Some Facebook friends shared with me an excellent article.

“….Although portable metal detectors have been used recreationally since the development of the equipment in the mid-1940s, little common ground had been established between archaeologists and metal detecting hobbyists. It would have likely continued this way if not for a wildfire in 1984 that consumed the tall grass covering the Little Big Horn Battlefield in Little Bighorn Battlefield NM in eastern Montana. The fire provided a unique opportunity for an innovative archaeologist and a group of metal detector hobbyists to establish a mutually beneficial working relationship that resulted in the collection of valuable data about the 130 year old battle….”

Read the rest of this excellent article here:

Battlefield Archeology at Kings Mountain National Military Park, South Carolina