Yeah...I know. In 1988, part of the battlefield at Bull Run barely avoided becoming a mall.

"Mommy, did the Union lose the battle becuz the soldiers got delayed at the Starbucks?" :nope:

Could you imagine rooting around in your back yard and digging up a Viking helmet? Feeling 1500 years of intervening time and history suddenly peel away as you imagine how it might have come to be there. Man that would be neat!

Yeah, that would be cool. All I've ever found buried in my backyard are broken beer bottles and somebody's old engine block. :O: You don't exactly feel the history.

Vikings were supposed to reach N. America, so it's possible. Unlikely but possible.

Attics in old buildings are a treasure chest. I found a book from 1890, two silver corones minted in 1909 and a gramophone player so old my grandmother hardly remembers it just from my own house.
I really got to raid some abandoned farms that are quite a few in my parts :arrgh!:

helmet would be neat, but how about a land mine, a mortar or heavy artillery shell? :D
In Poland, the most frequent reason for temporary closures of building sites in the cities situated near the border with Germany is finding the aforementioned "objects" (mostly artillery and mortar shells). It happens especially in the cities which were turned into so-called "Festung". What is more, people still find weapons and light/medium artillery ammo in their basements.
There is also a place, sth like 60 kms away from the place I live, which used to be Africa Korps' training ground and after the war it served the same purpose to the Soviet troops. People go there to "officially" pick a few mushrooms while their intention is to scavenge anything which has a historic value.

A school friend of mine found a sword that had most likely been discarded by a Highlander on the run from the government forces following the failure of the '45 uprising. Of course stuff like that always comes under the treasure trove laws so the Museum of Scotland got it in the end but IIRC he recieved a few quid for his find. I've found a couple of neart things over the years but nothing like that. (Slightly different thing, but the guys in the second hand bookshop across the road from me were sold a folio a few years ago that turned out to include half a dozen unknown loose-sheet sketches by the poet John Blake. They sold them at auction and made about a million....)

Where I grew up there are still barrows that haven't been excavated, lost Roman forts and I believe i've already told the story of the 1000 year old grave stones belonging to Christianized Viking incommers in a very old church yard along the road from my parents house. Lots of other things too.

History is cool. As for America - North America has been inhabited for the best part of, what, 20,000 years? There must be some very interesting stuff there.

Unfortunately given the size of the area, the rather low population density and the fact that the Indians did not do metal work or build much in the way of stone structures means that there is very little left to find. Flint arrowheads mostly and even those pickings are pretty slim.

Very true, and I was wanting to point it out but pot hunters tend to be a problem over here, so I don't share much of my experience with that. I took the opportunity to join several anthro digs when I was in junior high and got to see some pretty interesting stuff while I was out there. :up:

Vikings did reach NA, Newfoundland to be exact:

http://archaeology.about.com/cs/expl...auxmeadows.htm