13th September 2005, 06:43 PM
It's true about not getting much time to learn how to use the detector. We had ours for over 2 years before it ever got used in a serious way. I had to teach myself how to use it whilst working over a massive spoil heap full of Roman coins. Roman sites are perfect for learning how one works. The great thing about using one on a big site is that you are frequently working from a level that has actually been stripped down to archaeology already. Almost anything you find will be 'archaeological', even if its just a crappy old nail.