Tuesday, April 21, 2009

found


This is the time of year when the earth gives up its secrets.



After the heaving from freeze-thaw cycles, bits of debris, or bits of history, depending on your point of view, can easily be taken from the soft soil.


We have found so many artifacts, some broken, some whole, peeking out of the ground in the springtime.  Last spring, while sowing the front horse pasture with seed (how's that for a somewhat romantic image) my husband found this old half-penny coin from 1844, and a child's play ironstone teacup.


We also have a collection of arrowheads, most of them fairly intact.  We label them with the date, location where they were found, and the name of the finder.


Here's a bottle with only a little chip, with its oxidized patina.  It's quite small, and must have been a medicine bottle.    

I have a jar on the windowsill where my kitchen desk sits, filled with bits of broken china and glass.  Those early house-dwellers must have broken a lot of dishes (or I suppose their servants did).  The best time to go looking for this treasure is in the springtime, after a rain.  It helps if you adopt a contemplative stance, with your hands clasped behind your back, and your head down, eyes scanning the ground.  Walk slowly.  You never know what you'll find.



6 comments:

Maria said...

Oh what fun a treasure hunt. Love the arrow heads, my husband would really love those. Our ground just continues to unearth oyster shells, we used to be under the sea once upon a time, and we also continously find old ballast stones from the ships that used to dock here (we live on an old pine tar plantation). In that top picture, what is the thing that looks like a hogs snout, is that anything?

hayseed said...

That's half of an empty black walnut shell-we have so many black walnuts (and therefore squirrels!)

natasha the exile on Mom Street said...

I too was wondering about the
"snout!"

Mmmm black walnuts.

We have pecan trees in our yard. I wish we could have a "nut swap."

Unknown said...

Wow those are some good finds! I grew up on a farm and we discovered while we lived there that the people wholived there before had a dumping site where they disposed of old glass bottles and such. We would always find things in that area. It was kind of neat.

Far Side of Fifty said...

What nice treasures you have found! We find a few things..usually broken plates..and tin cans..occasionaly an old bottle. It looks like you have spring there! :)

Bekah said...

My most recent find was a small headless cat figurine...weird huh?