Home Metal Detecting

Question about an area with old junk

I was hunting a local park last weekend that is about 40 years old. It was established in the "clad coin era" so to speak. In about an hour’s time, I only found a couple of clad dimes and one Lincoln Memorial, along with several junk items.

What was interesting is not all of the junk appeared newer. For example, I found what appeared to be the top of an older aluminum can, the kind that was designed to have a removable tab, not the modern kind with tabs that are designed to stay on. I also found a very rusted bottle opener and what looked to be an older, large screw cap of some sort, not the aluminum kind from a beer bottle but a heavier type that could have come from a small jar. In short, this kind of junk looked older than junk I have found at other locations in my neighborhood.

Would this indicate the area has not been hunted much? Or does it not really indicate anything, other than people have been discarding trash there for 40 years ? image

Comments

  • pcgs69pcgs69 Posts: 4,258 ✭✭✭✭
    It's hard to tell because it seems like a lot of detectorists leave the pull tab and bottle cap signals. But if there are a lot of those signals it's hard not to bypass a few. Not really sure of the age of those items but they don't scream too old. There may have been something there before it was a park too. I hit a building from the late 1800s and found a draped bust large can't and a Connecticut copper... Obviously lost prior to the current structure being built. The older junk may indicate some older coins though so if the bottle cap signals aren't saturating might be worth digging a few.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You might try researching the history of the site.... could reveal some interesting information... Cheers, RickO
  • WhiteTornadoWhiteTornado Posts: 2,102 ✭✭✭
    I used the site historicaerials.com to find these pictures of the park. The one on the left was taken in 2005 and I've done my best to note the locations of the picnic area, ball diamond, and soccer field. The one on the right was taken in 1966, the year before the town was incorporated. I have tried to put the labels in approximately the same place.

    When I take a wider view on historicaerials, it appears that much of the land around here was either farmland or forest, with a smattering of housing clusters. This particular location looks like it was next to a house, possibly a farm house. See the upper right on the older photo. I am thinking this could have been the "non-plowed" area of the farm. As such, perhaps it included areas where people could rest, picnic, etc, next to the house. Just a theory of course.

    I found the old bottle opener and old screwcap lid on the ball diamond, in the foul ground near home plate and 3rd base. I found the old can slaw in the soccer field. The picnic area is riddled with pulltabs and bottle caps, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time there. I think I'm going to concentrate on the soccer field next time I visit.

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  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Excellent method for determining potential sites....also, views such as that, often show 'depressions' or 'irregularities' not visible at ground level.. and frequently may yield some good items. Cheers, RickO
  • hchcoinhchcoin Posts: 4,825 ✭✭✭✭✭
    It is amazing how things change in 40 years. That is really cool how you set those pictures up side by side.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
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