Barren land

[Dryland]

I've  been detecting on quite a large farm for the past few months and although i've been pulling out quite a few pre decimal on one field, on the other fields apart from iron signals, there seems to be absolutely nothing. No lead, bits of brass etc. The whole farm is pasture and according to the farmer has not been ploughed in his lifetime.It's so quiet on this farm that I've even resorted to digging the iron signals. Does lack of lead go hand in hand with lack of finds ?

[carling2]

in my book yes,,where there is a abundance of lead you will usually find the older finds but seem as you say the farm hasn't been ploughed for ages {or maybe not at all } it could be just to deep to get to ,, I have in the past been to some amazing locations that ive been told have been untected and as its pasture there as been the usual geo/vic finds and any lead that as been on site has been deep.

[Chef Geoff]

Good question Dylan personally I wouldn't say that you have to have lead to get finds but it helps, lead is an indication of habitation close by and also that their waste has been spread which would include coin finds on the fields this also shows that the land must have been arable which was labour intensive thus a greater footfall and the chance of loss but you could obviously have areas that were for instance a busy track passing through a copse or wood which was a good place to rest, and lose things, at some time the village/settlement/farm where the track lead from/to becomes deserted the track disappears and the wood is cut down and so you are left with a bountiful area surrounded by your barren land also your not going to bury a hoard in the middle of a busy field so big find little lead. Also the use of lead around the home tends to start to peter out from the beginning of the industrial revolution (consumerism) in the 18th century but your buttons replace lead as the give away sign.
So I think you can have finds without lead but not lead without finds but of course your talking about small low conductive targets in dry ground on land that hasn't been ploughed ........... Dylan stop asking stupid questions

[Val Beechey]

Hey Dylan, join the club. I think I must have become an expert on barren fields, I've been in so many. Not even a little button nor a hint of anything lead.
No I don't think it does mean the finds are too deep. I've said, a few times, some fields are and always have been used just for animals. The only thing they tend to drop is what helps fertilise the ground.
I don't know where you are detecting but bear in mind that, out west, the currency, up till the mid to late 1600's (and prob.after) was cattle.
Cow horn protectors, bag seals and medi tubes seem the order of the day rather than lead, buttons and coins. Like you I've got so desperate some days I dig anything that makes a noise.

Val

[probono]

I'm glad it's not just me then.

On the one farm I go to, most of the fields are truly empty - and it would be good to dig even foil on those occasions. Yet there are a few fields that were productive - which had some lead (and buttons) in them.

[Dryland]

  Geoff  for once I thought that I sounded intelligent.

[Dryland]

Thinking about it now, at some time in ancient history,a lot of  this farm could possibly have been woodland. Thank goodness there are others of you having the same problem and it's not just me  . As you say Carling I'd love to see what would happen if one of the
fields was ploughed. Val I'd love to be able to find even one of those titty tubes or button  on this farm . Roland are you sure that we're not detecting the same farm
                                               Geoff you wait until I find that exact spot, where a tree once stood and a Roman soldier stopped to have a "P" and while being distracted by a fair young maiden,{ collecting chestnuts to sell at a Roman chariot boot sale, to earn a couple of quid. } he drops a denari which he was keeping to buy a new starter motor for his chariot. 

[galoshers]

i had a site with lots of early window lead but nowt else .inside the U shape was makers marks though

[remix]

I have some fields which seem to have no casual losses at all - i presume the local went about their business naked. I also feel that one has had fewer people walking on it than have walked on the moon !!!!

[Val Beechey]

Remix, made me remember what I said some time back about some of my fields.  I think the locals tied up their trousers with string.  I don't think they could afford buttons.

Val

[Spooyt Vane]

Shame the land has not been ploughed.,as some our club members went back on a farm that been in pasture for years and recently ploughed..They found over twenty hammered,coin weights and other artefacts from medieval to tudor..This site had been searched by many detectorists over the years and produced very little up to now ..Even the best machines cannot detect deep small artefacts on old pasture sometimes because of mineralised ground or other circumstances

[dances with badgers]

thats it dylan your gonna have to plough it bud an try again

[galoshers]

go in with a PI if its that clean in case theres a deep motherload at depth ,if you can stand the silence and have no other alternatives

[david995]

we have many fields like that in n wales , just not any foot trafic on them simple as that really . just have to hope to find a field where ther has been some occupation or land workers