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Hobby: Metal Detecting – Shovels

Once you’ve acquired your metal detector, your digger or trowel, the next step is finding a proper shovel. Shovels allow the user to dig wider and deeper holes. A proper shovel also allows the user to make a quick and clean recovery of items and allows the user to make less of a mess. This is especially important if you’re hunting in a park or a well-maintained lawn.

Lesche offers over 20 variants on their shovels. This is perfect for picking the correct tool for the job you’re faced with. Today we’ll focus on the Lesche Sampson Shovel.

The Lesche Sampson Shovel is lightweight and not bulky. It’s made from Aircraft quality Steel and is generally half the weight of a regular gardening shovel. It’s also smaller and shorter than your average gardening shovel. Using high quality aircraft steel also will cause less interference for your metal detector. It offers serrated edges that will cut through dirt and roots like a knife through butter.

The blade of the Lesche Sampson is at a right angle and allows the user to easily dig straight down. This produces smaller more exact digs while allowing the user to refill their holes much easier. It also has the option of a ball handle, a loop handle, or a T handle.

Because of it’s lightweight and blade design, using the shovel requires less energy to use. Which ultimately allows the user to hunt longer. Coming in at $70 it will pay for itself!

Next up we’ll check our storage options for our shovel and other equipment..

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Hobby: Metal Detecting – Diggers and Trowels

For the beginner metal detectorist, after acquiring your metal detector the next step is finding the right digger or trowel. Do not make the mistake of buying a cheap digger. The worst thing is being out in the middle of nowhere with a lot of hits and your digger breaking. Most general use trowels or diggers are made for lightweight gardening and simply aren’t durable enough for busting roots, thick weeds, and dry dirt.

One of the most popular digging tools on the market today is the Lesche Digging Tool. It offers a serrated blade on either the right or left side. Typically right-handed users will want the serrated blades on the right side and left-handed users will want the blades on the left side. This digger is specifically made for treasure hunting. Let’s take a closer look at the Lesche Digging tool.

The Lesche Digging Tool offers a large, comfortable, plastic handle. The handle is also ribbed so it doesn’t slide in your hand while digging. The handle is also bright red so its easier to see in the dark. It also offers a handle guard that protects your hand from sharp objects. The natural stabbing motion is also a lot easier on your hands. The blade is made of aircraft-quality steel and is incredibly durable.

The Lesche Digging Tool is 100% American made. It’s manufactured in Bridgeton, NJ and comes with a 5-year warranty. Lesche has been family owned since the 1950s by Walter Lesche and family. The Lesche Digging Tool can be found online for around $45.

Next we’ll look at shovel options..

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Hobby: Metal Detecting – Pinpointers

Most brand-new metal detectorists buy a metal detector, something to dig with, and maybe a pair of headphones. While these are the bare essentials of metal detecting one may want to consider buying a pinpointer.

A pinpointer allows the user to do exactly that. Pinpoint smaller items that a metal detector finds in a broad sweep. It allows the user to dig more precisely where the item is hidden. This also allows the user to fill in a smaller hole rather than one dug without the use of a pinpointer. In all, it will save you a lot of time and energy.

When choosing a pinpointer to be sure to take into account the area you’ll be hunting. Are you going to be metal detecting in poorly lighted areas or even at night? How deep do you think the items will generally be? Are you hunting in a public area? Maybe a pinpointer that has a vibration alert may be the best choice. Let’s take a look at a few options.

The newest pinpointer by Garrett is the Garrett Pro Pointer AT. The AT stands for all-terrain. This pinpointer can be used in up to 10 feet of water. Making it the perfect pinpointer for hunting creeks, rivers, lakes, ocean surf hunting, and even mud puddles in woods. The Garrett Pro Pointer AT provides three sensitivity modes. It also offers to ability to “retune” itself. Returning shrinks the detection signal for even more precise detection. It comes in at 6.5oz, has a 30-hour battery life and comes with a two-year warranty.


Next up is the Deteknix XPointer. Much smaller in size compared to the Garrett Pro Pointer AT. The price reflects this coming in at only $89. The strongest feature it offers is its ability to never give false positives. Not even when you apply pressure to the tip. It also offers an LED light that is much brighter than the Garrett. It comes in a variety of colors including black, orange, camo, or gray. The XPointer weights 4.7oz and comes with a one year warranty.

Pinpointers save time and energy. They’re generally inexpensive and will pay for themselves. Next up we’ll look at our options for diggers and trowels!

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Black Mirror: Bandersnatch

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is a 2018 interactive film written by Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. Released on Netflix December 28th 2018. Bandersnatch follows Stefan Butler who is adopting a fantasy choose-your-own-adventure into a video game.

Bandersnatch is about choices or the lack thereof. Periodically through out the story users has 10 seconds to make a decision. This decision ultimately dictates the progression of the story. There are 150 minutes of unique footage divided into 250 segments. According to Netflix , there are five “main” endings. The shortest path being only 40 minutes. If the path you choose leads to the end, watchers are given the option to start over at a critical choice and they can explore the alternate endings. Some endings though are inaccessible as the story progresses.

Bandersnatch is the first Netflix interactive content for adults. Bandersnatch stars Fionn Whitehead , Will Poulter , and Asim Chaudhry.

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Inca Gold: Final Days of The Inca Empire

On November 16, Atahualpa arrived at the meeting place with an escort of several thousand men, all apparently unarmed. Pizarro sent out a priest to exhort the emperor to accept the sovereignty of Christianity and Emperor Charles V., and Atahuallpa refused, flinging a Bible handed to him to the ground in disgust. Pizarro immediately ordered an attack. Buckling under an assault by the terrifying Spanish artillery, guns, and cavalry (all of which were alien to the Incas), thousands of Incas were slaughtered, and the emperor was captured.

Atahuallpa offered to fill a room with treasure as ransom for his release, and Pizarro accepted. Eventually, some 24 tons of gold and silver were brought to the Spanish from throughout the Inca empire. Although Atahuallpa had provided the richest ransom in the history of the world, Pizarro treacherously put him on trial for plotting to overthrow the Spanish, for having his half-brother Huascar murdered, and for several other lesser charges. A Spanish tribunal convicted Atahuallpa and sentenced him to die. On August 29, 1533, the emperor was tied to a stake and offered the choice of being burned alive or strangled by garrote if he converted to Christianity. In the hope of preserving his body for mummification, Atahuallpa chose the latter, and an iron collar was tightened around his neck until he died.

With Spanish reinforcements that had arrived at Cajamarca earlier that year, Pizarro then marched on Cuzco, and the Inca capital fell without a struggle in November 1533. Huascar’s brother Manco Capac was installed as a puppet emperor, and the city of Quito was subdued. Pizarro established himself as Spanish governor of Inca territory and offered Diego Almagro the conquest of Chile as appeasement for claiming the riches of the Inca civilization for himself. In 1535, Pizarro established the city of Lima on the coast to facilitate communication with Panama. The next year, Manco Capac escaped from Spanish supervision and led an unsuccessful uprising that was quickly crushed. That marked the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule.

Diego Almagro returned from Chile embittered by the poverty of that country and demanded his share of the spoils of the former Inca empire. Civil war soon broke out over the dispute, and Almagro seized Cuzco in 1538. Pizarro sent his half brother, Hernando, to reclaim the city, and Almagro was defeated and put to death. On June 26, 1541, allies of Diego el Monzo—Almagro’s son—penetrated Pizarro’s palace in Lima and assassinated the conquistador while he was eating dinner. Diego el Monzo proclaimed himself governor of Peru, but an agent of the Spanish crown refused to recognize him, and in 1542 Diego was captured and executed. Conflict and intrigue among the conquistadors of Peru persisted until Spanish Viceroy Andres Hurtado de Mendoza established order in the late 1550s.

Works cited:

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/lost-inca-empire/

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Inca Gold: Spanish Exploration and Colonization

Francisco Pizzaro and his brothers (Gonzalo, Juan, and Hernando ) heard of a fabulous riches in the Inca kingdom. They were migrants from Extremadura. An impoverished area of Spain. In 1529 Francisco obtained permission the Spanish monarchy to conquer the land they knew as Peru. Peru was already being devastated by smallpox. Introduced by the Spanish during earlier explorations.

Francisco Pizarro arrived in Peru in 1532 but this was not the Peru he had come to known. Much had changed in just five years. The city of Tumbes was in ruins. Two local boys whom the Spaniards had taught Spanish in order to translate for him shared the story of civil war and disease that had been destroying the Inca Empire. It took Francisco and his brothers 4 expeditions to establish a settlement in northern Peru. This settlement was named San Miguel de Piura in July 1532.

To be continued…

Works cited:

https://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Civilization/

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Inca Gold: Civil War and Spanish Exploration

The civil war between Huascar and Atahualpa followed the death of their father Huayna Capac in 1527. The civil war began two years later in 1529 and would not end until 1532. From 1524 – 1526 Spaniards under command of Francisco Pizzaro explored South America. Pizarro’s company consisted of 62 horsemen, 106 foot soldiers, and smallpox.

Although Huayna Capac never met any Spaniards he contracted smallpox and died n 1527. His eldest son and rightful heir Ninan Cuyochi died of smallpox shortly after. There was now no true heir and an empty throne. But as we all know, there can only be one.

Huascar had been appointed king by Huayna Capac and was largely supported by the nobility, political authorities , and religious figures. Huayna Capac and Chincha Ocllo were siblings and also his parents. Making Huascar the eldest “pure blooded” Inca. Despite having the support of the nobility , Huascar was said to be ill-tempered , suspicious , and disrespectful of the laws and customs.

Atahualpa’s Mother, Paccha was born into the Shyri royal family. She was not of royal Inca blood though. Noblemen considered him a bastard though and an illegitimate heir to the throne. Atahualpa was well respected in the North. His mother was the daughter of Cacha Shyi Duchicela , the former leader against the Inca conquest in the North. Despite his age, he was known to be level headed , cunning , and brutal.

To be continued…

Works cited:

https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-important-events/war-two-brothers-division-and-downfall-inca-empire-004745

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Inca Gold: The War of Two Brothers

Inca Emperors were viewed as divine beings. Direct descendants from the Gods. Their empire spread from the Lake Titicaca area quickly. They conquered the lands spanning from modern-day Chile to southern Columbia. This included modern-day Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. This royal lineage resulted in many Emperors marrying their own sisters. Concubines were common though and Inca emperors usually had many sons. In the event of the death of an emperor or succession, every son was seen as a viable replacement. Seniority or “pure” blood was not an issue to the Inca as all sons of an emperor were believed to be of divine heritage. This allowed for only the strongest and most ruthless of Inca to rule but would eventually be the downfall of the entire empire.

The most tumultuous civil war for the Inca was fought between two brothers. The sons of Inca Huayna, Huáscar and Atahualpa. Initially, Inca Huayna had allowed both brothers to rule their own parts of the empire but when he died in 1527 both brothers went to war. The civil war lasted from 1527 to 1532. What neither brother was aware of though was that Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro were approaching and far more dangerous.

To be continued…

Works cited:

https://www.ancient.eu/article/915/pizarro–the-fall-of-the-inca-empire/

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Inca Gold: Illapa

As a mostly agriculture-based society, the Inca worshipped what was important to them. They worshipped Inti the Sun-God who provided sunlight and enlightenment. Mama Quilla the Moon-god who provided the seasons, protection from the dark, and was a protector of women. The third God would be the essential piece missing for an agricultural society to thrive and that God’s name was Illapa, Master of Clouds Rain and Hail.

The Inca believed that when it rained it was because a jug of water had been spilled from a broken water jug high in the sky. This water jug contained water from the Milk Way Galaxy.

Works cited:

https://religionoftheinca.weebly.com/inca-gods.html

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Inca Gold: Viracocha

Viracocha was considered to be the father of all other Inca gods. He created the earth, heavens, sun, moon, and all things living. After Viracocha finished his work he traveled the world teaching humanity and introducing civilized arts. It was believed that after Viracocha was finished creating the world that he traveled far and wide teaching and influencing his creations. His next step would be to move west across the Pacific. Never to be seen again but promising to return. In his absence, lesser gods were assigned to the duty of managing the human race.

Inca lore surrounding Viracocha states that humans were his second attempt at creating life. He originally created a race of giants , made of stone , in the age of darkness. The ogre race was found to be unruly and Viracocha found it suitable to punish them with a great flood. The giants that survived were eventually returned to their natural stone form. Some of these stone giants can still be seen today at sites such as Tiahuanaco and Pukara.

For his second attempt Viracocha tried using clay. He also gifted them clothes, language , agriculutre, and arts. It was during this time he created the Sun , moon , and stars. It’s believed that all of these creations were created from the islands in Lake Titicaca. Viracocha was satisfied and felt he could he continue this path around the world. It is believed he ended in Manta (near Ecuador), then Viracocha walked across the waters of the Pacific heading west. He promised to return one day to the Inca.

Works cited:

https://www.ancient.eu/Viracocha/