How to find an old road in the forest. Technology of searching along old roads What finds are found in such places

Any novice searcher, when first entering the field, faces the question: “Where to look for treasures and old villages?” Simply walking blindly in any field you like means depriving yourself of search success in advance. Therefore, in this article I want to tell novice searchers and treasure hunters how to find a decent place to search without having an old map. I will describe two main ways that will help a beginner achieve at least initial success in finding a suitable place for excavation.

You can safely carry out the first way to search for villages and places of possible treasures right now, using the Google program - Planet Earth, the free version of which can be downloaded on the official website. So, first, let's list those places that are potentially interesting to us. First of all, these are individual houses and farmsteads, as well as places of ancient settlements, plowed mounds, which are not state-protected objects. It would be very nice to walk along the places of former river beds, since there could be areas for swimming and fishing, floating on people on boats could also lose various items.

Just like on Google Maps - Planet Earth, find an old farm or a separate house.

I answer this question using pre-prepared screenshots. Green circles highlight places where soil changes are visible. The lighter spots are the remains of destroyed and crushed adobe (clay brick) from which houses were previously built. To the left of the green circle you can notice a change in the soil towards a darker shade, this indicates that this place was properly fertilized before - apparently there was a vegetable garden.

How to find a place to search in a garden or vineyard?

Here the light spots are visible not on the bare plowed land, but in the vineyard. In such areas, it is somewhat more difficult to find the exact place where the old house was. Therefore, navigate using trees, bushes and other objects. There are also cases when such spots turned out to be not houses, but simply washouts and erosion of black soil, but in our business we cannot do without reconnaissance, so feel free to go out into the fields and wave the reel.

How to find the site of an ancient settlement?

Places where there are ancient mounds demolished by archaeologists or local “aboriginals” can also become places of success. Agree that household items of ancient people could have been lost near the burials, and in the best case, you can count on finding an ancient settlement nearby. Do not dig up ancient mounds that are protected by law, as this is an article about the destruction of the country’s historical heritage. The photo shows what the mound demolished by archaeologists looks like:

Where else can you swing a metal detector coil?

In places where rivers or streams used to flow, you can try your luck, since people settled along the banks of the rivers, there was a constant flow of fresh water. Also, at any moment, a body of water can become a source of not only water, but also food, for this you just need to cast a fishing rod or net. Therefore, I show what the ancient river bed looks like on a Google map - Planet Earth:

As we have already found out, we need to pay attention to the places where people used to live. As a rule, artifacts of human activity are the remains of destroyed buildings: fragments of foundations, building bricks and tiles. If you see a place on a field where pieces of building stone, ceramics, dishes and glass are scattered, do not try to avoid such areas. Practice has proven that ancient coins and other antiques are found together with fragments of ancient ceramics.

Good luck to everyone on the mine, more fun swag and new positive impressions!

Based on Internet materials. The source is unclear. The author respond, he said it well :)

VIDEO. "Where to go for a cop." Working with cards.

Searching for antiquities is quite a fun and exciting activity. After all, who among us as a child did not want to go in search of hidden ancient treasures? Of those children who grew up, many remained romantics and adventurers at heart, acquired metal detectors, and began to engage in such a unique hobby as treasure hunting. Thus making your childhood dreams come true. Of course, hardly anyone managed to find large treasures, but here are various lost ancient coins, buttons, crosses, etc. these people found quite a few.

Painting by artist L.I. Solomatkin “Morning at the tavern.” 1860s.

It is worth noting that literally a couple of hundred years ago, coins were much more common than now, when cash is increasingly being replaced by electronic means of payment. It is reasonable to assume that coins were lost much more often at that time, and if you know how to look for them, and most importantly, in what places to do this, then you can easily acquire excellent finds, if only you had the desire and the necessary equipment. Before you go searching for antiquities, I would advise you to familiarize yourself with the historical location of cities and settlements on old maps. After all, it goes without saying that their locations changed over time, and where a spacious plain or forest now stretches, there could previously have been ancient settlements, and in them (or somewhere in the immediate vicinity): inns, taverns, taverns, taverns and other drinking establishments. We will talk about searches in such places in more detail in this article. Now, first things first...

FIRST LET'S UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPTS

Painting by artist Perov V.G. "The last tavern at the outpost." 1868

After the emergence and spread of strong alcoholic beverages in the Middle Ages, private drinking establishments began to be used for their sale. In Europe these were taverns. In the territories of Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus, such a drinking establishment was called a tavern or tavern. In the central part of Rus' and Siberia, the analogue was a tavern or tavern.

Such drinking establishments were divided into two types: without arrival (non-visiting) and with arrival (visiting). The first ones (taverns and taverns) were intended for selling drinks and food to the population and travelers, and were meeting places for merchants and local people. The second (taverns and taverns), in addition, provided sleeping places for merchants arriving at local fairs, and for rest for travelers traveling on their own horses or on foot.

Painting by Sternberg V.I. "Little Russian tavern" 1837

Inns were intended for a more privileged public. Traveling nobles, officials and rich merchants found food and lodging there. In Rus', the predecessors of the first inns (hotels) were “pits”. They were located at a distance of a horse ride from each other.

All of the above establishments were built in a convenient and easily accessible location, for example, near public roads, at the entrance to a populated area or on the main shopping area, near monasteries, at the intersection of trade routes, at the borders of property. And also in large villages, along large highways, at crossings and other crowded places.

WHAT ARE THE INTERESTS OF DRINKING ESTABLISHMENTS AND INNS?

It was places like these that gathered wanderers and those simply wanting to relax and have a drink or two after a hard day at work. Finding coins in such places is not uncommon, since their turnover here was quite high. In this case, the coins did not necessarily have to be lost - it may even be that some of their stock was hidden by the owner of the establishment or a cautious guest who was afraid of robbery. Almost any inn, tavern, tavern or other drinking establishment had trampled paths from the surrounding villages along which men, overwhelmed by work and everyday life, walked to spend their hard-earned coins and relax a little. So life was in full swing there, coins were jingling, vodka and wine were flowing like a river, here and there prowling girls were squealing... If you can determine exactly where such a building stood, then it is also necessary, if possible, to cover the path from the road to the entrance. If there is a body of water nearby (river, lake), then the path to it. Well, and the adjacent area, of course. By the way, sometimes murders took place there and the victim could bury himself nearby. So, when digging a deep signal, be mentally prepared that under the shovel human bones may turn out of the ground.

WHAT FINDS ARE FOUND IN SUCH PLACES?

Fans of instrumental searching in such places were able to find various types of copper and silver coins of the Russian Empire with varying degrees of success. In addition to ancient coins, there were copper uniform buttons of soldiers, officers, high and low ranks of the tsarist army, as well as rings, rings, crosses, items of horse harness, lead seals, various types of spent cartridges, etc. But inns and taverns, as well as fairs, places of former churches and estates are identified first by experienced search engines, especially those indicated on the maps.

TRACT BRANDS

Also, at drinking establishments you often come across round, hexagonal, octagonal or other shaped coins without a coat of arms. They only indicate the payment denomination - 5 kopecks, 15 kopecks, 25 rubles, etc. These are exchange surrogates (payment tokens), which are called tavern marks. These “surrogates” appeared in the middle of the 19th century and at first were used only for payments between the waiter, cashier and visitors in taverns. Simply put, it was a kind of cash receipt.

A little later, having appreciated the ease of use, tavern stamps began to be used instead of change when paying clients of drinking establishments. However, such tokens could only be “sold” where they were received.

WHERE TO LOOK FOR SIMILAR ESTABLISHMENTS?

You should look for such establishments (inns, taverns, taverns, taverns, taverns, taverns) on the outskirts of former settlements and at major junctions.

Often, inns were located at some distance from villages. It will be more difficult to localize such objects, and many beginners, when looking at maps, do not even pay attention to such designations.

CONCLUSION

Searching the sites of ancient drinking establishments and inns can easily be called the most interesting type of searching for antiquities, since it is here that interesting and rare types of coins can be found. Unlike ordinary farmsteads, inns were often visited by different types of people: military personnel, civil servants, workers, peasants, officials and travelers. Places of such historical interest can give the searcher many pleasant memories of searching with a metal detector.

Questions “where to go with a metal detector? how to choose a promising place to search? etc.,” probably belongs to the age-old category; throwing data is especially relevant for beginners. Experienced diggers know for sure: “prepare your maps in winter...”, so they begin the treasure hunting season fully armed.
The main objects of research for most diggers are tracts on the site of ancient villages, former estates, taverns, inns, i.e. places directly related to the activities and residence of people. And this is correct, where people lived, there were lost or hidden things, the richer people were, the more of these things there were. But there are geographical points on the map where people were also not rare, but they did not live there, but simply, let’s say, actively used them. Some treasure hunters pay much less attention to such places when searching, considering them less promising, but in vain! What kind of places are these? Ancient roads, intersections on them, river crossings, fords, carriages, piers, in general, other places where a fairly serious “passenger flow” was established.
It makes no sense to tell everything at once; it will turn out to be complete confusion, so I will try to cover the topic of searching on ancient roads in this post. Searching for various objects on ancient roads is a rather promising direction, especially if you approach it competently.

Which roads to choose and how?
Naturally, you should choose roads based on age - the older, the more promising. Let's just say that searching on modern roads may make sense, but it is not significant; of all the finds that you come across, the most significant will be Soviet coins and a bunch of metal trash. Of course, when it becomes difficult to find places to search, you can “comb” them, but now we will try to choose something more interesting.
To do this, we will need old maps that are available for your region: Mende atlas, PGM, Schubert atlas, etc. There are maps, there is a metal detector - can we start searching? Not so fast! First, ancient maps must be compared with modern ones. For this, some use various computer programs and the method of overlaying one map on another, some transfer the necessary symbols manually, others perform GPS georeferencing of topographic material and actively use OziExplorer. The choice is yours, if you don’t know how to do one, or the other, or the third, you need to learn.
It can be worse if there is no old cartographic material for your region at all or it is extremely scarce. In this case, you will have to find out the location of roads in the area. This can be done using a number of indirect signs. We go to the place where the road is supposed to lie, look, and pay attention to the following signs:
- compacted soil;
- remains of a paved road;
- difference in vegetation. On old roads, trees do not grow for a long time; bushes may appear, but there are no trees;
- different surface relief, the road, as a rule, consists of two well-worn tracks;
- the surface of the old road stands out more during precipitation, rain or first snow;
- certain plants that tend to settle along the edges of roads.
When choosing a road to search for coins and other antiquities, you should not forget that finding it using an old map is not so difficult. Another thing is that many popular tracts of our ancestors are still actively used. Our grandfathers and fathers were not fools, and, accordingly, they laid roads rationally, trying to maintain the shortest distance from point A to point B, naturally, taking into account the terrain and other natural surprises. Quite often, modern builders, without further ado, lay asphalt directly on top of them, because they don’t care that someone is going to walk around with a metal detector.
What to look for and how to look for it?

Under the coil of a metal detector on an ancient road you can come across almost anything - from the above-mentioned “tips” to princely “scales”. It all depends on the age of the road, on the “passenger flow”. People walked along the roads, rode horses and carts, and always lost something, so our task is to find these “lost things.” Another road can compete with the disappeared village in terms of the number of finds.
Now a little more about the search procedure itself. It is worth “ringing” with a metal detector not only the road surface itself, but also the side of the road at a distance of about 10...20 meters. It would seem for what? The answer is obvious, now you can get from point A to point B in a matter of hours; before, it took much more time to cover such a distance. The travelers were tired, settled down for the night, but still tried not to stray far from the road, these were wild, deaf times. Drunk Russians with balalaikas and bears roam everywhere. But the road is still a crowded place. Pay special attention to objects that stand out—an old tree, a large rock, or something similar. There is a high probability that some traveler could use this natural landmark for his own purposes to indicate the place where the treasure is hidden. Searches in these places must be carried out with special care.
In general, we can talk about treasures on the roads for a long time. Firstly, the road itself was a good landmark. Secondly, a wanderer who was ill or afraid of thieves in the night could hastily hide his accumulated wealth. Yes, a lot of reasons can be given. It is important to understand that it is not metal detectors who are looking for in the first place, but people who think or ponder, analyze information.
Another place on the road that deserves attention is the intersection. Not only does it in itself carry a certain sacred (cult) meaning, but it is also a good reference point. “Crossroads are considered fatal and unclean; Here spells and conspiracies are performed, suicides or found corpses are buried, and crosses and chapels are erected for protection. At the crossroads the devils are rolling eggs and playing piledriver. At the crossroads, the unclean is free in the human soul.”© Dahl. At crossroads there were usually roadside taverns and inns. Therefore, here too the metal detector should not know peace and rest.
Finally, I would like to mention that the soil on the roads is very dense, so be prepared to work with a shovel like an adult. And sometimes it’s nice to have a more serious tool like a pick or crowbar on hand.

Tags: How to find an old road in the forest

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In search of missing villages.

In the 3rd issue of “Military Archeology” there was a typo - a paragraph was omitted from Sergei Frolov’s article “In Search of Missing Villages” from the “Milestones of History” section. To eliminate this error, we are publishing the full version of the article in the live journal.
In search of missing villages
Among the many modern hobbies of man, treasure hunting rightfully occupies a special place. The ranks of adherents of this ancient and fascinating activity are constantly growing. Truly, the hopes of those who seek are immortal.
Metal detectors are the latest developments; only they can be trusted to detect desired objects. In pursuit of fashion, many antiquity seekers purchased new items that were not cheap. But they don’t know what exactly to do with them, how to use them most effectively. Some people cannot figure out the device, they lack the necessary experience, and most simply do not have time to study historical literature. And now the ultra-modern “toy” lies gathering dust on the shelf, bringing only disappointment instead of joy. What can you say to novice treasure hunters? How to revive their determination and cooling ardor? In reality, everything is not as difficult as it seems.
The easiest and surest way to touch history and find something interesting is to study missing villages, hamlets and villages, human settlements. Over the centuries-old history of our country, rare periods of life passed in relative calm, throughout the existence of the Russian state - constant civil strife, foreign invasions, popular uprisings. That there were villages, sometimes entire cities, that disappeared from the face of the earth and were rebuilt. Many human settlements never rose from the ashes of history. Exploring such places will certainly bring positive results - the land still holds a lot of different secrets.
In the old days, such abandoned places were called wastelands, now they are called tracts.
In a broad sense, a tract is any part of the terrain, a section of terrain that is different from other sections of the surrounding area, for example, it could be a forest in the middle of a field, a swamp or something similar, as well as a section of terrain that is a natural boundary between something. (Wikipedia)
On any modern map of scale 1:100000 or 1:200000 you can see mysterious names with the letters “ur.” ahead. To more accurately determine the location of the disappeared village, you can use old maps, which are not difficult to acquire now, not like 10–15 years ago. Geographical atlases of Mende, Schubert, as well as maps of the General Survey will suit you. It would also be a good idea to visit the local history museum in the area where the research is planned. In the museum you can learn a lot of interesting and useful information - about the passage of trade routes, important geographical and historical objects, populated areas, places of concentration of any production and places of fairs and battles...
We compare the old map with the modern one and - full speed ahead. Rivers, streams, ravines and old roads are good guides for finding your way in the search for a missing village; they can be quite easy to find on the ground. In addition to the objects indicated on old maps, it is necessary, if possible, to examine the intersections of the largest roads, places of fords, bridges and crossings, as well as the area at the confluence of rivers and streams and near prominent heights and hills.
Lost villages can be roughly divided into two types - those that disappeared without a trace (literally leveled by machinery for crop land) and those that disappeared but left visible traces - mounds of foundations, pits from wells, ruins of buildings, wild fruit trees and shrubs. They were not leveled and were used for farmland except as pastures for livestock.
Most of the leveled villages are still being plowed, although recently in many places “the arable land has been overgrown with forest,” as during the period of the Polish devastation. In vast fields, it is not easy to find a plowed village; you will have to wander around. Signs of it will be fragments of bricks, crockery shards, and metal village rubbish. In our area, outside the black soil zone, the former village on the arable land is distinguished by the darkest color of the soil compared to the rest of the field. Signs of a once residential place can be trees standing alone in the middle of a field - linden, willow, oak. Or, for example, a linden alley in the forest, or a section of terrain covered with poplars. In the fields, it is also necessary to remember about land reclamation, which was carried out everywhere during the Soviet period. It often happens that instead of a stream, you can find only a small dry hollow in a field, while according to the old map there was a dam and a water mill on the river.
In the areas of the oldest villages, very few fragments of brick are found - in those days it was rarely used to build foundations. But there are large quantities of earthenware ceramics. Based on the composition and appearance of these shards, a knowledgeable person can accurately determine their age, that is, the age of the village. Finding such a village can be considered a success; there will be almost no metal debris, such as foil, aluminum wire, plugs and cartridges. Most often, old settlements were located on the banks of streams and rivers, and sometimes “near wells”, along the most important trade routes. The ancients preferred sunny southern slopes of hills, protected from northern winds by heights or forests. Only later did people begin to build houses at the very peaks of heights, open to all winds.
The unleveled village consists of overgrown mounds of foundations surrounded by semi-wild fruit trees and bushes. As a rule, in the areas of former buildings, the thickets of nettles, fireweed or other grass are the densest, so for work in the summer it would be advisable to use a scythe or a gas mower. Typically, the foundation of a house is dug along the inner perimeter to a depth of homogeneous soil, especially in the corners. There, the owners sometimes, when building a house, placed mortgage coins so that there would be money in the house. Often in the corners you come across brass and copper folds and crosses that fell from the shelf during a fire or destruction of the house. As practice shows, the largest number of coins are found along the main, front wall of the house, where the windows were located. This place can be determined by a map and compass, or by fragments of glass found in the ground, or simply visually - the windows usually faced the sunny side.
The discarded soil and excavation site are periodically checked with a metal detector. The fact is that in many houses in the old days there simply was no wooden floor. Houses were sometimes built semi-earthen - a hole was dug, from which a frame was subsequently raised. The floor was earthen, trampled down or covered with straw, in which it was difficult to find a coin or, for example, a ring that had been accidentally dropped. Of particular interest are furnace pits, which are sometimes called brownie pits. Often, garbage was swept into these pits - shards of dishes, small animal bones, along with which lost coins and other interesting objects ended up there. When plowing, the contents of such a house are turned out to the surface by plows and dragged across the field from year to year.
In places where the oldest villages and settlements are plowed, it is advisable to use a search probe with a tip to find house holes. First, you need to notice a place, a certain patch of land, where you come across the most finds - coins, crosses and other items made of non-ferrous metals, as well as a lot of ceramics and the soil itself is quite humus, “livable”, that is, black in color. After this, you should examine this place with a probe. In areas of house holes, you will feel the characteristic dip of the probe, as well as the grinding of the tip on the ceramics. Over time, having dug several holes, you will easily learn to recognize the necessary objects, even if you have not previously had experience working with a search probe.
It is necessary to explore the missing village thoroughly and thoroughly, checking not only the places where the houses stood, but also the territory of vegetable gardens and outbuildings. Often, valuables were buried away from the house. Experienced treasure hunters do not use discrimination at all, working in the “all metals” mode. Firstly, the depth of object detection increases. And secondly, when choosing all the metal garbage, they practically do not miss even the smallest objects, for example, a “scale” - a Russian medieval coin. Every beginner should know that finding a coin next to a cast iron frying pan can be difficult even with a state-of-the-art metal detector.
It will be useful to work with a metal detector at other historical sites indicated on the maps. These include inns, brick and other industries, trading shops, piers, ruins of landowners' estates, manor parks, etc. The only thing that must be avoided is excavations on the territory of archaeological and historical monuments that are protected by the state. This is where you may get into trouble with the law.
And one last useful note: try to fill the holes after you work with a shovel. Firstly, you won’t attract competitors with your holes, and secondly, no agronomist or head of the village administration will attribute damage to agricultural land to you.
Now all that remains is to wait for the new field season and off we go. And so that this winter doesn’t seem so long and boring to you, use the time to study historical and local history literature, maps, and choose upcoming routes. After all, it was not us who proved that practice without theory is nothing, and vice versa.
Sergey Frolov
Photo by Andrey Arsentiev

Where and how to look for treasures!? - AstrakhanKlad.ru - Treasure hunters...

Aug 19, 2013 - So, how and where to look to find treasure at home? ... if you accidentally stumble upon Shaitanka while walking through the forest, you may not pay attention to her at all. .... All that remains is to find the old road and comb it.

SEARCH BY ANTIQUES: INNS AND Taverns Literally a couple of hundred years ago, coins were in much greater use than they are now. Accordingly, they also got lost much more often, and if you know how to look for them correctly, and most importantly, where to do it, you can easily acquire such a trophy, if only you had the desire. Although, of course, some technological innovations can also come in handy. It will be very helpful to become familiar with the historical locations of cities and towns before you begin your search for antiquities. After all, it is obvious that their locations have changed over time, and where the spacious plain now lies, former settlements, trading areas, inns and taverns could previously have been located. We will talk in more detail about searches in places such as inns and taverns in this article. WHAT ARE INTERESTING INNS AND Taverns? It was places like these that gathered wanderers and those simply wanting to relax and have a drink or two after a hard day at work. Finding coins in such places is not uncommon, since their turnover here was quite high. In this case, the coins did not necessarily have to be lost - it may even be that some of their stock was hidden by the owner of the establishment or a cautious guest who was afraid of robbery. Almost every inn or tavern had trampled paths from the surrounding villages, along which men, overwhelmed by work and everyday life, walked to spend their hard-earned coins and relax a little. So life was in full swing there, coins were jingling, vodka and wine were flowing like a river, and here and there prowling girls were squealing... If you can determine exactly where the building of the inn stood, then it is also necessary, if possible, to cover the path from the road to the entrance. If there is a body of water nearby (river, lake), then the path to it. Well, and the adjacent area, of course. By the way, sometimes murders took place there and the victim could bury himself nearby. So, when digging a deep signal, be mentally prepared that under the shovel human bones may turn out of the ground. WHAT FINDS ARE FOUND IN SUCH PLACES? Fans of instrumental searching in such places were able to find various types of copper and silver coins of the Russian Empire with varying degrees of success. In addition to ancient coins, there were copper uniform buttons of soldiers, officers, high and low ranks of the tsarist army, as well as rings, rings, crosses, items of horse harness, lead seals, various types of spent cartridges, etc. But inns and taverns, as well as fairs, places of former churches and estates are identified first by experienced search engines, especially those indicated on the maps. WHERE TO LOOK FOR SIMILAR ESTABLISHMENTS? You should look for such establishments (inns, taverns, taverns, taverns, taverns) near the outskirts of former settlements and at major crossings. Often, inns were located at some distance from villages. It will be more difficult to localize such objects, and many beginners, when looking at maps, don’t even pay attention to the signs of the inn. CONCLUSION Searching at the site of ancient inns can easily be called the most interesting type of searching in antiquity, since it is here that interesting and rare types of coins can be found. Unlike ordinary farms, inns were often visited by different types of people: military, service, workers, peasants, officials and travelers. Places of such historical interest can give the searcher many pleasant memories of searching with a metal detector.

Any abandoned or simply old road is another great place to look for ancient artifacts and coins. No wonder the popular proverb says: “The road is rich in riders, but lunch is in pies.” And the more riders in ancient times drove along the road and along it, the more finds a search on it promises you. But let's take it in order.

Which roads to dig on?

And the first question that usually arises among beginners is how to choose and find the road that interests us? There are usually no problems with the first part of this question. Since it is better to search with a metal detector on old roads, our task is to detect one. To do this, just take two cards - one old (the older and more detailed, the better!) and one modern and compare them. You can do this using computer programs, you can do it manually, but the whole task boils down to ensuring that the roads marked on (ideally, if they are large roads!) are transferred to a modern map. I think it’s clear what to do next? It is necessary to go to the area, using a modern map, look for the place where the road passed 100-200 years ago, and collect the harvest in the form of coins using a metal detector. I warn you right away that on the old roads marked on your map, a forest could have grown long ago, or there could have been a plowed field, or something else. Therefore, among other things, it’s good to know and be able to apply the basic signs of old forgotten roads on the ground:

We pay attention to the vegetation, we try to find those plants that like to grow along the roadside: cinquefoil, knotweed, nettle, etc. On old roads the vegetation is sparse and lower.;
under certain lighting conditions, in particular, in the early morning with oblique sunlight, abandoned roads are better visible on the soil surface. This happens due to the fact that, despite everything, the ruts that were once located on the road take a very long time to be overgrown, and there is still at least a minimal difference in the soil topography in the area where they pass. It’s just that under standard lighting we cannot notice this difference with the naked eye;
in places where abandoned roads pass, the fog spreads lower to the ground, which is explained by temperature differences due to differences in soil density.

Let's once again focus on the point of how you can find roads to search. Let's assume that you don't have the opportunity to download old maps, what should you do in this situation? Here are also options:

you can simply go at random into fields and forests, visually find ordinary primers and walk along them. Believe me, at least “advice” () will definitely be among the finds, and then depending on your luck;
you can use modern detailed maps. Also look for primers that have a specific designation of their own; it is advisable that they connect two populated areas and check;
use satellite map services (Yandex.Maps, Google Maps, etc.).

Where and what to look for on the roads

Searching on old roads is carried out in a standard way, just as you do it in the field and on the tract. It’s just that the area that you have to explore is not so wide, but at the same time elongated.

When searching for ancient coins on abandoned and forest roads, examine not only the road surface, but also the side of the road. Why is this so? Horseback riders, carts, and foot travelers moved along the roads. In most cases, pedestrians were pressed to the edge (to the side of the road), because it was necessary to periodically let horsemen through.

The following deserve special attention:

large clearings. In the clearings, travelers could stop to rest if the road was long, there could be a roadside tavern or something similar;
bridges. In the old days, bridges over rivers, streams and ditches were made of wood, often rotted, carts could fall through, and coins could fall out of travelers’ pockets. Other similar situations can be imagined;
intersections. At all times, the intersection was considered not just the intersection of one road with another, but was a cult place. That is why searches at intersections should be carried out especially carefully. Where else if not here did the superstitious village women perform their magical rites and fortune-telling ceremonies? Did local witches and sorcerers organize their own rituals? And the intersection of roads in itself is a very successful and profitable place for an inn, postal station and tavern;
fords. Here the situation is approximately the same as with the bridge, but it is also worth considering that when crossing the ford, coins and other things could be lost when descending into the river and ascending from it.

Separately, I would like to say about the search for ancient treasures on abandoned roads. It would seem, where do they come from here? But criminals have existed at all times. In the old days, there were also robbers and thieves; they were the ones who could loot treasures - coins and jewelry. But the search for robber treasures is more like a series of Indiana Jones adventures, but the search for small caches or random treasures is more than likely and possible. Imagine that you are a rich merchant and you are traveling with a convoy from one settlement to another and you are attacked by forest robbers, what will you do first? Most will say hide the money. Where? In the ground, under the roots of noticeable trees, in a hollow, under a stone... here you have such a random treasure. Of course, it’s not easy to find them, but it’s possible.

One day, an acquaintance told me a rule for searching on ancient roads in the forest, which is called the “rule of great need.” Those. again, imagine the situation, a man is riding on a cart, and suddenly he has the urge to go to the toilet due to great need, what is he doing. He stops the cart and moves away from the road into the bushes, but at the same time he does not move 500 meters from the road, but “sits down” where he is not particularly visible from the road, but he can keep an eye on his goods without problems. It is at this distance from the road that the search boundary lies, i.e. moving further, you can count on coins and things that were once lost by mushroom pickers and hunters.