Tried a ground-penetrating radar in my own backyard near Omaha

I borrowed a GPR unit from a buddy last summer just to see what was under my lawn. I figured I'd find old pipes or maybe a buried trash pit from the 1950s. Instead it showed a perfect rectangular anomaly about 6 feet down - turned out to be a collapsed cistern from the 1880s that no one knew about. Made me realize these tools can find ordinary stuff that still changes how you see your property. Anyone else ever dig up something way older than you expected right at home?

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jamiekim1mo ago

and honestly that's the kind of find that sticks with you way more than buried treasure would, right? a cistern from the 1880s is just such a weirdly intimate piece of history to have under your feet. I think a lot of these old towns out here on the plains have stuff like that nobody remembers because people just filled things in and built over them. like my neighbor three houses down found an old hand-dug well from the 1860s when they dug up a rotting tree stump. took me a second to realize the original homesteaders probably dug that thing by hand with shovels. it really puts things in perspective when you're just mowing the lawn over something that someone used to haul water out of every day.