Shifting Sands

Wow.. there are so many topics to discuss. I've thought about this, my next post.. and wondered what direction to go. I've decided to try to keep to the basics, as I don't want to put the cart before the horse. My last post was all about research, and this one is about attitude.
 It's easy to think that a local park or school ground may not be worth your time and effort, as you have seen detectorists scanning the area on numerous occasions. Closing these areas off, in your mind at least, turns into an excuse to stay home.


I heard one detectorist ask another recently..." you still searching ___ ____?" . The second one just shook his head affirmatively. " I don't see how you're getting anything out of there, as much time as you and Bill spent searching there last summer." The second guy just continued to nod his head up and down, never offering an arguement and never defending his actions. I could tell the second guy was holding out. He WAS still finding items, but didn't want to invite competition. He was content to have others think the area was tapped out.


The ground is ALIVE.. Just as the beach shore constantly changes with the shifting of the sand and the rise and fall of the tides, the ground we search inland changes as well, just not quite as fast nor quite as obviously. I was raised in the country. I have gone into the pasture and picked up rock after rock and tossed them into a trailer pulled by a tractor. In a year or two or three we'd have to go back into the same pasture and pick up rocks again. 


I learnt early on that the earth is constantly pushing things out of the ground. I remember wishing that I could see how this worked, but I accepted the fact that nature was constantly re-arranging underfoot. On the other hand, nature also covers some items, making it impossible to see things that were visible only a few years earlier. So, I suppose  the best word would be 'FLUX'.. Nature is in a constant state of flux and rearrangement.


That's why detectorist's search the same locations over and over.


When they search a third and fourth time much of the 'junk' has already been removed, cutting down on the false reads. Yet, coins and relics that were not detectable months earlier have now moved enough, due in part to rain and heat and cold,that they are picked up by the detectors.


I won't even bring up the fact that one detectorist, searching directly behind another, will find items the first one missed. Maybe their detectors were set on different levels of discrimination, or maybe they simply misread the signal. Who knows...


I do know that the top practitioners in the world will be quick to tell you about the amazing finds they have unearthed the second or fifth time they searched a site.

So remember... NO excuses..