Using and interpreting Google Earth

Like many metal detectorists I use Google Earth to have a look at the land that I search and to scope out potential new sites. The Time Shift icon on Google Earth allows you to essentially go back in time, sometimes as far as 1945, which is fascinating research. This icon is particularly useful with crop marks, as some show up better under certain light conditions, with specific crops and when there are certain moisture levels in the soil. On one of the estates I searched, for example, I noticed a field that clearly had strip lynchets on it. These medieval plough lines normally show up as lighter and darker soil stripes across an arable field – on pasture they are best observed as the sun sets and shadow falls across the lines.

Metal detecting, whatever will you find next?

I guess many of us have had that so called ‘X-Factor feeling’ when a certain find just pops into your thoughts – a few minutes later you find it! Sometimes it might not be quite as quick – maybe you were talking to a mate a week ago about it, or perhaps even in the car on the way to the site. Whatever the case, doesn’t it feel good to show that find to the very people you talked to about it? It’s almost as if you have a rather satisfyingly psychic aspect to your personality…I chat a lot about Celtic Torques and Roman Coin Hoards but so far the X-Factor spirit has not helped me with these.

When you are on a ‘run’

A ‘Run’ is what my colleagues and I would describe as one of those metal detecting days where you just keep finding. Sometimes others may do nearly as well as you but in my experience its usually just one of us that has a run at the one time. Sometimes it starts as soon as you arrive on site, with a good find happening almost immediately. This seems to spur you on and produce much positive thought, which in turn appears to attract further good finds.