center to create a depressed cone with blade spokes where the lead would last solidify. A very neat soldier-made relic in my opinion. Purpose unknown. The lead-filled tin would certainly have been a stable fixture on a shelf holding down writing paper in a drafty hut. Who knows.

Linament in the Sediment

With Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the mid-Atlantic region, I decided to get into the fields for the first time in months.  Probing put me on some large rocks at about the 2ft depth, where some huts and fire pits have been located in the past.  Shards of whiskeys, gin and food jars (and a sliced finger) put me on these better finds.

Linament bottle recovered 10-29-12

 I may have to go back and do some serious sifting to give this pipe a facelift.

Here's a video showing the careful excavation of a firepit area that yields yet another special relic from amongst the bolders.

Digging Rock Huts in Early CW Camp