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How Coins, Relics Etc Work Their Way Down Into The Earth??


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From some research so far:  Feel free to add more knowledge, would be appreciated.

 

Factors of items going deeper into earth

 

1. Worms (LOL)

2. Leaves organic matter build up over time

3. Moles

4. Drainage

 

Is that it??   I know its a noob thing to be obsessed with depth, but i keep wondering how deep those medieval/Roman/or pre-1800 coins/relics are.

 

Thanks.

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Maybe dust storms in some areas. Farming nobody really cared about relics when plowing the field in late 1800’s and early 1900’s plus gold and silver are heavier. 

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"Frost heave" -- freezing of ground in cold months, thawing in warm months.

Landscaping -- reworking the soil intentionally, particularly bringing in fill.

Excavating (very similar to landscaping).

Some of the processes you and others (including I) mention can work both ways, that is pushing recoverables deeper or bringing them closer to the surface.  Likely it's not a fair game here and we are net losers.

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Guys I’ve seen sand so wet my tractor drop down in it and I had to wait until it dried up to get it out. Walking on it it would shake like jello. Another name for it quicksand.

Black land can get so dry it will have big cracks in it over two feet deep and three inches wide.

This is just two ways a coin can get deeper.

Chuck

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The subject on how fast or slow a find sinks in the ground has been covered many many times over the years,so many things too take int account,folks have tried to answer the question scientifically,but in my mind with so many variables its basically impossibly to give a reliable answer.

My perspective is that i dont try and get stressed out try to work out the impossible,but from my perspective and from years of detecting in the UK the older finds can be down deep,especially on real ancient roman/saxon and celtic sites pasture etc,of course the classic reason why you can/will find deep coins and artifacts is the fact that of course here in the UK and Europa as well,we did not have banks or other safe house institutions,as everything was basically hidden in the ground,this is the sole main reason we find hoards.

Normal everyday detectors that have say a 10-11'' coil size on can only go down so far depth wise,but when hoards or other artifacts had been buried for safe keeping in time of turmoil,items had been buried usually at arms length of a person laying flat on the ground,this is usually from previous finds are about the 18-24'' depth range,which is of course just out of range of a normal VLF machine.

Hence this is the main reason its advisable to have some form of a deep detector this could be either a VLF or Pulse machine and once again with a bigger than normal coil size,i use a few such as the TDI Pro with upto 20'' coils and also the mighty Nexus MP with large coils as well,of course by using such large coils you will gain extra depth and ground coverage,but the down side is that you start loosing the sensitivity on smaller finds,but you can get a coil size say 15'' that will not only go deep but still give you some sensitivity on single coins etc as well.

Depth on 'man made items' and the sink rate on them in my mind is nearly impossibly to give a exact answer,this is why i dont try and figure out scientifically why.This is of course just my way of thinking on this subject from my experience here in the UK,of course gold nuggets in other countries are not man made and also can come up at any depth......interesting subject for sure.

 

 

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I remember reading someplace while out of boredom following the worm hole of google that Worms, the first factor you note like soil with certain surrounding foliage and hate others, I think they noted oaks result in acidic soil and have less worm activity and therefore slower sink rates. Up in the poor soil of the high Sierra I don't dig many worms, same thing out in the desert and man made objects seem on average to stay shallow with the exception of man made activity burying them and the occasional localized geologic event. 

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6 hours ago, RickUK said:

The subject on how fast or slow a find sinks in the ground has been covered many many times over the years,so many things too take int account,folks have tried to answer the question scientifically,but in my mind with so many variables its basically impossibly to give a reliable answer.

Yes, it's very complicated.  But I don't think it's impossible for someone to build a model which handles this, given you know all the variables.  Difficult, in most cases, absolutely.

Another possibility which we all know about but which can be missed is the search history.  The objects nearer to the surface, particularly those which are of high conductivity, are more likely to have been removed by previous detectorists.  Recent drops, no, but most of us are looking for old stuff.  Here in the US it's been 50 years since valuable coins have been dropped.  The chances that no one has searched a public site in the last 50 years is small although non-zero.  Private property, however, is a different ballgame.  Old property which has been in private hands is our best option if we're looking for old coins, relics, and jewelry.

 

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