Cataloging & Documenting Your Finds
Keeping records of your finds preserves the context that makes them historically meaningful. A bullet without provenance is a curiosity; a bullet with a documented find location, depth, and associated artifacts is a piece of historical evidence. Good records also help you track your own detecting history and identify patterns across sites.
What to Record
- Date found
- Location: Site name, state/county, and GPS coordinates if possible
- Depth: How deep the target was
- Detector signal: VDI number or target ID if your detector displays one
- Identification: What the object is, or your best guess
- Condition: As found, before any cleaning
- Photos: As found (before cleaning) and after cleaning
- Associated finds: What else was found nearby
Simple Methods
A notebook and pen in your finds pouch is the simplest approach. Number each find and record details in the field. A spreadsheet on your computer lets you sort and search later. Some detectorists use apps designed for this purpose, though a basic spreadsheet works fine.
Why Bother?
Beyond personal satisfaction, good records make your finds more interesting to others and more useful to historians. If you ever share finds with a museum, historical society, or researcher, provenance information is the first thing they'll ask about. Records also help you research sites more effectively — knowing what's come from a field before tells you what to expect and where to concentrate future hunts.