DetectingWales.com

..an interesting set of finds.

any ideas on the last 2 pics? .. the item is very heavy, an eyes only find and non metallic.

oops

...and a nice distraction was watching the microlights and planes land on the local farm ... over 30 landed in the space of 40 minutes, as part of the round britain competition

that looks like a fossilised poo???

It is jass but we want to know what he's holding :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Good going Alan, straight back in the saddle with a hammy. that's the way to do it ;)

yes Alan, ive been detecting for 7 weeks and not found a hammy!!! its not fair, plus you find a fossilised poo too......
  ;)
well done Al  :D

ROFL ... there is a school of thought that suggests that the item could bea ground lightning strike anode. i am told that such items were regarded as lucky charm items.

the only doubt i have re the fossilised poo suggestion is the uniformity of the shape. most cuprolites are irregular in shape.

perhaps its a posh poo!

could be the queen mothers poo,worth a few quid

 ;D Mick I love the way you put "fact" in your suggestion. Unfortunately a clue is in the question ie. "Non metallic" so it's definitely not pig iron.

yep, i'm happy to confirm that the 'poo' object doesn't register a signal on any of the detectors used to check it .... and neither does it register a signal with the garrett probes.

So, what else could it be made out of, other than stone?

Interesting finds Alan - well done on the Lizzy.

As for your mystery item - looks a lot like a poker handle - but if its not metal - no idea!

My moneys on the Poo theory  ???

Couldn't get out with the guys yesterday,  but was able to tag along to day. First to fall, after the first coffee break, was a Henry cut-half, voided long-cross, looks like Winchester mint (What do you think Doc?) to me. Then, as we headed in for a mid afternoon break, walking across the area close to the entrance that had been nicely gridded by the big-man, up popped my first James I Sixpence. Well chuffed with that one  :) in the footsteps of giants and all that ::). Finally, to polish off the afternoon, the Lizzie halfgroat made the hat-trick.

Still, no more poo appeared today, but HM has threatened to throw me in a pile of it if I don't behave  ;D

Cheers,

..if techony keeps on finding them hammies, like he did today, i suggest he invests in a case of carbolic soap!!

anyway, here's my 2 little efforts, a possible roman brooch maybe? and maybe an anglo saxon thingy? any ideas anyone?

Well done Tony, glad to see you must of got a Minelab at last ;D
Alan I'm not sure on your's lol but the term "hope spring eternal" comes to mind  :D

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


A coprolite of a carnivorous dinosaur found in southwestern Saskatchewan.
A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They were first described by William Buckland in 1829. Prior to this they were known as "fossil fir cones" and "bezoar stones." They serve a valuable purpose in paleontology because they provide direct evidence of the predation and diet of extinct organisms.[1] Coprolites may range in size from a few millimetres to over 60 centimetres.
Coprolites, distinct from paleofaeces, are fossilized animal dung. Like other fossils, coprolites have had much of their original composition replaced by mineral deposits such as silicates and calcium carbonates. Paleofaeces, on the other hand, retain much of their original organic composition and can be reconstituted to determine their original chemical properties.[2] In the same context, there are the urolites, erosions caused by evacuation of liquid wastes and nonliquid urinary secretions.
Contents [hide]
1 Initial discovery
2 Research value
3 Recognizing coprolites
4 Coprolite mining
5 See also
6 References
[edit]Initial discovery

The fossil hunter Mary Anning had noticed that "bezoar stones" were often found in the abdominal region of ichthyosaur skeletons found in the Lias formation at Lyme Regis. She also noted that if such stones were broken open they often contained fossilized fish bones and scales as well as sometimes bones from smaller ichthyosaurs. It was these observations by Anning that led the geologist William Buckland to propose in 1829 that the stones were fossilized feces and named them Coprolites. Buckland also suspected that the spiral markings on the fossils indicated that ichthyosaurs had spiral ridges in their intestines similar to those of modern sharks, and that some of these coprolites were black with ink from swallowed belemnites.[3]
[edit]Research value

By examining coprolites, paleontologists are able to find information about the diet of the animal (if bones or other food remains are present), such as whether or not it was a herbivore, and the taphonomy of the coprolites, although the producer is rarely identified unambiguously, especially with more ancient examples.[4] In one example these fossils can be analyzed for certain minerals that are known to exist in trace amounts in certain species of plant that can still be detected millions of years later.[5] In another example, the existence of human proteins in coprolites can be used to pinpoint the existence of cannibalistic behavior in an ancient culture.[6] Parasite remains found in human and animal coprolites have also shed new light on questions of human migratory patterns, the diseases which plagued ancient civilizations, and animal domestication practices in the past (see archaeoparasitology and paleoparasitology).
[edit]Recognizing coprolites



A Miocene pseudocoprolite from Washington state. Commonly mistaken for a coprolite because it looks so real; it is actually inorganic. Scale in mm. See Spencer (1993).
The recognition of coprolites is aided by their structural patterns, such as spiral or annular markings, by their content, such as undigested food fragments, and by associated fossil remains. The smallest coprolites are often difficult to distinguish from inorganic pellets or from eggs. Most coprolites are composed chiefly of calcium phosphate, along with minor quantities of organic matter. By analyzing coprolites, it is possible to infer the diet of the animal which produced them.
Coprolites have been recorded in deposits ranging in age from the Cambrian period to recent times and are found worldwide. Some of them are useful as index fossils, such as Favreina from the Jurassic period of Haute-Savoie in France.
Some marine deposits contain a high proportion of fecal remains. However, animal excrement is easily fragmented and destroyed, so usually has little chance of becoming fossilized.
[edit]Coprolite mining

In 1842 the Rev John Stevens Henslow, a professor of Botany at St John's College, Cambridge discovered coprolites just outside Felixstowe in Suffolk in the villages of Trimley,[7] Falkenham and Kirton[8] and investigated their composition. Realising their potential as a source of available phosphate once they had been treated with sulphuric acid, he patented an extraction process and set about finding new sources.[9] Very soon, coprolites were being mined on an industrial scale for use as fertiliser due to their high phosphate content. The major area of extraction occurred over the east of England, centred around Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely [10][11] with its refining being carried out in Ipswich by the Fison Company.[11] Today, there is a Coprolite Street near Ipswich docks where the Fisons works once stood.[12] The industry declined in the 1880s [11][13] but was revived briefly during the First World War to provide phosphates for munitions.[10] A renewed interest in coprolite mining in the First World War extended the area of interest into parts of Buckinghamshire as far west as Woburn.[9]
[edit]See also

   Look up coprolite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Fossil
Fossils and the geological timescale
Fecalith
Gastrolith
Lloyds Bank coprolite
Regurgitalith
Bromalite
[edit]References

^ "coprolites - Definitions from Dictionary.com".
^ Poinar, H. N., S. Fiedel, C. E. King, A. M. Devault, K. Bos, M. Kuch, and R. Debruyne1 ; 2009 Comment on “DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America.” Science 325(5937):148. ; P. Goldberg, F. Berna and R.I. Macphail ; 2009 Comment on “DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America.” Science 325(5937): 148. ; Gilbert, T., D. L. Jenkins, A. Götherstrom, N. Naveran, J. J. Sanchez, M. Hofreiter, P. F. Thomsen, J. Binladen, T. F.G. Higham, R. M. Yohe II, R. Parr, L. S. Cummings, E Willerslev  ; 2008 DNA from Pre-Clovis Human Coprolites in Oregon, North America. Science. 320(5877):786-789.
^ Rudwick, Martin Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform pp. 154-155.
^ "The Wonders of Dinosaur Dung - Sepia Mutiny".
^ "Dung Fossils Suggest Dinosaurs Ate Grass".
^ "Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues: Science News Online, September 9, 2000".
^ Trimley St Martin and the Corpolite Mining Rush, Beridge Eve, 2004
^ (Corpolites in ) Kirton, Suffolk
^ a b The Origins and Development of the British Coprolite Industry, Bernard O O'connor, The Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society, Vol 14, No. 5, Summer 2001
^ a b "Coprolite Mining in Cambridgeshire".
^ a b c "Cambridgeshire - The Coprolite Mining Industry".
^ "Coprolite Street".
^ "Trimley St. Martin and the Coprolite Mining Rush".
Spencer, P. K. (1993). "The "coprolites" that aren't: the straight poop on specimens from the Miocene of southwestern Washington State". Ichnos 2 (3): 1–6. doi:10.1080/10420949309380097.
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Unsigned (1911). "Coprolites". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Categories: Rocks | Trace fossils | Feces

http://www.letsrecycle.com/prices/metals/ (http://www.letsrecycle.com/prices/metals/)

Brass cuttings £2.90 a kg  ;D ;D ;D

Alan

they are some crackers mate.

You realise that the first is a Roman phallic pendent, the Romans were obsessed with the phalic symbol and used to use it everywhere for Good luck. It quite a scarce and a valuable find.

The second one in my humble opinion is a Anglo-Saxon Zoomorphic strap end and a real beuty.

Stunning finds - and Techonys hammereds weren't bad as well!

Nice post
Neil;.

wow -- thx for the leads Neil ... i'll do the research tomorrow.

cheers

Sorry Geoff, still got the old "stairy fick". She just loves them little old hammies  ;D ;D ;D

LOL .. but she misses all the other nice goodies!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

She'll never find the Phallics Al, I've got 69 notched out  :o

lol

She may have got you a grotty bit of silver .... but she missed this one!!

However, i do take my hat off to you for your excellent ID skills ... you certainly called it right, over the pint in the pub!

fingers crossed for another excellent twilight session this evening!

Nice going Alan, English jeton early 14th century very nice.

thx Geoff,  thats exactly what techony said last night.

since then, i've found this link to confirm the coin

http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=3991&cat=all (http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=3991&cat=all)

Yes but yours is one I've never seen before as it has a lions head rather than the "sterling" type, there are quite a few with lions in different stances but this is the first I've seen with a large head.

--- i think i'd better get down to specsavers! ..  ;D