"Random Holes in the Sand"

"One certainly cannot find them [ancient coins] by digging random holes in the sand" - Discuss.

Who said that? Nobody, just a coin collector who presumes that he can lecture experienced archaeologists about where archaeological finds are found. This is despite the fact that one might surmise that he has never in fact ever been within a hundred meters of an archaeological excavation of a classical site, let alone taken part in one (I stand to be corrected on that one).


Mr Tompa is on record as not being very keen to find archaeological publications like the rest of us in libraries. If he were to use libraries more frequently, he would come across loads of evidence that what he is saying is utter tosh. Like the front matter to William Camden's Britannia, which every coiney should be aware of. Camden is one of my own heroes, so let him show the Washington amateur just what can be accomplished without a metal detector (but you need to look carefully at the book, not just the pictures).  
 
Vignette: Roman coins found without a metal detector.