Metal Detector Owner's Dream
I spent several decades in the xmas tree bidness, contracting out to take care of yuletide flora all the way from planting seedlings through peddling them during the holiday season in tree lots. People in Oregon are used to seeing fields of trees grown in neat rows like crowded orchards; the weather in the NW makes it one of the top places in the country for pumping out xmas greenery.
Because of the rain the growers have to be mindfull of weeds and especially blackberries which will grow like gangbusters and eventually choke the trees if nothing is done. Unfortunately the current practice is to drench the ground with herbicide which leaves only the firs with bare earth between them. (I could go on for hours about this but it ain't germane to my point)
So you wind up with acres upon acres of soil with no cover which erode after several years. Any rocks slowly pop up to the surface. Any rocks and Indian artifacts pop up to the surface. After a while it was apparent that with a little effort one could find an amazing number of points and scrapers and mortars and pestles dating back to probably thousands of years of activity. A lot of the artifacts are obsidian from the volcanic Cascades nearby, so the best time to walk around was after a little rain which made them glisten which meant basically any time you cared to look. It's a whole lotta fun to pick up a little bit of ancient history.
So I can very much appreciate this little find in Britain:
Bus driver unearths £80,000 hoard of Bronze Age axe heads with metal detector
"Bus driver and metal detector fanatic Tom Peirce is in for a bumper pay day after unearthing 500 Bronze Age artefacts - one of the largest ever ancient finds."
Because of the rain the growers have to be mindfull of weeds and especially blackberries which will grow like gangbusters and eventually choke the trees if nothing is done. Unfortunately the current practice is to drench the ground with herbicide which leaves only the firs with bare earth between them. (I could go on for hours about this but it ain't germane to my point)
So you wind up with acres upon acres of soil with no cover which erode after several years. Any rocks slowly pop up to the surface. Any rocks and Indian artifacts pop up to the surface. After a while it was apparent that with a little effort one could find an amazing number of points and scrapers and mortars and pestles dating back to probably thousands of years of activity. A lot of the artifacts are obsidian from the volcanic Cascades nearby, so the best time to walk around was after a little rain which made them glisten which meant basically any time you cared to look. It's a whole lotta fun to pick up a little bit of ancient history.
So I can very much appreciate this little find in Britain:
Bus driver unearths £80,000 hoard of Bronze Age axe heads with metal detector
"Bus driver and metal detector fanatic Tom Peirce is in for a bumper pay day after unearthing 500 Bronze Age artefacts - one of the largest ever ancient finds."
posted by nolocontendere at 6:10 PM
3 Comments:
Holy crap! hahah that's awesome.
Makes those old codgers I saw growing up sweeping fields and beaches seem a bit more legit.
What an unbelievable find. Makes you wonder what else is waiting to be discovered.
mr. nina and i purchased one awhile back. after talking with some locals who are really into this, we are discovering there are treasures waiting to be found all throughout our area alone.
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