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Making History at Montpelier

13 Mar 2012

Today I had the opportunity to witness the making of history in more ways than one. Eleven metal detectorists from the Minelab community stepped off into a week-long course at James Madison’s Montpelier. They’ve immersed themselves into a world which demands a fundamental understanding of topics not often discussed in the metal detecting community, such as the preservation of history, landscape design and features, site and soil preservation, and non-intrusive survey techniques.

In the past, we’ve simply haven’t had the opportunity to cross paths with Archaeologists.
As of today, all that changes, thanks to Minelab and the Archaeology Department at James Madison’s Montpelier.

During the week at Montpelier, the participants will partner up with Dr. Matthew Reeves and his team of Archaeologists for some incredible hands-on instruction. Today, each participant was teamed up with a member of the Archaeology Department. Each team spent hours in the field learning how to conduct metal detector surveys. This is an incredible aspect of both metal detecting and archaeology whereas archaeologists use metal detection technology to survey the ground without touching it with a shovel.

Members of Montpelier's Archaeology Department carefully track and plot every colored stake in the ground as metal detectorists learn how to conduct Metal Detector Surveys

Members of Montpelier's Archaeology Department carefully track and plot every colored stake in the ground as metal detectorists learn how to conduct Metal Detector Surveys

They’ll spend hours counting, marking, and plotting every signal, or “hit” on a map. Next, they combine all the maps together to paint a broader picture of the entire survey area. This activity may take the Archaeology Department months to complete, but today, the group was able to survey a pretty sizable part of the field. Some of the 10x10 grids had just one or two hits, but others had 15-20.

Metal Detector Surveys Montpelier

When they get back to the lab and plot all the hits, it will help the Archaeology Department visualize where there is a larger concentration of metal objects in the ground. These areas of concentration are of great interest to Montpelier as they continue to understand the great history of the Presidential estate and determine areas which may require further evaluation to increase public interpretation.

It’s exciting to see how all these things work together, and this is just the first day! 

David Shackleton

Learn more about Minelab Americas and James Madison’s Montpelier partnering to use improved technology to discover “lost” history

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