[JenB]

Do you know it's been there since you've been there? Or could it have been buried since you've been on the property?

My mind is conjuring loads of ideas. I like the idea that it's a stash best, and whatever it was already got retrieved. Maybe it was jewels and you'd find a diamond or two if you dug out all the dirt.

[HairOfTheDog]

Only trouble with the stash theory is that the top (was really the bottom of the barrel) didn't open, just the small hole - and the hole very well could have been caused by the pony walkin' on it. It looks square in the pic, but we didn't really look to see if it was a cut hole or just a collapse by pony foot.

[HairOfTheDog]

It was not put there since I was here. That area up until recently was heavily undergrowth-covered and inaccessible.