Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| John Brooks Beach Thursday Morning |
I took a look at a few beaches this morning on South Hutchinson Island. They all looked pretty much the same. No cuts anywhere.
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| Blind Creek This Morning. |
The beaches seemed to be back towards the west a little but were smooth and fairly mushy in most locations, with some firm spots, mostly near the water.
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| Walton Rocks This Morning. |
I found a lot of modern coins scattered over two beaches - maybe thirty or so, and a ring. I'm often surprised by how much is out there.
I wasn't much interested in finding modern change but thought there might be something more interesting since there were so many coins. The coins were packed closely together though.
One thing about when there is a lot of targets, even if they are junk targets, it tells you something about the distribution of things.
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Here is an interesting story from a web site I don't know much about.
I’m now convinced that if you want to find the remains of ancient civilizations, the fastest, surest way to do so is to start building a road. Anywhere will do. Just grab that shovel out of the old shed, say out loud “I am now building a road,” and start digging. Chances are you’ll find a 10,000-year-old village. It just keeps happening. Either that or a school, but a road is easier for a single determined person with a shovel.
The latest ancient village discovered accidentally is in Northampton, Massachusetts. Construction workers excavating a site for a new roundabout discovered arrowheads, spearpoints, knives, and other tools. A private archaeological company, Archaeological and Historical Services Inc., was called in to excavate and analyze the site. Experts now believe that the site dates back to the early archaic period between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago. According to senior archaeologist David Leslie, sites from this period are “incredibly rare,” and this site represents a discovery of importance to understanding the development of the region.
Here is the link for more of that story.
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/11/construction-workers-find-incredibly-rare-remains-of-8000-year-old-village-in-massachusetts/
Thanks to Dick H. for that submission.
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A few days ago I was talking about broken shipwreck spikes. I provided my thoughts why so many were shipwreck spikes were broken. Ron J. referred me to an article, Search for the Lost French Fleet of 1565 (Canaveral National Seashore 1970-1971, by Douglas Armstrong), which says that spikes were saved, modified and used by shipwreck survivors. That certainly makes a lot of sense and might account for bent, broken or otherwise modified spikes. Below is a brief excerpt.
It seems clear these spikes were being modified to make tools needed for survival or trade, including hammerheads, points, awls, chisels, and drills. In addition to tool making, these metalworkers were also making jewelry, almost certainly for trade, as they appear in styles (pendants, beads, plummets, etc., many fashioned from reworked French coins) that would have been appealing to the local Indians.
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| Image from John De Bry as shown in OceanExplorer.noaa.gov link below. |
And below is the description of the items shown in the photo above.
And here is the link.
Iron artifacts recovered from the Armstrong Site that were salvaged from wreckage and modified by 1565 shipwreck survivors. At left, there are four examples of ship’s fastener heads which have been cut from their shanks by saw or chisel. Many examples were found, and they for the most part represent debitage from tool making using a forge and tools. Some could have been meant to form hammer heads by insertion into the striking face of a wooden mallet. At right are partially intact ship’s spikes. Each displays clear evidence of using a forge to heat and then tools such as saws, hammers, chisels, anvil, and clamps to remove stock iron for use in constructing new tools.
It could certainly be that some of what I thought were broken spikes were modified by shipwreck survivors to create tools or other useful items.
Thanks to Ron J. who hopes to get in some good metal detecting when he arrives in Sebastian from Stuttgard Germany in a few days.
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Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net
