ironman200081
Active member
I had my best day ever relic hunting this weekend -- and I didn't take a single piece home! I participated in an archaeological survey at the Battle of Moore's Mill. Other than some light detecting in the 1980's, the land has been untouched. The project was funded by the National Park Service, and our goal was to map out the features and determine the extent of the battlefield. There was a great mix of archaeologists, students, metal detectorists and other volunteers. We were placed in teams consisting of a detectorist, flagger, and 1-2 diggers.
I had a great team of myself and three students (1 archaeology major and 2 history majors). Of course, I also had the trusty Minelab CTX-3030. The environment was perfect too; low trash, and targets were not terribly deep (deepest I dug was an iron canister ball at 10 inches). I tried to foster a little "friendly competition" with my team and the others to see who could recover and flag the most artifacts from the battle. The students had never seen a metal detector in action before, nor had they got to hold Civil War artifacts. After a little instruction, my teammates were digging perfect plugs and using my Pro Pointer with ease.
We started off with a .36 ball at first, then hit a slew of rusty nails (we were instructed to mark and dig everything). Then we hit a lot of buck and many more revolver balls. Then minies. Then a complete 12mm pinfire cartridge with the ball intact. Then many more various bullets. Once we worked closer to the Confederate lines, we began to find artillery. James fragments here, iron canister balls there. We hit on a nose cap from a James and then part of a James fuse. More bullets, more frags, and then BAM! A complete James fuse, intact. I have never found one before, and I doubt I ever will again. It was the find of the day.
All told, the project found just over 170 artifacts. My team tried to keep a count, but we stopped after around 50, including the fuse and a whole canister worth of iron shot. I am excited to see the project report, map, and data generated from this project. I have included a link below, and some of the photos of my team's finds. The news article has many more.
Battle of Moore's Mill Survey Article
I had a great team of myself and three students (1 archaeology major and 2 history majors). Of course, I also had the trusty Minelab CTX-3030. The environment was perfect too; low trash, and targets were not terribly deep (deepest I dug was an iron canister ball at 10 inches). I tried to foster a little "friendly competition" with my team and the others to see who could recover and flag the most artifacts from the battle. The students had never seen a metal detector in action before, nor had they got to hold Civil War artifacts. After a little instruction, my teammates were digging perfect plugs and using my Pro Pointer with ease.
We started off with a .36 ball at first, then hit a slew of rusty nails (we were instructed to mark and dig everything). Then we hit a lot of buck and many more revolver balls. Then minies. Then a complete 12mm pinfire cartridge with the ball intact. Then many more various bullets. Once we worked closer to the Confederate lines, we began to find artillery. James fragments here, iron canister balls there. We hit on a nose cap from a James and then part of a James fuse. More bullets, more frags, and then BAM! A complete James fuse, intact. I have never found one before, and I doubt I ever will again. It was the find of the day.
All told, the project found just over 170 artifacts. My team tried to keep a count, but we stopped after around 50, including the fuse and a whole canister worth of iron shot. I am excited to see the project report, map, and data generated from this project. I have included a link below, and some of the photos of my team's finds. The news article has many more.
Battle of Moore's Mill Survey Article
