Has metal detecting become too popular?

[Mike]

sorry carling I disagree , hoards come in all shapes and sizes  from a couple of axes up to 1000's of coins , iv lost count how many have been found over the last year or 2 just by guys on this forum let alone other forums or clubs throughout the uk  and let us not forget the hoards that are never reported    yes no doubt some are buried under the m4 or Tesco's car park but I believe there are still 1000's out there waiting to be found , hopefully just 1 will have my name on it 

[Chef Geoff]

There is far more down there than will ever be found, thousands of square miles of land that was previously inhabited by our ancestors hove the ground levels they walked on meters below the current ground level and any and all hoards buried there are lost forever, at least to metal detectors.
All the hoards found by metal detectors have only been so because they were in range

[galoshers]

the monster hoard in jersey popped out of the blue and only cos they brought in a hoardhunter machine .that was just an anonymous field .very lucky that a few lose coins near the surface prompted them to bring in the big machine to find the mother of all hoards VERY  deep. who would have followed their example ?not many if any..

[carling2]

I think there has been a few people in detecting that have come across a area that throws up coins{or objects} from a certain period in time {when there dosent appear to be anything else age  related in that particular field and yes there could be a hoard especially if near a feature or hedge,i have 1 spot like that 10 mins from my house and knowing what the soil conditions are like in that particular field I can imagine that anything in a hoard context is going to be deep,the field is only small and rarely gets turned over but I guess if there is a hoard there ,there it will stay until someone wants to give me a hand with a monster machine  or maybe future generations may find it when the field in question is ploughed enough to make a difference.

[Spooyt Vane]

Carling i have been in hobby nearly 40yrs and i know from personal experience that most hammered hoards are with in 9ins to 10ins of surface.and you can fit 561 hammered coins,21ingots and a bracelet into a vessel the size of a pewter drinking vessel and buried at less than 10ins.....Dont forget they wanted to recover their hoards quickly and so they were quite shallow...I think about 60/70 hoards have found here and we predict that is still three times at least,that number,yet still to be fouund.....keep looking......Rob

[carling2]

didn't say it was a medieval hoard and the ground is on the edge of a floodplain,,if you can find 4 dinari,s on  the edge of a floodplain next to a hedge in a 2ft square space in a field where the nearest coin age wise to show up is Victorian,, tells me something there???

[carling2]

just  a little footnote,, the field in question is less than a acre in size so ive searched it pretty well,,as for floodplain , on the floodplain map 3 quarters of the field is blue.,,i would welcome any more thoughts on this subject as I don't intend scanning the area again as I think its done but being almost on top of a floodplain I would think if there is a hoard there it would be metres deep as ive stated before this field rarely gets ploughed {only once in 7 years that I know and showing perm pasture on google timeline to at least 1999 {will have to ask the farmer if its been turned over before ,apart from the time I know about?},,,,,,,,,,on some background info the farm in question has a big roman presence ,1 field that is mainly civilian {loads of bronze grots and evidence of military in 4 other fields surrounding civilian area {plenty of dinari,but not so many grots },,all coinage is 1st-4thc

[galoshers]

it might have been buried 9 inches deep 500  years ago but that doesnt mean the level hasnt changed over the decades for various reasons.
it could be that shallow hoards found so far were only found because todays machines wont find very deep hoards .see garys unfound hoard test .
on sloping hills any hoards buried would be deeper as soil gets washed down the hill in rain or ploughing ?
XP were suppossed to be bringing out a hoardhunter attachment that fits on the Deus in minutes but it seems to be delayed .that would be a big help in making a quick check to see if a motherload is buried deep

[carling2]

my point exactly considering the field in question is half floodplain ,there would have been layers of silt probably spread over the whole field during 2000 years and with the recent ploughing if there is a hoard there it could have disturbed it bringing a few coins to the surface in detecting range,,thinking about it the coins I have recovered from the site wernt shallow {I think 8-10 inches} I may voice my concerns with the farmer and see if he,d be willing to use a  digger on the  area in question {im thinking a 5ft square,3 meters deep} im either going to make me self look a prat or be grining from ear to ear ,,watch this space.

[Spooyt Vane]

A big Roman hoard in big vessel needs a big and deep hole to bury it in .....That should come with in range of most detectors...Why should they bury smalller hoarrd at same depth..We see in recent weeks that reclaimed flloodplain is a daft place to build houses....I am sure that the Romans had more sense....PROBABLY RIVER DREDGINGS  ARE  THE REASON FOR  THE ROMAN FINDS......

[Chef Geoff]

It doesn't matter how big the hoard is, unless the coins have fused together (copper) then you're still only detecting one coin, multiples signals yes but not one big one

[carling2]

romans had more sense,,,,yea right I can think of 1 example of a known roman fort built on a floodplain not 20 mins from here.,,im getting to like this topic as when I 1st posted pics of coins earlier this year rob was 1 bloke that said there could well; be a hoard there as hes had the same circunstances ,, now hes gone very un hoardy  ,,as for roman finds as river dredgings I don't believe that for a minute {about 40 bronze and a little less in dinari+about 9 fibulas in fields 2 fields away from river and next to nowt in fields next to river},,must be very picky water especially when you conside im still picking up the same material 5 fields away from river very much on the high ground.?,, I think the finds are there because there are at least 4 roman period known cropmarks in the fields {low and high ground} and a known roman road bordering several of the fields

[Chef Geoff]

The Somerset levels are full of Roman remains now meters under the soil. Their engineering soon sorted out sea walls and drainage.

[Dale]

It doesn't matter how big the hoard is, unless the coins have fused together (copper) then you're still only detecting one coin, multiples signals yes but not one big one

Geoff I just did a little test I filled a 500g tub with old copper penny's, then placed one old Vicky penny on its own the same high as the highest in the tub, to make the test fair... first I went over the penny in till I had a faint signal then went a foot forward over the tub at the same height it blasted my ears off, I then went a good 6inches higher to get the faint signal on the tub.
Is it different in the ground?   

[Chef Geoff]

Yes somewhat as mineralisation will negate the more distant coins so at it's limits the machine will only detect the nearest target