Dan messaged me recently to let me know Gloucester County was having sign ups for a public dig. He provided the website to register, warning me it would fill up quickly.
I was on top of it and registered moments after the site opened. I was looking forward to going on June 10th, the third of four open slots. When June 10th rolled around, the weather was perfect. I drove an hour to National Park, NJ (a town I had never heard of before) located on the Delaware River. Armed with my trusty trowel, wearing the clothes I bought to go to Israel, I was so excited.
At first I was disappointed because they had strong arms signed up to do the digging. I think their typical attendee is someone who wants to see archaeologists in action, not necessarily do archaeology. I didn't let that deter me, I spent most of my three-hour slot hunched over the screen identifying objects. We found a treasure trove of broken, thick, green drinking bottles. Some bits of brick, and charcoal. A week later I don't remember anything super exciting.
Fast forward to this past weekend. I got there closer to the start time of 9 rather than arriving for the 1 pm afternoon shift. I looked at the four pits before asking my real question, was there a chance I could use a metal detector. The week before I had noticed a group of people with metal detectors and the field of flags indicating all the items they found and I was intrigued. Not intrigued enough to leave my screen of treasures, but there was a part of me that was disappointed I missed my first (and possibly only) opportunity to learn about metal detecting. I thought about it all week.
Each flag represents an
artifact found. At the end of
the day, the experts
logged them into a book.
Jen cheerfully pointed me to the area where the metal detecting was taking place that week (of course they weren't in the same field as the weekend before, in hindsight, that made a lot of sense). She told me to ask for the tall skinny man named Dana. Dana was giving a quick orientation to a couple of men. He paired me up with an older gentleman named Tim. Tim took up metal detecting 18 years ago as a post-retirement hobby.
Tim was so generous with his knowledge. He mentored me in the kindest way. Each find was labeled with my initials. He kept referring to his shovel as my shovel. He explained how he could tell if something was worth digging for based on the number. He smiled as I got excited each time we dug for a treasure.
With Tim 
Tim took this picture of me
hard at work
Our finds:
- 1965 quarter -- the first year they were no longer silver
- Button marked RP with a crown -- reenactor's button from 1940s-1950s
- Second button matching the first
- Third smaller button
- Later 1964 quarter
- 1914 wheat penny
- Thin metal circle
- Aluminum foil
- Lots and lots of pull tabs from old soda cans
- Newer coins: dimes, nickels, pennies
- Bottle opener -- thought I had something there since it was so big!
I learned new pennies disintegrate in the ground, but old (copper) pennies last forever
A rivet? 
Tim and Jack 
Alas, a reenactor's button
Dan said, likely from the
Bicentennial era
(he currently reenact with them)
A 1964 quarter -- worth about $9.05! 
The Holy Grail -- a musketball 
The Civil War era button we did not find
Other people's finds:
- Indianhead coin from 1897, and another from 1894
- An impacted musket ball
- A round musket ball
- A Civil War era button
- A button labeled 43 -- at first thought to be an original, but later identified as a reenactor button
In the sifters:
- An original button
- Another musket ball
As I was leaving, I saw the glass we dug up last week, now all shiny and clean. I beamed over it like a proud parent.
I had so much fun. I can't wait for next year.
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