More Than Just A Nail
Movies and novels have left us with imagining
that the fortuitous find of an ancient map will lead to
treasures, riches and fame.
Even if you can't cross the seas, even movies like The Goonies
conjured a hope that some lost-forgotten map
tucked inside a long-forgotten box
in an obscure attic would lead to the finding of long-forgotten treasure.
But as the fabled Indian Jones quipped to his fictitious class,
"...and X never marks the spot."
In reality, archeologists and historians
do a lot more mundane, carefully carried out research
to find the clues hidden in the past under foot.
These come from researching books and maps.
They come from digging and recoding trenches.
They come from carefully cleaning up finds and interpreting them.
Sometimes there are amazing, unexpected finds.
Often, however, the finds are more often
of a mundane nature.
But do not confuse mundane with boring.
On the contrary, it is not the great mosaic floor that gives as
much history as the fragments
of bone,
pottery,
food,
and tools.
These, when put together paint the canvas of how
ordinary people lived and worked.
Nails are something that often frustrate metal detectorists.
Even if the detector is on the right setting,
occasionally a strong signal,
will encourage a deep dig
that, in the end,
result in
"nothing but a nail"
(and perhaps a little frustration).
However, it is more than just a nail...
It represents the surveyor who mapped where a mine should be.
It represents the company that owned the mine.
It a tangible relic of the miners' work.
It is the connection to the forge that smelt out the iron from the rock.
It is the iron monger with a wagon that delivered the raw iron.
It is the woodcutter who felled the trees to make the fuel to heat the cold metal.
It represents the blacksmith working the bellows to heat the coals.
It is the apprentice learning to hammer a nail straight.
It is the new man in town who wants to build a house.
It is the lives of the family who lives, loved, and died in a house
held snuggly together with love and nails.
It is the house that sat abandoned with only memories to fill the rooms.
It is the snowstorm that caused it to fall under is own weight.
It is the farmer who plowed it all under so curious children
wouldn't fall into the voids.
It is the time that passed.
It is the curious child with a metal detector
who went out searching the very first time.
It is the excitement of a "BEEEEEEEEEP" that there's
something down there.
It is the intrigue of digging to see just what it could be.
It is the joy of a first find: a nail!
It is the curiosity:
Where did it come from?
Who lived here?
Who made it?
and a thousand other questions yet to be answered.
No two square nails are perfectly identical:
Different sizes for different purposes.
And then fasteners changed.
Machines could make them.
Bolts with threads could hold materials together.
It is the record of changing times.
It is more than
"just a nail"...
"just a nail"...
it IS history...
that you can hold
in your hands...
...and that is a true treasure!
