The world atlas of pre-1900 bottle digging and mudlarking sites
1,000 documented sites across six continents. Every pin is verified or honestly labeled. Every site carries its legal status, evidence tier, tide and light timing, and one-click historic map overlays.
Built by a digger, not a content farm
Mudflats, rivers, dumps, foreshores, and lakes. Tide-timed windows, deposition physics that hold up, and sources cited on every entry.
Pins you can trust
Pins sit on a verifiable feature, a named wharf, a confluence, a landmark. Anything less is labeled a general placement, right on the card. No fake precision, ever.
Legal intel on every site
Legal, gray, permission required, restricted, or prohibited, each with the actual framework behind it: PLA Thames permits, ARPA, Schatzregal rules, and more. Prohibited sites are mapped as AVOID, never hidden.
Historic map overlays
One click drops a georeferenced Sanborn or period survey over the modern map. Chips are live-checked before they show, so every overlay button actually works.
Tide and light timing
NOAA tide stations, USGS river gauges, and sun windows per site, so you show up when the flat is actually walkable.
Honest evidence tiers
Documented digs are marked as documented. Historical inference is marked as inference. The two are never blurred, and every tier shows its basis.
Your logs stay yours
Dig logs, custom sites, and zones live in your browser, private by default. Export and import your data any time.
The rule of law: accurate or labeled
Most digging maps are vague dots and recycled forum rumors. Mudlark Maps runs on one standing rule: every dot is accurate, or it says plainly that it is a general placement. That rule applies to all 1,000 sites, and it is why the map is worth your gas money.
Verified pins
Checked against real landmarks and period sources before they earn exact status.
Labeled zones
When the record only supports an area, you get a numbered zone and a straight answer, not false confidence.
Cited sources
Every site lists where its claim comes from, so you can judge the evidence yourself.
Mudlark Pro
The full atlas stays free to explore while Pro is built. Pro adds the layers serious diggers asked for.
- Full legal-intelligence layer, kept current
- Exact pins and numbered dig zones
- One-click historic map overlays
- Tide, gauge, and light timing per site
- Synced private dig logs across devices
- New verified sites added continuously
No spam. One email when Pro ships.
Questions
Is the map really free?
Yes. The atlas is free to open and explore. Pro will add premium layers on top, and early supporters lock the founding price.
Do you tell people to dig where it's illegal?
No. Prohibited and restricted sites are mapped so you know why you can't dig them, with the legal framework named on each one. Knowing where not to dig is half the value.
Where does the data come from?
Period newspapers, Sanborn and survey maps, documented dig reports, and field knowledge, with sources cited on every site and evidence tiers kept honest.
Is my dig log private?
Yes. Logs and custom sites are stored in your own browser. Nothing you record is sent anywhere.