Tuesday, March 17, 2015

3/17/15 Report - An Eighteenth Century Camp Site. Seeing Faint Marks On Rusty Implements. Ancient Coins Discovered.


Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

Axe Heads Found At A Florida Site
 

A few days ago I gave you a link to a Florida Archives web site.  One interesting article I found through that site provided a new method of reading invisible marks on rusted iron implements.

That article and the picture shown here was  found in the Journal of the Florida Anthropoligical Society, volume 26, Dec. 1973, no. 4.

The article title is An Early Eighteenth Century Work Camp.  The archaeological site yielded a number of artifacts, mostly from the period of British occupation.  You might find it very interesting.

I can't find the direct link to the PDF file right now but you can use the link I gave in my 3/15/15 post and then do a keyword search.  I might find some time to do that for you myself a little later.

Anyhow here is the method for reading marks on rusted iron.

First some of the rust was removed.  Then they did the following.

From the marks they were able to determine who likely made the axe.

That is a new method that I plan to try some time in the future.

Even if you won't be using this method, I still think you'll find plenty of interesting reading in the article.

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The past few days I've experienced a lot of what people call coincidences.  Some people say there is no such thing.  Maybe they are right.  I don't know.  I can easily imagine that there is a purpose behind everything and that everything is ordered in one way or another.

Anyhow, I have reels of old 8mm family film made decades ago.  I didn't have a projector to view the movies and intended to buy one.  I kept putting it off, not wanting to spend the money, not knowing for sure exactly what I needed or how trustworthy the used units selling on the internet might be.  I had something I needed to do and kept putting it off, but last Saturday decided to go do it.  On the way, I spotted a yard sale, and although I almost never go to yard sales, made a U turn and went back.  One of the first things I saw was an old movie projector.  I asked how much the lady wanted and she said ten dollars.  She said it worked, but I could see a missing piece.  I decided to take a gamble on it for the small price of ten dollars.   It worked. 

So I have been looking at old family films.  There are pictures of mountains, waterfalls, tourist attractions, and all of the types of things that people want to capture in photos.  But I discovered one thing.  The thing I love to see is the people.   Most of the other stuff just doesn't seem that interesting.  I like seeing my parents, grandparents, my friends and relatives, and even me.   Many of those people are no longer alive, and the others are now some fifty years older.

The point of this is that it is the people that matter.  We want to go, do and have, but when it comes down to it, it is all about the people.  

PS: Old films can be used to find old detecting sites too.

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There was a rumor of ancient coins stored in a collection somewhere at the University of Buffalo.  Finally one faculty member decided to try to find them.   Eventually he did.  There were 40 silver Greek coins, three gold Greek coins and a dozen Roman coins that had remained hidden in the archives for decades.  The coins dated from the first century A. D. and back.

Here is that link.

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2015/03/020.html

How many other coins and artifacts remain forgotten in a university or museum?   A lot I'm sure.

Yesterday I reported from a source that said that something like 84% of the 366 billion U. S. coins in circulation are actually in storage or hoarded.   That doesn't sound right to me, but if it is anything near close, that means that something like 209 billion are stored away somewhere.  I find that hard to believe, but even if it is way off, there are undoubtedly tons of them.  Many will be forgotten, like those ancient coins.

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On the Treasure Coast today we have a two-foot surf.  The wind will be from the West for at least a while.

There will be a negative low tide too.

Have courage, and be kind.  (Some of you will know where that comes from.)
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net