Metal Detecting Medieval Sites with Minelab Explorer (Story 3), page 8

Dima's WW2 Relic Find - Red Army Rifle's Barrel, and 16th Century Knife Blade

Holding a WW2 Relic Find
Dima's Holding a Barrel of Soviet WW2 SKV Rifle Found Last Season

Blade of the 16th Century Shoe-maker's Knife
Another Dima's Good Find - Shoe-maker's Knife, circa 16th Century

Our scope of action was simple: to visit and metal detect as many sites as we could find within 30 kilometers radius. Of course, it would be a little bit problematic to carry out our plan without the "wheels". Aleksei was going to ask his friend Bronek to drive us around when Bronek would be back home in two days. Meanwhile we could explore the Medieval site which Aleksei was told about by someone. Aleksei went there once to see what it looked like and found out that it was available for detecting. We agreed to take a chance and walked to the village center to catch a ride to the hunt site.

Passway Through Village

Flagging Down the Passing Cars
Dima is Flagging Down the Passing Cars

Animal-drawn Wagon in Use
This Animal-drawn Wagon Would Do Too!

No one was eager to give a ride to the three dudes with backpacks and shovels, so we called a taxicab. The taxi-driver was also reluctant to drive us to some village 15 miles away. It was clear that he would not want to come back and pick us up late at night. I was mentally preparing myself for an adventure. At least I was taking an opportunity to observe the area and possibly spot a potential metal detecting site while passing through.

A few spots in the fields got my attention, but all fields had crops on them thus making those locations off limits.

Traditional Ukrainian Landscape

When I saw Aleksei's site, I knew it had nothing to do with the early medieval settlement of the 2nd-5th Centuries. The lot was completely flat and with rocky soil. Two abandoned houses, about which Aleksei was excited, looked very modern (probably built in the early 20th century).

Abandoned Structures