Downside Up

Stopped by an old foundation site where I had previously found three or four old coins, one of which was a fine Civil War Token, and was shocked to see that the foundation was gone! As were the remnants of the old well and the old perimeter walls. I didn't even know such a thing was legal. Literally, every stone had been removed, the trees torn up by their roots and the earth roughly re-graded. I mourned the loss of the site for a few moments, also realizing that the upheaval and bulldozing might have pulled some old things to the surface. I turned on my machine and set out across the furrows, immediately turning up a number of ammunition shells from the 1800's laying right on the surface. I explicitly remembered digging a sackful of these same shells up on my last visit, but from a depth of 6 to 8 inches. The sun was going down and the cold wind was blowing hard, so i knew I didn't have much time. Firstly, I turned up a strange little copper ring, which I at first thought was a bracelet, and then some sort of animal tagging ring, and now believe is a kind of pocket-watch part or locket piece. Then I found a very tiny brass button, smaller than a penny. It was easy digging. Most of the finds were either on the surface or just one or two inches deep. I was just about to pack it in when I found the Indian, with an immediately visible date of 1863! A very early Indian Head penny. I decided then and there to come back on the following day, which is today, and which I am going to do.