However, its loud noise and ability to terrify any enemies would have certainly compensated for this. Because of the high precipitation and acidic nature of soils in the North, metal tends to corrode quickly. When iron rusts, it combines with oxygen to form a bulkier iron oxide, or rust. These nails have corroded so badly that they are hardly recognizable. When metal artifacts such as these are cleaned, pliers are used to break off the larger clumps of rust while brushes are used to clean off the smaller bits.
Nails are very useful to archaeologists as they can help date soil layers in a site.
Forged nails, the type found on the LaVase Island, date to 1830 and before. These went out of common usage with the introduction of square-cut nails around 1830. Square-cut nails also fell out of favour about 1910 with the development of the more efficient round nail. The round nail has proven to be more durable than its predecessors and is still manufactured today. These unremarkable looking artifacts represent some of the most significant finds of the 1995 LaVase dig.