Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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You might be wondering why I posted this photo. How is it relevant to metal detecting or treasure hunting? Well, there are a lot of reasons, and there are a lot of ways that it is relevant. But one thing you'll notice is clustering. Things are not evenly spread across space. There are forces at work that determine how things get distributed in space, and by space I am not only referring to outer space.
It doesn't matter if you are talking about electrons, atoms, molecules, or coins and treasure, or stars and universes, you will see clustering. Reality isn't random. That would be meaningless.
Some people metal detect as if treasure is distributed randomly, and they just wander around, while other people spend a lot of time trying to figure out where different types of things will more likely be found. You won't know exactly where that next find will be made, but there are definitely some places that are better prospects than others. It is a matter of using what you know to increase your probability of success.
One day when I was in graduate school, I went to the Kentucky state fair, and there was a game where you toss coins and if the coin lands on a small circle that was just big enough to encircle the coin, you got the big prize, which was a big stuffed animal. I got two of them. It took a good number of coins, but it wasn't pure luck either. I attempted to exercise control over how and where the coin landed when I threw it so it would have the best chance, or probability, of landing on that small circle. Some fellow graduate students said it was luck. I said it was skill, and defined skill as intentional behavior that increases the probability of success. I always remembered that because it was one of the few times I said something that impressed someone.
I was not skillful enough to succeed every time. I could not land the coin on the table with enough precision that it would slide up and stop directly on the winning circle every time, but I could control the velocity and landing enough that I could get the coin to stop pretty close to the circle on most throws. I could diminish variance enough that the chances of the coin landing on the circle was significantly increased.
Whether it is electrons, atoms and molecules, or stars, planets and universes, things move according to specific rules and principles. There are forces at work, and you can learn to recognize and make use of some of them.
I don't look around the internet much, but I recently watched a YouTube video of a fellow hunting arrowheads in a creek. He had a "secret technique" for "trapping" arrowheads. He would cut flexible sticks from trees, push them into the ground and after some weeks, come back and find good material, including arrowheads, clustered around the bottom of the sticks he planted.
I once, long ago, read a book on metal detecting by a couple authors named something like "Trevillion." I don't know what happened to that book. (I just looked it up. It is Diamonds in the Surf, by Travillian and Carter.) If that is the right book, they mentioned a time when they came upon a fellow that was using rocks to create a trap on the beach for rings. He didn't use a metal detector, but his trap, according to the authors, seemed to work. That is an example of using knowledge of beach dynamics to improve success.
But my main point is that things are not randomly distributed. It doesn't matter if you are talking about atoms or universes, or coins or rings. There are forces at work, and when you figure out what they are you can use that knowledge to improve your chances for success.
I recently noticed how bottles were clustered. That is what I've been hunting mostly lately, but you'll find areas where there are none, and other areas where there might be one or two, and then come upon areas where there are maby a dozen grouped or tightly packed or clustered in a hole.
Bottles move more with the sand than coins. I think it is more a matter of shape than density, although both factors have an effect. The distribution of bottles I've been seeing reminded me very much of the picture at the top of this post. In some cases the reason for the clustering was evident. They will often be found grouped at the base of a dock post, for example. I'll discuss more on how bottles are moved some day.
I've often discussed how coins are distributed on a beach and some of the forces that cause that. I've talking about coin lines and holes and the velocity of water and the densities of coins and sand, and the effect of the shape of coins. The same forces of nature apply.
They say, "Its written in the stars." I agree. You can see it in the picture above.
No matter whether you are hunting coins, rings, bottles or arrowheads, the forces of nature at work, Things are not randomly distributed, and the more you understand the forces at work, the more you can take advantage of that knowledge and improve your chance of success.
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What you'll find on the internet is 2,600 to 3,000 pounds. That is a about a ton and a half. So if you dig a big hole, you moved a ton of sand. No wonder it can be tiring.
The weight depends upon if it is dry sand or wet sand or compact or loose. That is why the range of weights is given.
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No significant changes in the weather or beach conditionsl.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net