Monday, March 12, 2018

3/12/18 Report - Fakes, Forgeries, Experts: Message in Bottle and Christopher Columbus' Anchor.


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

On 3/9 I posted a story about an old bottle with a message inside.  Some people now think that it was a hoax conducted by a marketeer.  Jalopnik. com casts suspicion on the story.  They say, But not everyone is on board with the finding, since WAtoday reports that Kym Illman is a known businessperson and “ambush marketeer"” in the Perth area. Radio hosts said some people think the Illmans’ discovery could be an elaborate marketing scheme for Wedge Island, and Perth Now reports that Kym Illman admitted people would have probably expected the old message to be in much worse shape than it was in after more than a century and time at sea...

Here is the link.

https://jalopnik.com/did-f1-driver-daniel-ricciardo-s-parents-fake-finding-t-1823616430

Speaking of questionable media.  I never felt comfortable with the truthfulness of the Cooper's Treasure TV show.  They are now claiming that they found Christopher Columbus' anchor.  Here is what they are saying.

Experts have used a “space treasure map” to make a remarkable discovery in the Caribbean -- a centuries-old anchor believed to be from one of Christopher Columbus’ ships.

Analysis of the anchor, which was found off the Turks and Caicos islands, reveals that it dates to between 1492 and 1550. The overall size of the anchor and its estimated weight of between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds indicates that it was a “bower” anchor from a 300-ton vessel, the typical size of a Columbus-era ship...


Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2017/05/02/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site.html

To me, it seems too easy to make such claims and very difficult to prove them.

 The term "expert" is being used very loosely on reality TV and in the attention seeking media these days.  It seems to be what you call someone when they need one but don't have one.  If you can't convince me with the evidence or your reasoning, calling someone an expert isn't going to convince me of anything.  Present the evidence and let it speak for itself.

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A famed archaeologist well-known for discovering the sprawling 9,000-year-old settlement in Turkey called Çatalhöyük seems to have faked several of his ancient findings and may have run a "forger's workshop" of sorts, one researcher says.

James Mellaart, who died in 2012, created some of the "ancient" murals at Çatalhöyük that he supposedly discovered; he also forged documents recording inscriptions that were found at Beyköy, a village in Turkey, said geoarchaeologist Eberhard Zangger, president of the Luwian Studies Foundation. Zangger examined Mellaart's apartment in London between Feb. 24-27, finding "prototypes," as Zangger calls them, of murals and inscriptions that Mellaart had claimed were real...

And here is that link.

https://www.livescience.com/61989-famed-archaeologist-created-fakes.html?utm_source=notification

Just because he was a well-known expert, doesn't mean he was always honest or right.

Archaeologists often criticize treasure hunting because treasure hunters sell artifacts and "profit" from their activities.  Many treasure hunters actually do it for other reasons, and most archaeologists make a career out  of archaeology.  They make money from their professional activities and advance their careers by making discoveries and then they sell their books, which are filled with information obtained while working for the tax-paying public.  If they want to remove the danger and evil of profit from archaeology, they should become amateur archaeologists.

This article also brings up the topic of how difficult it can be to identify and date items with certainty.  I'll have some more about that in upcoming posts.

I get a lot of photos of finds that people want to have identified.  There are inexpensive and simple techniques that can be used to answer many questions.

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I should note, as Sebastian Steve told me, that there were many other prizes of equal value to Steve's awarded at Saturday's TCAS hunt.

Good job TCAS!

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It is a nice cloudy morning.  I really prefer clouds to burning sunshine.

The wind is from the west and the surf is only about two feet.  The tides are still pretty flat too.  It might be a decent day to get in the water.  I always say that when conditions aren't right for one type of hunting, they will be right for another.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net