To dig or not to dig

[Gazza]

after looking some of my old mags .We don't hear much about iron age finds.
when you read mostly about roman saxon .etc .etc So why don,t we hear much about iron age
is this because we don't  want dig iron. So to dig or not to dig that is the question

[Jonola (Jon)]

If you saw the programme on Boadicea the other night you'd be surprised what iron age finds came up. Mind you, I never dig it.

[hedgehog]

If you are on a site that you know has some age it is interesting some times to dig the bigger iron, I did it on a roman site and there were some nice pieces that came up

[zorro]

if any of you guys saw U.K.brian's photograph of the key collection he's found over the years on iron settings you'd be impressed. i cant find at the mo but maybe he'll put it up here...or some one will who can find it.
Brian's motto is if you're in a known area that supports the theory of iron age habitation dig it!
makes me think what i've walked over all these years 

[DIGGA]

IM  THE  SAME  BUD   IF  YOU  DISCRIM OUT  IRON TOTALLY   YOU  COULD  BE MISSING OUT  ON AXE HEADS  FOR EXAMPLE   

[mel]

Yeah what do you do lads, you'l never know unless you dig, so if your in the right area dig a few

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

If you're working on a site that may come up with iron age finds , it might be prudent to dig all iron anyway. For one you could come up with a nice iron find , secondly the junk iron could be masking the more precious small finds near to them.

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

There ya Go Zorro.

http://www.detectingwales.com/index.php?topic=2344.msg21029#msg21029

[U.K. Brian]

I had a normal size cannonball covered with lead. Its suggested its to increase range and accuracy by reducing "windage".
The small one in the picture is similar on a very small scale (there's an impact mark on the back where you can see the iron). It came from a Roman site so could have been catapult, even slingshot, launched.

I wonder if the Roman would have used a lead coat as a sort of rust proof finish on an item that needed more strength than copper or bronze would offer.

Just remembered what I was going to say. Create a test bed in your garden but with all the same coins (say ships halfpennies or some other pure metal) in it. Check all the detectors you can get your hands on and note at what point the I.D. goes to iron. On bad ground some expensive detectors only manage five inches. Few manage eight inches +. So the iron your not digging can often be gold/silver or copper.