shelf life of u.k fields

[nfl]

just wondering today about some sites i have been on which have a brilliant historical context but there is nothing there to find,only later to find out some guy was there years ago and pulled 30 coins a day from site,and just wondered will we see a day when there is nothing else to find......   

[Neil]

Great subject Paul - me and my detecting buddies have often discuss this.

Its hard to say as I know what you mean when a field feels empty, but then I have also been pack to "empty pastures" with a deeper machine and done far better. The way technology is going - you got to see in 10 years time machines going a Hell of a lot deeper with an ultrasound type picture of what you are actually digging. Some of the high end "gold field" German machines proclaim to do this now and I know some South African boys use them in the gold fields.

Then you also need to take into account environmental conditrions changing due to global warming and farmers seeking more frequent crops and "cash crops" which may imply deeper and more frequent ploughing to get four harvests a year through genetically modified crops..

I personally think that we won't need to worry about metal detecting the way we do it now in ten years as the Government will have laid so many restrictions on what we do that virtually all detecting will be in line with the rest of Europe and at best will continue underground with private farmer agreements. I don't advocate day or night hawking in any shape or form, but would we really all hang up our detectors and the hobby we all love. I sincerely doubt it.

This is going to be an interesting post I think. Sorry if I have hijacked it a bit, but I think my thoughts on the future are relevant to the question mate.

Cheers
Neil

[nfl]

nice points made neil,i think that if fields start to run dry or a semi ban comes in force i think many detectorists will hang up there machines,if either one of the options become reality{when} people will have to travel further afield as im sure there local favourite sites will be old news to them or they will not be allowed on them but with travelling you have to stake more to maybe gain less, as for deeper machines,maybe if ploughing was increased to 3 feet depth i cant see anymore finds coming from the allready worked 2 feet even with a deeper machine{how deep is deep} besides not evey one will carry scafolding and a ladder to shore up the sides of holes with   

[outlaw]

No one would advocate anybody to break the law, the hunting still goes on but in a different manner ! One feels that metal detecting will despite any ban probably continue, with private agreements with landowners. 

[Chef Geoff]

There are many people who say "I for one won't give up" but as some of you may know I worked in Ireland when the ban came in over there and I'm afraid people did give up, in their droves. Granted it would depend upon the wording of the law, as the Irish one is draconian to say the least. But gradually the hobby is growing over there once again with beaches now being more or less safe to detect on and as has been said private agreements with farmers, whereby if you are asked by the Garda what you are doing, then you say that the farmer has asked you to look for a lost tractor part.

As for finds being exhausted, well there are more finds in the ground than have ever been found, granted many are out of the range of current detectors which in reality have not improved in depth in the last 20 years.
PI or BFO machines have the ability to go deeper but will need much more research to allow them to be used with some sort of discrimination and target recognition.
Of course, if and when that were to happen, it opens up a completely different moral dilemma. Should we use a machine that is deep enough to see through archaeological layers?

But for the present, as long as there is ploughing then there will be new things to be found.

[waltonbasinman]

Interesting post folks. It has been touched here but just to emphasise a point I think is relevant as well in the state of farming now and in thirty years time. More traditional farms seem to become very much a thing of the past and as more and more farms become untenable and swallowed up by big corporations (for want of a better word). Gareth a family friend and I spoke about this recently and through his job as a Auctioneer and Land Agent he says the biggest growth area in his job are the closing of traditional family farms to usually be bought by large corporations. The Duchy of Cornwall are the biggest land owners by a mile around Hereford and there is no way you will get permission on their land which has swallowed up three new farms that I know of in the last year, bought to my attention through the fact that one of the farms was one I had permission to detect on. I was swiftly sent packing when I introduced myself. Thirty years down the line this will surely only be thirty times worse. I would love to see a people to land ratio of ownership. How this reflects in the finds people make good question. I constantly find new archaeological sites especially under trees on hillsides some possibly Iron Age which shows that not all sites are known but when you take into account the three and five year crop rotation experiment done at Butser ancient farm in the 80s and 90s where things disappeared for up to five years before surfacing again It shows how a lot of things have to happen to make finds. I am afraid the old line still stands today as always You have to walk over it to find it. Genuine finds are a good thing if properly recorded as well, but one thing as a footnote to this is the increasing number of finds on the internet that are claimed to be genuine finds. With a little research there are ways of finding people out, I just wish people could be more honest as we are a community with Our backs against the wall and we do need to stick together and have strength in numbers.

[nfl]

intresting to see that some voters believe that finds will never run out,guess theve never been on a worked out site then,,where do you tect and can i come   

[Chef Geoff]

Paul I'll be more than happy to come to one of your "worked out sites" and find something. LOL

Finds don't run out, only enthusiasm.

[JohnF]

Paul I'll be more than happy to come to one of your "worked out sites" and find something. LOL

Finds don't run out, only enthusiasm.

I think youve hit the nail on the head there Chef, when you say "Finds dont run out, only enthusiasm". I think it all depends on wether you prepared to put more hours in to find the stuff that has been missed over the years. Personally i have experienced it quite a few times on fields that have been "done to death". one in particular that has been detected on for many years, yet i had a Charles I halfcrown off it not too long back as well as other bits & bobs, so if a coin that size has been missed after all those years im pretty confident theres plenty more smaller stuff left on there too.
If  im on a field that has produced in the past, i am always happy to keep visiting it, cos i personally dont think that a site is ever worked out.
John.

[Chef Geoff]

Your right John, every time we find a small piece of lead or lump of silver foil it could just as easily be a coin. I spent some time the other day gridding an area aprox 15m X 15m where I had found the 5 roman coins. Small enough you may think, easy......... I thought so. But the next day I walked across that area with the machine just out in front of me..and....BANG, a 18th century buckle and with embarrassment I have to admit......not a small one either.