4/20/20 Report - Viking Artifacts Uncovered By Melting Glacier. A Found Coin Project. Restored Coins? Historical Criticism.

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

(A) a bit made from goat or lamb, (B) knife with wooden handle, (C) shoe, (D) mitten, (E) leaf-fodder, (F) wooden whisky, and (G) a distaff.

Image: L. Pilø et al., 2020/Antiquity

From Gismodo.com ( See link below)

Archaeologists in central Norway have uncovered evidence of a heavily traveled mountain passageway that was used during the Viking Age. Hundreds of beautifully preserved items were found atop a melting glacier, in a discovery that was, sadly, made possible by global warming...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://gizmodo.com/melting-ice-exposes-mountain-pass-used-by-vikings-incl-1842885000


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Coin Project by Keith and Barbara Ann S.

Below is an email I got describing the creation of the above display.


Good Afternoon,

While still observing stay at home orders we have come up with another coin project that you may want to share. As most detectorists know for the last twenty years the US mint has produced quarters representing each state followed up with a state national park series. We have sorted through almost twenty thousand quarters found on the beaches of Florida looking for a quarter from each state and a quarter representing each states national park.

This project was much harder and took several days to search through mostly tarnished and corroded quarters than the world coin project. We successfully located almost every quarter except the few that have not been issued for the national park series. Those will be in circulation this year. We even found a few with the coveted West Point mint mark! This map was also purchased on Amazon. All quarters were cleaned and polished before mounting.

Stay safe, keep up the excellent work on your blog and let's hope our beaches open soon.

Thank you,

Keith and Barbara Ann S... 

Thanks for sharing Keith and Barbara.  Beautiful Display!

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I just saw this ad in The Numismatist.  Really surprised me.  I didn't think coin collectors would do anything like that.

On the other hand, it might be nice for a coin in bad condition???

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Historical criticism, also known as the historical-critical method or higher criticism, is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts in order to understand "the world behind the text".

Yesterday I read the most beautiful example of scholarship that I've ever read and it was literally hundreds of years old.  It was in Biblical Essays by J. B. Lightfoot, a 75 page chapter entitled Internal Evidence For the Authenticity and Genuineness of the Gospel of St. John. Linguistic analysis suggested St. John's natural language to be Aramaic, though he was familiar with Hebrew and wrote in Greek. Vocabulary and syntax was analyzed that suggested St. John to be in the right place at the right time to be an eye-witness. 

We often think that modern thought is so advanced over previous times, but I frequently find examples of the opposite.  Take a look at a elementary school textbook for one of the upper grades from the first quarter of the 20th century.  You might be surprised.

I've been trying to show that the same principles of evidence and scientific reasoning apply to various types of investigation, whether it is metal detecting or social issues.  Some people might think I was being political, but my focus was more on the general principles and methodology.  

In St. Lucie county four long-term care facilities were affected, and three over ninety-year-olds died.

Isn't it ironic that what I'd think were the most "locked-down" (those in prisons) are being let out because of the risk.

I wish I was able to find the article that showed how a photo taken at one angle made it appear like the crowd on a beach was jammed together while another photo taken at another angle made it look like they were well spaced.

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I always enjoy looking at the other side of the coin.

DJ pointed me to an easy way to get the Florida data to a spreadsheet.  Thanks DJ!

It looks like the surf will be small for a few weeks.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

2/10/14 Report - Eight Foot Surf Predicted. Artifacts Saved From Destruction By Looters. Repurposed Artifacts. Great Research Resource.

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

Source; http://gemini.no/en/2014/05/viking-raids-protected-precious-artefacts-2/

This article discusses how these artifacts were possibly saved by Viking looters.  If the Vikings did not steal them, they would have been melted down.  It also tells how the items were repurposed.  Since the Vikings had no use for the religious artifacts, they took the parts and used them as jewelry.

The idea that looters saved the artifacts is interesting by itself, but it made me think of the many items that are saved by detectorists from one type of destruction or another,  Beach hunters, for example, save artifacts that would be lost to the sea through tumbling and corrosion over time.  The salt water surf is a rough environment where things can not survive forever without being damaged or destroyed.

Here is the link to that article. 
http://gemini.no/en/2014/05/viking-raids-protected-precious-artefacts-2/

Artifacts being recycled is another interesting topic.  One old emerald ring that I found seems to have a setting taken from an older piece and mounted on a newer band (See photo.). 

The band does not match the setting in style, and the gold on the top piece is of a different purity than the band.

Certainly things have been repurposed or recycled and reused over the decades and centuries, sometimes being used in an entirely different way or form than the original.


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JSTOR is a collection of scholarly works that includes articles from many disciplines including history and archaeology to name just two.

If you are doing research you might want to get access to JSTOR.  One way to get access is to take a class at a college or university.  You will then have access through the library when you get your card.  Some public libraries also provide access.

There is a program for individuals which will give you free but limited access if you register.  There are big limitations in this program.

Here is a link obtained through JSTOR to an abstract of an article that talks about the use of metal detectors in archaeology and discusses the source of the uninformed opinions of archaeologists on the subject.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25616646?sid=21105829108923&uid=3739256&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739600

If you take a class as a part time student, your access will last only as long as you are enrolled in the class, but JSTOR can be worth the price of tuition if you really use it intensely during that period.

If you are doing research you might look into getting access to JSTOR through a school, library or try out the limited but free access for individuals.

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The surf on the Treasure Coast is very small today.  I'll be watching and hoping for the eight-foot surf predicted for Thursday.  I really hope that happens.  We sure do need it.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net