Georgia

Yes, on private land with the landowner’s written permission. That is the clearest legal route in Georgia, and it is the only thing we do.

Federal land is closed. Access to state land is decided by Georgia Department of Natural Resources, State Parks and Historic Sites Division and the rules are not the same at every property. Private ground, with the owner’s written agreement, avoids all of it.

On federal land, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 makes it an offence to disturb or remove archaeological resources over 100 years old without a permit. The National Park Service prohibits metal detecting outright in national parks.

The division sets the rules for Georgia state parks and historic sites, and several properties are protected archaeological ground. The position differs by park, and historic sites are the strictest end of it.

We do not publish a summary of individual park rules, because they change and they differ site by site. The authority above is the one that decides, and they will answer directly.

Public land is complicated. Private land with written permission is not.

Ask the landowner and get it in writing, or book ground where the permission already exists. Knowing where to look is only half of it. The right to be standing there is the half that decides whether the day is detecting or trespass.

1. Identify the ground. Old maps, cellar holes, vanished settlements and terrain will all point you at likely land in Georgia. None of that grants access to it.
2. Find who owns it. County parcel records name the owner. Knocking on the door still works, and still fails most of the time.
3. Get the agreement in writing. Who may search, which fields, on what dates, what happens to anything found, and who carries the liability.
4. Or skip to the end. Every FieldFinders listing in Georgia is land whose owner has already agreed, set their own rate, and approves each request by name. The written search agreement comes with the booking.

Georgia was the last of the thirteen colonies, founded at Savannah in 1733, and it stayed thinly settled until the Creek and Cherokee lands opened in the early 1800s and the land lotteries began handing out farms by ballot. The Dahlonega rush of 1829 was the first substantial gold rush in the country. In 1864 Sherman crossed the state from Chattanooga to Savannah, and the campaign, the sieges and the march left material through a corridor two hundred miles long.

1. 1733Savannah founded, the last of the thirteen colonies
2. 1800sLand lotteries open the interior to settlement
3. 1829The Dahlonega gold rush
4. 1864The Atlanta campaign, and the march to the sea

Red Piedmont clay through the middle of the state, heavier and more mineralised than it looks from the surface. Sandy coastal plain in the south, easy digging and good depth. The north Georgia mountains hold the old gold belt and are stony throughout.

Early US coinage and cut silver on lottery era farm sites, buttons, buckles and camp material along the 1864 corridor, colonial material around Savannah and the coast, and placer gold in the north.