Excalibur Shovels are the Preferred Shovels of Adventure Archaeology on YouTube

Adventure Archaeology is an antique bottle digging & metal detecting channel on YouTube.

Brandon Nicholas is your bottle digging and metal detecting host along with other characters such as Clayton "the bottle digger" and Brandon's wife Miranda. Yes, Miranda detects and digs old bottles too! They are a wealth of information when it comes to antique bottles. Hutch tops, colas, poisons, medicine, milk, slicks, stoppers and many more. I like the in depth history briefings during the videos about particular bottles they are digging. Click the link and Subscribe to Adventure Archaeology on YouTube and see Excalibur Shovels in action!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHYTOnxvMhgQLU483YWte2w/featured

The Life of a Bottle Digger.....

It all started years ago when I was a child with shelves full of bottles that my dad had collected or dug from before I was born. See my dad was a bottle digger, metal detectorist and arrowhead hunter long before I was even a twinkle in his eye. As I was growing up I saw the bottles and relics that he had collected and truthfully thought he was a little crazy for keeping all of this “garbage”........ little did I know that one day this “garbage” would become my passion too! My drive to dig bottles didn’t arrive until one day my dad said that he heard about a new bottle dump and that he wanted to take me to dig bottles. The funny part is that he waited until I was in my early twenties before taking me digging because of the danger which we will get into a little later. So one day after completing a small job that me and my dad had been working together on we set out to find this new bottle dump. We found it almost immediately because there were several groups out in the field digging so it was kind of hard to miss. It was really a sight for someone that had never seen anything like it. There were holes in every direction 5 to 6 feet deep and ever so often you would see a head pop up or shovels of dirt flying out. Instantly my dad was in his element that he had been out of for years. We picked out a spot and starting digging and after about an hour of hard work I dug my very first bottle which just so happened to be a Hutchinson style soda bottle. That was it I was hooked! After spending the rest of the day digging I returned home and told my wife about what we had done and to my surprise she wanted me to take her. So the following weekend that’s exactly what I did and we had a blast! We soon became one of the only husband and wife digging teams in Alabama and well the rest is kind of history! So now that I have been digging for a little over a decade I feel like I can accurately share what it’s like to live the life of a bottle digger. The rush and excitement is unmatched! The thrill of the find is definitely the drive of digging the massive holes required to find our hidden treasure. You truthfully never know what you will find. We’ve found everything from silver coins to porcelain signs in the bottle dumps over the years. Alabama has a very rich history when it comes to antique bottles some of the rarest bottles in the world come from right down the road from where I live. The Bessemer Alabama Coca Cola Hutchinson style bottle can fetch up to $7000 at auction! Though I have never even dug a piece of one the “what if” factor is enough to keep me going! The rarest bottle that I have found is a soda bottle from Pratt City Alabama. On this bottle is an embossed Indian chief with a watermelon slug plate. It really is a beautiful bottle and I was offered $500 before I even left the bottle dump. Between me and my wife we have dug thousands of dollars in bottles and have enjoyed every minute of it! But for so much reward there is definitely risk! One of the main risk factors of bottle digging is cave ins. When digging sometimes in excess of 15 feet dirt can become severely unstable and if you are at the bottom of the hole you could literally become buried alive! We always have what is called a spotter who watches the walls of the holes for cracks and any dirt movement though this definitely does not mean they will always be able to warn you fast enough. I know of at least one digger who was killed in Atlanta Georgia by a cave in. NO BOTTLE is worth your life.... This is our motto and we always try to keep that in the back of our minds. Another risk factor is the neighborhood locations. It never fails that if you find a great bottle dump it will be in the worst neighborhood! This is where keeping a good relationship with the local law enforcement really keeps you safe. We have multiple police officers that we are on a first name basis with that come and check on us during our digs. It is really sad to me that sometimes diggers have bad attitudes towards cops. Just remember they have a job to do! They have literally became a valuable part of our team! So always remember to stay safe while digging and always be courteous to law enforcement you never know when you will need their help! Sadly bottle digging in my opinion is a dying hobby. That is why I started my YouTube channel Adventure Archaeology. I wanted to keep people interested and show them the history that is literally buried beneath their feet! This next generation will miss out if we don’t find a way to keep them interested and informed! Therefore if you are a digger reading this I encourage you to help keep this generation in the loop! Take them with you and show them the safe and correct ways to dig! And always remember the family that digs together stays together!

Brandon Nicholas AKA

Adventure Archaeology