Help please with artifact identy

zburkett

Sergeant Major
Joined
Aug 21, 2015
Location
Orange County, Virginia
Had some great relic hunters at my place this weekend. Among other things they found a Colonial buckle and button, harmonica reed, an old felling axe and a adz as well as square nails, horse shoes and unidentified stuff. The problem is we know that in 1781 Lafayette was here, in 63/64 the 8th Alabama were here, it was a plantation, and since the war has been a working farm. Is there any way to tell how long this stuff has been in the ground? Did one of Lafayette's pioneers drop the axe or did some guy drop it in 1937?
 

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Ha!!!
No, got to have more than what you've been shown to make an ID. I hardly ever dig iron, unless a shell.
Looking for buttons( brass) coins ( silver ) buckles ( brass ) bullets ( lead)
Check out some of my previous posts on here for examples. If large plantation, effort will take a while.
I've searched some yards here for over 25 yrs ...still find items I missed .
 
Thanks, the info was a big help. Perhaps I should have mentioned the nickel was in there for scale on the button. That's like the shape on the felling axe is described as "late colonial to present." Really, is there any way to judge how long something has been in the ground?
 
Zburkett,

Congratulations on your finds! Keep at it. The more artifacts you find will help you put the puzzle together.

I'm certainly not an expert, but I would say it is difficult to tell how long something has been in the ground. You know, it probably depends on the type of soil the artifacts are found. For instance, artifacts found in soil that has been cultivated and fertilized for many, many decades, will look different than those objects (especially iron items) found in woods or forest land which have been unexposed to agricultural practices over the years. Moisture also plays a role. I have found Civil War iron in wooded areas that look better than 1970's iron from fertilized farm fields.

The best advice I could give you is to keep hunting the site and collect as much as you can so that you might realize some sort of correlation along an historical timeline. Asking questions is good. Better than that, though, is to keep gathering artifacts and correctly identifying those items. At some point you will have a decent enough data base from which to work.

Again, great job, and please keep us posted. Good luck!
 
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What are you calling the felling axe? The object in the first photo at the upper right? That looks more like a hoe to me. :unsure:
Totally agree. That's a typical garden hand hoe, must have been thousands made just like that.

Edited to add: wait, is the axe in the lower left, and the object in the upper right is being identified as the adz? I can't see enough of the axe, but the hoe still looks more like a hoe to me.
 
Thanks. The project, which will be long term, is to find where the 8th Alabama camped. It was somewhere on the land we are searching. It just happens to be well documented that the Continental Army "cut a road" thru here in June of 1781. Years ago we found a small cannon ball a few yards from where we found the axe and buckle. (Virginia red clay, not fertilized for at least 40 yr.) John and Jeremy who are doing the digging feel the harmonica reed is more 1860 than 1781, but the buckle is more 1781. As for the adz/hoe, it was my understanding that the square back made it more likely an adz, while a hoe would have a round hole. That said, my education is researching my farm for a few years, plus what I can learn about artifacts from the internet. Any help will be appreciated. As for you Richard Craniums, it was at least a Jefferson nickel.
 
John Steele, your tools appear to be cast steel. My internet expertise leads me to believe they would not have shown up on the Virginia frontier until the mid 1800s. My tools seem to be blacksmith made which could place them here from the early 1700s until the early 1900s. John and Jeremy did find some cast plow blades (1st half 20th century?) which are not nearly as rusted up. Please keep in mind I know **** little and the project is to find the 8th Alabama camp. Getting the full history of my farm is a delightful plus. ANY HELP IS GREATRLY APPRECIATED.
 
Thanks, the info was a big help. Perhaps I should have mentioned the nickel was in there for scale on the button. That's like the shape on the felling axe is described as "late colonial to present." Really, is there any way to judge how long something has been in the ground?

Somehow I figured that about the nickel; as for age, one of my "treasures" purchased from what appeared to be a truthful seller who really had no reason to lie about it is a bayonet from a Brown Bess musket he said he found on Hilton Head Island prior to it becoming covered with condos and golf courses! The bayonet is in perfect but dark condition, very lightly pitted but smooth overall with a slight bend or twist to last 1" or so of the blade. He said he found it in a sandy area and all the other things he had were Revolutionary-era coins and other appropriate items. The $95 I paid for the bayonet was a fair price regardless of where it was found, so as I said he had no reason to lie about it. Research indicates it's from around the War of 1812 or later, not the Revolution and there's no telling just when it went into the ground but I'd certainly expect it to be nothing but a streak of rust in a climate like that of the Carolina Sea Islands, so I don't know what to tell you but that I'm sure it must vary widely!
 
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