Found Ravine Dump, Should We Dig Deeper?

[zsmith333]

Well look at it this way. If you don't dig it, you'll miss out on what MIGHT be there. If you dig and find nothing, oh well, you tried. But if you find stuff, it'll be worth it.

I always tell myself if I don’t dig around or snoop around I’m passing up a pile of mint Coke Hutch’s


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[Bohdan]

My son and I found a huge pile of old bottles and trash in a ravine recently. In the ravine, the stuff on top seems to not be terribly old; possible stuff form the 70s~80s. At another spot nearby there was a pile of bottles and brick where we found a handful of 1920s~1930s bottles; however, the rest of the bottles around the surface were screw tops.

So my question is at both spots, would we likely find older stuff if we dig deeper down? Note that the woods we hunt in were surrounded by three farms that go back to the mid-1800s and we have found coins there that date back to as far as 1916. In yall's experience, would this be a prime spot to find good stuff?
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When in doubt - dig it out.
Keep digging.

 

[islamoradamark]

Well, seeing how ravines have long been favored places to dump refuse, if I had access to the same property, especially with farms so old surrounding the site, I would certainly be doing some scratching and probing at the very least.

Are you expecting to find everything just lying upon the surface? Even if the farmers never dumped any organic debris or field rocks over the ravine edge, the natural forest litter accumulation, field run-off and bank sloughing over the century and a half would tend to cover the earliest deposited items.

In 1971, I dug the former site of a sawmill that shown on the 1910 county plat map. It had since become a dairy farm. Where the mill pond had been located the dam was long breached and a tiny creek flowed through the shallow ravine. I did pick up a few bottles that were simply lying on the surface in the area that would have been the pond bottom. However, I dug many more bottles out of the embankment that had been adjacent to the mill buildings and residence at the turn of the century. Viewing from the opposite bank, I thought I perceived a slightly raised fan that didn't match the surround contours. It was totally covered with grass. However, when I probed with a pitchfork, I both felt and heard the distinctive crunch of deteriorated old food cans under the sod.

I believe that I see the handle of a metal detector in the background of the Dr. Pepper photo. Mount your biggest coil and turn off the discrimination. You want to find a large deposit of ferrous metal; cans and broken items such as typically discarded by a family living on a farm. Remnants of tin cans that have a small dab of solder in the center of the lid are good indications that old stuff lies hidden there. Put yourself in the mindset of the original occupants. Where, in relation to the homes and barns, would you have gone to dump household garbage and refuse that was reasonably close and convenient but not in the way of your agriculture and not so nearby upwind that odors would bother you?

That's a good eye seeing that metal detector in that photograph I had to go back and take a peek

 

[K6TIM]

Well look at it this way. If you don't dig it, you'll miss out on what MIGHT be there. If you dig and find nothing, oh well, you tried. But if you find stuff, it'll be worth it.

Yeah! I would dig deeper,but not more than a few feet.Look to me a 1940'-1950's dump
K6TIM

 

[willong]

That's a good eye seeing that metal detector in that photograph I had to go back and take a peek

Thank you!

There was a time, many decades ago, when I could, with iron sights, out-shoot most of my late father's friends who were shooting better weapons equipped with scopes. That went to hell at puberty, and I've been myopic ever since; but I still spot an occasional interesting detail.

I hope the original poster informs us on how further searching of that ravine goes. I, for one, am a curious soul.