Question about that crazy good dig day I had at an old Roman site

Last Tuesday I was working on a small excavation outside Bath and hit a layer of dark soil that just felt different. Within an hour I pulled out three intact pottery sherds and a small bronze coin from the 2nd century. It was the kind of day where everything clicked and the trowel just seemed to know where to go. Has anyone else had a single day that totally made up for weeks of finding nothing but rocks and roots?

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy_henderson2111d ago

Honestly, I gotta push back on this a little. Ngl, I get the excitement of a good day, but I think you're reading too much into it. Those perfect days where everything feels like luck are rare, but they don't really make up for the grind. The weeks of rocks and roots are what actually build your eye and your patience. That one dig where you find a bunch of stuff can trick you into thinking you're some kind of natural, but the real work is the boring parts. Tbh, I'd rather have a consistent site with small finds every week than one amazing day followed by three months of nothing. The hobby is about the long game, not the highlight reel.

wendy_henderson2111d ago

Yeah exactly, that's what I'm saying. A buddy of mine spent like three weekends in a row at this one spot near the river, only finding rusted nails and old bottle caps. Fourth time there he dug up a whole little cache of old silver dimes from the 40s. Now he's convinced that spot is gold and won't try anywhere else. He's been back every weekend for two months and hasn't found anything more than a few pennies.

emmaking11d ago

Your buddy's got the detectorist version of a gambling addiction, just with less neon lights and more dirt. Spend three weekends digging up trash for one lucky day, then chase that high for two months straight. Sounds like he's just paying for the thrill of hoping, not for the actual finding. Might as well throw his coins in a slot machine instead.