2/18/18 Report - Faculty Member Says, "Treasure hunters are no better than ISIS, except they do not film themselves."

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

I must come to the defense of higher education and archaeology today because of the comments made by one person.  I'm never in favor of judging a group by one person.  

"Treasure hunters are no better than ISIS, except they do not film themselves."  That is a quote from an email written by the person that seems to run a TAMU web page to fight treasure hunting.  I  gave the link in my previous post.  Joe D. forwarded the email containing the quote to me.

The quote equating treasure hunters (however defined) with ISIS fails to appreciate that treasure hunters don't kill, maim, enslave and rape thousands upon thousands, as does ISIS.  What shocked me the most about the comment is the gross insensitivity to human carnage and suffering inflicted by ISIS on thousands and thousands of victims.  When I originally read the web site I thought the author might be using the term treasure hunting as a synonym for looter or something specific, but after reading the email, I wouldn't be surprised if he is actually lumping every one that goes out to the beach for a little recreational metal detecting in with looters - and ISIS.  I hope not.

I do not believe that this person's attitudes reflect the vast majority of those in archaeology, otherwise we would not have people such as Eugene Lyons, E. Lee Spence, or Robert Marx who contribute significantly and are accepted and honored by both academia and treasure hunting.  And we would not have a long history of permits issued by states to treasure salvage companies.  The Florida Collection obtains items every year from Treasure Coast treasure salvors.

I have cited studies in which amateur detectorists worked with archaeologists to survey sites.  The Portable Antiquities Scheme, which began in 1996, has resulted in thousands of finds being made by amateur detectorists that have become a part of the PAS database.  Dr. E. Lee Spence, who credits Robert Marx with being the father of underwater archaeology, worked under permit with Intersal Inc. to locate Queen Anne's Revenge, which I've posted about quite a few times.  Those are just a few of many examples.

The people that read this blog are very much interested in archaeology and would support archaeology any way they can.  They include doctors, attorneys, teachers, etc.  Some have made contributions to the field of archaeology. Most do a little detecting on the beach and have not found anything that would be of interest to an archaeologists but are still enthusiastic about archaeology and are much more interested in our common past than the average citizen.  They are a part of the public for whom the past should be preserved and also the supporters of archaeology.  It is sad to see them lumped in with ISIS.  Mud slinging doesn't accomplish anything.  It would be better to have rational discussion.  I was hoping that the author of the ISIS quote was perhaps using the term "treasure hunter" differently than many casual detectorists and not knowing how many friends of archaeology might be offended.  The gross insensitivity to the suffering of the victims of ISIS is really hard to overlook.

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Just so I won't be accused of taking the quote out of context, below is the text of the email Joe D. received in response to his email to the author of the "stop treasure hunting" web site, which I referred to in my previous post.

Precisely because I am in academia I have the moral obligation to give my informed opinion on treasure hunters or anybody that destroys the world's cultural heritage or the world's environment. I do not talk lightly about treasure hunters. I have been around for many years and when I say that treasure hunters are no better than ISIS, except that they do not film themselves, I know what I am talking about. I have seen treasure hunters destroy amazingly important testimonies of our common past to get a few artifacts that shine.

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Don't forget the Robert Marx lecture at FIT on Feb. 20.

11/13/17 Report - At Least One Treasure Beach Improved by This Weekends High Surf. Finds Being Made. Robert Marx Lecture Tomorrow.

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

John Brooks This Morning About 7:30.

I went out to see what was happening at the beach.  We had another full day of rough surf, yet John Books and Frederick Douglas beaches were little changed.  The tide had been high up on the beach.  There were some shallow scallops that weren't there yesterday.  That was about it.  No erosion, and the beach was mushy.

Sorry the pictures aren't so good today.  I was having trouble getting the mode I wanted and didn't get the camera settings right until after I came home.

John Brooks About 7:30 AM Today.

The Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach is very eroded.  There is about a seven foot high cliff there near the inlet.  You could see two or three distinctly different layers of sand.  I did a little detecting with the ACE there and picked up several coins in short order but nothing of interest.

It was raining on and off at the beach again today.  Also occasional thunder and lightning.

A couple of who were snorkeling south of the inlet Saturday were reportedly washed out to sea and not found.  Be careful of the currents and rough surf.

There was at least one treasure beach that was improved by the rough surf of this weekend.  I'm not going to name that beach right now because I don't want everyone going there, and the people that found it on their own would hate me if I told.  Also there might be some other places that are producing that you wouldn't want to miss.

Some finds were being made today.  Here are a couple early examples.

One Find Today
Photo by Darrel S.

Another Find Fro Today
Photo by Darrel S.

Notice the pattern in the lead.

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Sir Robert Marx has been described as the true father of underwater archaeology. He is a pioneer among American scuba divers and best known for his work with shipwrecks and sunken treasure.

Now, the community is invited to hear him discuss the history of exploration and discovery in the Pacific Ocean during a free public lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the Gleason Performing Arts Center on the campus of Florida Institute of Technology.

The lecture, “History of Exploration of the Pacific,” is sponsored by Florida Tech and hosted by the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi...
Thanks for Warren D. for submitting this like that you can use for more about the lecture.

https://ecurrent.fit.edu/blog/campus/happenings/sir-robert-marx-to-lecture-on-pacific-exploration-november-14-2017/

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/18/16 Report - 14,000 Year-Old Florida Artifacts. Large Assembly of Maritime Artifacts Recovered. Free Robert Marx Lecture Coming Soon.

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

Photo Credit: Ran Feinstein

Source: See link below.

A treasure trove of bronze statues and coins bearing the images of Roman emperors has emerged from the waters of the ancient Mediterranean harbor of Caesarea, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Monday.

The discovery, hailed as the largest assemblage of marine artifacts recovered in the country during the past 30 years, was initially made by two divers who stumbled across the remains of a large merchant ship. It is estimated the vessel sank during the Late Roman period some 1,600 years ago....

Here is that link.

http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/hoard-of-coins-and-bronze-statues-found-off-israel-160516.htm

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Besides the Old Vero Man site, there is another archaeological site in Florida linking man to mastodons.  It is the Page-Ladson site on the Aucilla River.

...In 1983, eight stone artifacts and butchered mastodon remains were discovered at the Page-Ladson site, and were investigated through 1997. The sediments surrounding the finds were dated to 14,400 years ago, but at the time, it was unthinkable to suggest that humans arrived in North America more than 1,000 years prior to the Clovis, the authors of the new study explained. Experts back then argued that even if the sediments were over 14,000 years old, it was possible that the artifacts themselves were not, and that they had been carried to that part of the site by river currents...

A mastodon tusk bearing the marks of stone tools was found at that site. Here is the link to read more about that.

http://www.livescience.com/54735-mastodon-remains-in-underwater-site.html

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Here is information about a free lecture that you might want to attend.  It is open to the public.

 T

The lecture will be at the FIT Gleason Performing Arts Center in Melbourne Florida.

Below is the link for more information.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9eJVRMxKrpJQjdnNEZwSTVINkU/view?usp=sharing

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The Sedwick auction goes live from the floor today.

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It looks like we have a week of smooth surf coming up, probably interrupted by a few thunder storms.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/3/14 Report - Finding The Queen of Spain's Jewels; A Seminar. One Way To Have More Fun With Unexciting Finds.

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

 

THE QUEST FOR THE QUEEN OF SPAIN'S JEWELS

Friday, December 5, 2014

6:15 PM - 8:15 PM (ET)

Gleason Performing Arts Center

 

 

One of the world’s most valuable sunken treasures lays close at hand, just a few miles south of Sebastian Inlet.  In early July 1715 a convoy of 12 Spanish galleons sailed from Havana, Cuba heading to Spain. After the convoy started making its way up the Straits of Florida, a fierce hurricane struck on July 30  and all the ships were lost and over 1,000 people perished, along with the Queen’s treasures. To date neither the Queen’s collection or the huge amount of gold specie and bullion known to be aboard the ship have been located.

 

Since 1960 Sir Robert Marx has worked in the archives and libraries of more than 40 countries and spent over two years in the Archivo de las Indias in Seville, Spain, the main repository for researching Spain’s fascinating maritime history. Come listen to his stories as he uncovers his quest for these priceless jewels.


For more information contact: Contact  Donna Cassario
dcassario@fit.edu 

 

Thanks to C Man for emailing the notice of the seminar.

 

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When you are not digging up the Queen's jewels you might be digging up something a little less dramatic.  It can still be fun, and makes for something interesting to keep you busy in the mean time. 

Vintage Dug Slat Shaker.

When beach detecting isn't much good sometimes I'll do a little bottle hunting.  Some bottles can be detected because they have metal lids.  Most, though, no longer have their lids.

Besides being interesting artifacts, glass can be one of the first clues to an old detecting site that might not show much other evidence of past human activity.

Common vintage glass bottles aren't worth much of anything but you might find that you can add value to them. That is one thing I like to do - take a find that has little or no value and change it in some way to make it useful. 

Among my bottle finds are several old cut-glass salt shakers.  I noticed the other day that they would make nice Christmas tree ornaments. 
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Above is one dug vintage salt shaker.  It was dug with its top.  The top was corroded, so the first thing I did was clean the glass and remove the plating and corrosion from the top.  I added a copper wire loop through the exiting holes.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, but I got some mirror surface paint which I might put on the inside, which should make it reflective.  With just a few added touches they should be very pretty.   Or I might put some small momento in it.

Next year I might make an artifact Christmas tree.  I can think of a number of small finds that will make fine ornaments.

I have regular Christmas ball caps with the loops that fit these bottles, but for the one with the original top I wanted to keep the original copper top on it.
 

Small Vintage Cut Glass Salt Shaker

Here is another of the several cut glass salt shakers that I've found.  A mirror surface on the inside should turn this into a real attractive sparking Christmas ornament.  I could even make it light up.

I already have a regular Christmas ball top and loop that will fit this one.

One point I'm making today is that there are more ways than one to find value.  You can find value by using your creativity and turning dull finds into something useful and attractive.  That is one more way to get more fun out of metal detecting.

I'm also reminding you to not get too narrowly focused.  If you focus on coins too much, you can miss a lot of other things, including shipwreck spikes, pot shards, shells, and even jewelry.  Not only are they interesting artifacts but they can provide clues to bigger treasures.
 

Many people eliminate a lot of nice finds by discriminating too much.

While on the subject of small glass bottles, here is a nice recent ink bottle find that is in unusally good condition.

The bottom of the ink bottom reads For 1 1/2 inch hole.

Old Ink Bottle Find

It was probably one of those ink bottles that was in an old school desk.

We still had those when I was in school.   We actually had a few penmanship classes with the old ink pens with the metal tip that you dip in ink.  Maybe a few of you remember that.

They would probably be considered weapons today.  Could you imagine having ink on the desks of elementary school children today?   Sounds like a blueprint for disaster.

And here is a link to a great web site on salt/pepper shakers.  There is a gallery of hundreds of examples and other things.

http://antiquesaltshakers2.com/agsssciddisplay1.html

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I don't expect any significant change in Treasure Coast beach detecting conditions for at least a few days.  We'll have mostly 3 - 6 foot surf, with occasionaly East/Northeast winds.

Don't forget the seminar Friday.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@Comcast.net