When do you stop digging?

Cherokee23 · Nov 29, 2014

I recently found an old home site on a map dating from the 1920s. The house stood till about the 1960s.I found a big trash pit near it in the woods. I started digging and all I am finding is 1950s stuff.I dug down only to find more 1950s stuff. Nothing older. I dug down until I hit hard pan, that hard red clay. And in another part I hit a sandy dirt.I was wondering when should I stop digging? Is the hard pan the bottom? Or could there be more under that?Thanks, Aaron

goodman1966 · Nov 29, 2014

The simple answer, when the glass runs out ! Normally I stop when I reach the clay layer. You should look around more, there could be another trash pit some where. Mitch

Cherokee23 · Nov 29, 2014

Thanks, MitchI have walked around in that area but haven't found another. Lots of ravines though,hard to see this time of year with all the leaves.It's a very small stretch of woods. All that land has been developed except for that one little stripso I don't have a lot to work with lol.I was bummed to find it didn't go very deep.

hemihampton · Nov 29, 2014

I'd say you hit bottom & sounds like only 50's stuff. BUT, Could be some good 1950's beer cans in there. Save them for me if you find any. Ravines usually have dumps in them & lots of times the dump or garbage will be hidden in these ravines by fallen foilage like years & years worth of leaves ect, hiding the goods. Take a 12 prong metal rake to the leaves in Ravine & see whats under neath. Good Luck. LEON.

Cherokee23 · Nov 29, 2014

Leon,There were a few beer cans down there, but they were rusty as heck.Some were legible though.

hemihampton · Nov 29, 2014

I can clean rusty cans. See before & after pic below. LEON.

logueb · Nov 29, 2014

From my experience exploring around old home sites, I have had the same experience. It appears that folks in the 20's and 30's must have reused and recycled everything that they could use. The 40's and 50's trash piles are more common. Buster

Plumbata · Nov 29, 2014

It depends on the spot, but if the dump is in a ravine or gully with steep sides but a more gently sloping original channel, the older stuff would have been closer to the top of the hill/bluff/plain, and as the depression got filled and level the progressively newer stuff would be dumped further and further away down the channel. I've dug in a few dumps like this. As Buster said though, the owners in the 20s may have been far more frugal, and what did get thrown away may have been more carefully disposed of (burned and buried, for example). The people dumping in the '50s may have been 2nd or 3rd owners of the property, and adopted an entirely different (and probably more careless and wasteful) disposal location and strategy. It's hard to say what to do, but sinking some test-holes in the vicinity between the homesite and your current holes might be good if you think you're in a filled-in ravine.

sunrunner · Nov 30, 2014

most 1950s and 60 dumps are surf us dumps.

cannibalfromhannibal · Nov 30, 2014

I just turned 63 today and I'm STILL digging! Guess I don't really know the answer to your question, sorry......HA! Jack

When do you stop digging?

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