A Guide To Finding The Right Sites - The Holistic View

If you are new to detecting you will know how hard it is to get somewhere to detect.

- Andrew Wight

The rising popularity of the hobby means many farmers now already have a club or individuals on their land and are often unwilling to give somebody else search permission.

So one thing the new detectorist should do is to make sure that when he or she does seek permission they try to identify the sites that have the most chance of producing good finds. Of course, there will always be some sites that produce great finds even though they do not appear at face value to offer much opportunity.

However, when searching for permission it is better to consider sites that do relate to the criteria described below. To start with, we must remember that most of daily life in the past took place in the countryside (as agriculture was the most important industry). The most intensively used land will be where most people would have spent their time and therefore where the most losses were made. This land will be that best suited to farming or habitation. We can start to look at the quality of farmland by using the following criteria.

Drainage

For best crop production drainage needs to be good to avoid water logging, as this inhibits root growth and makes the soil hard to work. Heavy, wet soils are also slow to warm in the spring so it is hard to get crops in early. Modern farming systems can of course easily install drains in poor soils. So try to consider the site itself. (e.g. Is the site naturally well drained? Does the land slope slightly downhill to a stream?)

Soil

Are the local soils heavy or light? A heavy soil will contain a lot of clay. You can test a soil by taking a moist handful and squeezing it, if it forms a solid ball and when you rub your fingernail on it the surface takes on a shine then the soil has a high clay content. Soils with high clay content tend to drain slowly.