5/1/20 Report - 22 Shipwrecks in a 17-Square Mile Area. Analysis of Chain Mail Links. Mystery Item.

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

A spate of shipwrecks recently found near a group of Greek islands has given researchers new insights into how trade routes and sailing technology evolved in the Eastern Mediterranean. And with more exploration planned, additional discoveries are still likely.

Over a stretch of two weeks in September, tips from local fishermen and sponge divers led a team of Greek and American archaeologists to the precise locations of 22 shipwrecks in a 17-square-mile area around the Fourni archipelago in the eastern Aegean.

The find is remarkable both for the sheer number of wrecks in the small area and the range of time periods the vessels came from.

The earliest wreck dates to the Archaic Period (700-480 B.C.), while the most recent is from the Late Medieval Period (16th century A.D.). Ships from the Classical Period (480-323 B.C.) and the Hellenistic Period (323-31 B.C.) were also found, though a majority—12 of the 22—sailed and sank at some point during the Late Roman Period (300-600 A.D.)...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/11/151103-greek-shipwreck-find-trading-route/

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Links of What Is Thought To Be Chain Mail 
Salvaged From The Site of The Mary Rose 

The artifacts shown above, which are thought to be links of chain mail from the wreck site of the Mary Rose, were analyzed using synchrotron X-ray diffraction.  The analysis provided detailed analysis of the composition of the links, and identified not only the main metals used, but also changes due to corrosion and preservation processes.

The links are 73% copper and 27% zinc.  The analysis suggested that zinc was lost from the surface of the links during corrosion.

Very small amounts of lead and gold were also found.  It was hypothesized that the minisciule amounts of those metals on the links could have been from tools used in the process of forming the links or pollution of the site.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/x-ray_analysis_of

And here is the link to the original scientific article on the analysis.  Good reading.

http://journals.iucr.org/s/issues/2020/03/00/ok5009/index.html

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Since the beaches have opened and people are back on the beaches, we will be seeing more finds.  William K. found a couple of unusual sinkers.  The one shown below, and wondered if anyone had any thoughts.  I don't know the reason for the large amount of wire on the top of the item or the loop at what would appear to be the bottom.

What do you think?  Any ideas?

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In my 2/3/20 post I said, "Wouldn't it be better if our heroes were maybe scientists, engineers, or saints or people that do good things, rather than athletes and entertainers?  Its a crazy world."  

I don't know why I said that back when coronavirus wasn't yet being talked about - at least not much, if at all - but I wasn't hoping for anything like this.

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The Kentucky Derby is going to be virtual.  No real race.  Too bad.  I was there for a couple of them.  The University of Louisville was within walking distance of the Downs.

The surf is still a bit choppy on the Treasure Coast.  I'm hoping for some really flat seas for a short while.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/16/20 Report - Cortes' Aztec Gold Bar Plunder Analyzed. Beach Reports and Photos.

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

A new scientific analysis of a large gold bar found decades ago in downtown Mexico City has confirmed it was part of the plunder Spanish conquistadors abandoned as they beat a temporary retreat from the Aztec capital...

A year later, Cortés would return and lay siege to the city, which was already weakened with supply lines cut and diseases that accompanied the Spanish invaders taking a toll.

The bar was originally discovered in 1981 during a construction project some 16ft (5m) underground in downtown Mexico City – which was built on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán – where a canal that would have been used by the fleeing Spaniards was once located.

The bar weighs about 2kg (4.4lb) and is 26.2cm (10.3in) long, 5.4cm wide and 1.4cm thick...

Here is the  link for more about that.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/10/mexico-city-gold-aztec-treasure-spanish-conquistadors

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I received a the following beach reports and photos by Steve M.

We got to Turtle Trails at just after sunrise.    Pretty smoothed down beach.   Less sand than a few weeks ago.   We went north to just about Sea Grape.   Just a couple modern nails.    Real deep. 

Turtle Trail Early Morning 1/15

Photo by Steve M.

Turtle Trail Early Morning 1/15
Photo by Steve M.

Turtle Trail Early Morning 1/15
Photo by Steve M.

After Turtle we headed north. Wabasso was still closed until the 20th. We went to Golden Sands then to Bonsteel Park. Beach re- nourishments going on as we were there. Talked to somebody they said all the way to Melbourne. We didn’t do any detecting on this leg.

Golden Sands 1/15

Photo by Steve M.

Bonsteel 1/15

Photo by Steve M.

Renourishment Project at Bonsteel 1/15

Photo by Steve M.

If you've been wondering about any of these beaches, you can thank Steve M. for sharing the photos.

Thanks Steve!

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Looks like we'll have a nice increase in surf Friday that will last just a couple tide cycles.

MagicSeaWeed.com.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/8/19 Report - How To Better Analyze Your Finds - XRF Analysis. Waterspouts. Two Types of Treasure.

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

Desktop and Handheld XRF Analyzers.

I get a lot of questions asking about finds.  People want to know what their items are and how old they are.  One thing you might want to find out is the type of metal, and if a precious metal, the purity.

An acid test is one thing you might do to determine the metal and purity.  I've discussed acid tests in this blog in the past.  

There are some problems with acid testing.  For one thing, you have to scrape the item on a touch-stone.  You might not want to do that to something like a coin that could be valuable.

XRF analysis is a more modern method of testing metals.  It is non-destructive and more accurate than an acid test.

Many jewelry stores and pawn shops have an XRF analyzer.  You can get one of the more economical handheld models for not much more than a high end metal detector. 

The picture above shows an XRF desktop model and a hand-held analyzer. That picture and the two pictures below are from ThermoScientific.com.

Here is an example of an XRF analysis of a gold chain.

The analysis of the chain shows that it was made of gold, copper, zinc and silver.

As you probably know, an item like a gold ring will not be made of pure gold.  It will usually contain an alloy - very often copper.  XRF analysis can tell you not only what metals are present but also the percentage of each.

According to Thermo Scientific, Portable XRF analyzers are ideal for the retail environment. Many jewelers and pawn shops are using these instruments to test the purity and composition of precious metals. XRF quickly provides the exact percentages of all elements within an item – easily identifying non-standard, under-karated, and even sophisticated counterfeit precious metals that acid testing is incapable of differentiating...

Here is another example.

This analysis shows that the gold plated replica of an American Buffalo coin contains mostly copper, but also zinc, and a smaller amount of gold.

Click here to go to the Thermo Scientific site to learn more about XRF analysis.

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Huge Waterspout

Source: See Spiritdaily link below.

One of the nice things about being on the beach a lot is some of the sights.

I saw a smaller waterspout hit Fort Lauderdale Beach.

Here is the link for more about waterspouts.

https://spiritdaily.org/blog/news/apocalyptic-water-tornado-speeds-toward-city-leaving-buildings-in-ruins

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Another one of the gang had heart surgery.  This time is was Dan B.

If you don't know about Dan, he was working on the Capitana when one of the greatest finds of Treasure Coast history was made back in 2015.  You can still go back in this blog and see photos of the gold coins, including the Royals that were found.

Pray for Dan.

It teaches you a lot when you go through something like that.  I thought I was going to die back a number of years ago. You can learn a lot during a time like that.  Faith helps.

As I told Dan, It is the storms of life that uncover the biggest treasures.

It was a very spiritual time for me.

Treasure hunting can teach many life lessons.  It is no wonder that "treasure" is mentioned so many times in the Bible and other spiritual books.

For example, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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The Treasure Coast surf will be down around two feet for a few days.  There will be a negative low tide.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/4/17 Report - Focus, Goals, Feedback Loops and Analysis For Improving Metal Detecting Success. Perspective.

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

Focus, Objectives and Strategies.

I don't think there is anything that improves the chance of success in anything more than a good clear specific statement of the objective.  I used to teach that a lot when I did consulting for fortune 100 companies and government agencies.   It is very obvious that you need to know exactly what you want to accomplish, yet most people don't see the need to develop a good clear specific statement of the objective.  I'm not just talking about having a a general idea of what you would like to happen or what you would like to accomplish.  There is a great benefit in thinking it out completely and being able to specify the goal in very specific terms along with some kind of quantitative measure of success.

It is perfectly OK to just go out and bop around and see what pops up, if that is what you want to do, but if there is something you really want to accomplish then you need to be clear about exactly what that is.  If, for example, you really want to find a Spanish shipwreck coin, then set that as a goal, and make decisions based upon that goal.  If you want to find a big glitzy diamond ring or a lot of glitzy rings, that is an entirely a different matter, and you might want to choose a different type of detector and visit a different set of sites.

If you watch what people do over any length of time, you can often tell that they don't have a very well defined goal.  They don't have focus.  They jump around from one thing to another and seldom make any real progress.  That is what I see on the Oak Island TV show.

One of the things that drives me crazy when I watch that show in particular is the apparent lack of focus, goals and strategy.  They only go far enough in any one direction to come up with new questions.  That might be OK for keeping a TV show going, if that is their primary goal, but it is not the most efficient way to accomplish a serious goal of any type.  At different times they express different goals, and that is one reason the search appears to be such an unfocused hodge podge of unanswered questions and dead ends.  I'm sure the goals of the TV production company adds to the apparent disorganization.  They want to keep the excitement level up. and to do that they encourage wild unwarranted assertions that do little but keep the viewer watching.  It doesn't bother them when someone picks up a find and excitedly exclaims that it is a gold coin even when it is a plated button.

Whatever happened to the shipwreck spike and plank found in the swamp?  Not important?

Exploring the TV side of things for a minute, they have to keep it interesting while the big longer term projects plod along.. They have to find something to get excited about every once in a while.  An endless series of frustrated attempts and questions without answers would be too much for most TV viewers, so the production company has found a savior in metal detecting, which, while not recovering anything near the magnitude of the Holy Grail or treasure chests overflowing with gold, at least it provides something to entertain the viewers, even if it is nothing more than broken toy guns, chunks of iron, spikes without ships, with some old coins and buttons thrown in, all of which is standard detecting fare for any location with history that has not been cleaned out by detector wielding hoards. 

What does all the metal detected surface trash and treasure have to do with the money pit or answering the big questions?  Very little.  Maybe there might be some clue discovered that actually answers an important question, but most of the metal detected finds are little more than momentary diversion to keep viewers entertained while the big finds remain elusive.  It has little to do with what I would suspect is the major objective.

How does that relate to you?  First, if you want to accomplish something, it helps to be very clear about exactly what that you want to accomplish.  Secondly, it helps to have a quantitative measurable way to evaluate your progress.

When I started metal detecting, I wanted to find a lot of coins.  I kept records of each hunt.  I could tell how I was doing and if I was improving.  Then I started keeping track of the value of the coins I found.  That is slightly different than finding a lot of coins.  Later my goal was to find a lot of gold items.  Then high value gold items.  As I improved, I changed my goals.  But it was important to have a way to measure progress.

In these days when AI and robotics are talked about so much, you probably know that the feedback loop is an important element.  You can't make the best adjustments unless you have some way of measuring analyzing performance.  You need to keep on track.  That is the function of the feedback loop.  If you have a very clear objective (or objectives) and some way of measuring progress, you can keep track of how you are doing and continually make improvements.

For example, I look at the number of hits and page views on my blog daily.  That helps me get an idea of what people are interested in and what they like.  The total number of page views is near two million now, and the daily hits are usually somewhere between 500 and 1000.  Of course, I also use other things, such as emails.

It isn't always simple to analyze the data.  Some people love certain posts, but the posts that some people really like are not always the ones that get the most views.  They touch certain individuals powerfully but don't particularly appeal to the mass audience.  There are various reasons for that and I won't get into all of that now.

In summary, I'd encourage you to be real clear about what you want to accomplish, and come up with some measurable way to keep track of your progress.  I know I won't get a lot of people to do that, but if you do, I think you'll be happy with the results.

I don't really think this will be one of my most popular posts, but to me it is probably one of the most important and can help you a lot if you take it to heart.

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I thought I might need to add some perspective.  If my Ole Timer Talk post about Clint's finds back in 1984 and 1991, you might be tempted to conclude that those were the good old days, and now it is all gone.  If that is what you think, what you are missing is the rarity of those times.  Thanksgiving 1984 is known as an exceptional time for treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast.  It doesn't happen all the time.  And did you notice that Clint went from 1984 to 1991.  That is a period of seven years.  When it is hot it is hot, and when it is not it is not.  There are times when the beaches are exceptionally good, and when they are not.  You can't take blowers and remove all of the sand from the beach.  You have to wait, and hopefully you'll be at the right place at the right time.  That is why I put so much attention on the wind, waves and surf.  If you keep up on that, you'll have a better chance of being there at the better times.  You can spend everyday on the beach for a year and not get as much as you would in a week when the conditions turn good.  We've had some better beach conditions a few times this year and finds were made, but it wasn't anything like Thanksgiving of 1984.  2004 was good after Francis and Jeanne.  Some of the other hurricanes since then didn't do nearly as much for metal detecting.

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They've been running the Shooter movie a lot lately.  It is an interesting movie, but I found it more interesting and less far-fetched than when I saw it about a year ago because of the current political environment and what we've learned about the intelligence agencies the past year.

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We're having some nice big tides but the surf is only running around two or three feet.  The winds aren't particularly favorable.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/15/17 Report - Artifact Research Process: Thoughts and Considerations. Example of a Lead Find. Three Days of North Wind.

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

Lead Found by Darrel S. A Couple Days Ago
Photo by Darrel S.

We're supposed to have three days of north wind.  The surf will be three to five feet, but the swells have a bit of a north/northeasterly direction.  That is the thing that could make it interesting even though I wish the surf was bigger.

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You might be asking yourself why I am showing this piece of lead again.  That is a good question.  The answer is that it gives me an opportunity to discuss my approach to researching finds.

If you dug up this piece of metal you might quickly conclude that it is junk and toss it, or you might respond very differently and quickly conclude that is something more exciting - maybe the lead lining of a treasure chest.  If you are on a TV treasure hunting show, you might be more PT Barnum than archaeologist, in which case you would hold it up and breathlessly announce that it is definitely from a treasure chest, and you know that is true because you've found hundreds of them before.  No matter if you are on a TV show or not, you might hope that it is something exciting and jump to the first exciting conclusion that comes to mind.  The fact is that it can be really difficult to be sure what an item like this is, so what I am going to try to present today is a very thoughtful, systematic, almost scientific way of proceeding that might be slow but will give you a good chance of coming up with a very good conclusion. The process of unraveling the identity, meaning and significance of a find can be a lot of fun as well as very informative.

It is a natural tendency to jump to a conclusion based upon your current knowledge, understanding or hopes, and then do everything you can to support that conclusion.   The key to what I am suggesting today is avoid jumping to quick conclusions, but rather to question everything, seek evidence, and carefully consider whatever the evidence might suggest.  It is better to start with questions rather than conclusions.  Ask yourself a lot of questions and carefully weigh the evidence as it is discovered.

I'm thinking of one item I found that I posted in this blog years ago.  I've changed my mind about that item a number of times, but now I feel about 95% confident that I know what it is.  It took a long time to get there and I changed my mind ( that means "learned something" ) a number of times.  When you learn something significant it will often cause you to change your mind.

Back to the lead item at the top of the post.  Could it be the lining to a treasure chest?  ( No one ever said that it was, I'm just using that as an example.)  I doubt it.  Why?  Lead-lined treasure chests have been found before, but according to what I've read, that is not how the coins on the 1715 Fleet were shipped.

The Cargo of Coins Aboard Nuestra Señora de Atocha, or “The Treasure Chest Defined” is an article written by Corey Malcom reprinted online from The Navigator: Newsletter of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Vol.16 No.5, June, 2001.  Here is an excerpt from that article.

 From impressions seen on both the coin masses and the interiors of the chests, the coins were put into cloth bags before being boxed. The fabric appears to have been a plainweave of fairly large, crude thread, yielding a cloth quite similar to burlap. Unfortunately, none of the actual material survived. Other examples of shipwrecked coin chests are rare - in fact, only one other has been found. An example from the 1715 Nueva España fleet was recovered in 1965 off Florida’s east coast. This crate was also of a simple design, and had dimensions comparable to those from the Atocha. A length of 54.0 cm, a width of 28.5 cm, a height of 27.8 cm, and a plank thickness of 2.5 cm yielded a chest with a storage capacity of 0.026 cubic meters (0.91 cu. ft.) - approximately 60% greater than the 1622 examples. It had no apparent decoration, hinges, or lock. Somewhat differently, its sides were not beveled, but flat. No data is available for the coins carried inside. All in all though, there appears to have been little evolution in the manner of shipping coins...

What, if any part of that, applies to the lead find shown above?  The article seems to suggest to me that the treasure chests, or coin crates, on the 1715 Fleet were not lined with lead.  Could there possibly be any exceptions?  I would think so.  Who said this was from a typical coin chest?  Might the hypothetical treasure chest be a passenger's personal chest and therefore be different from the typical coin chest?  Again, I think that is possible, however I would also guess that finding something like that would be less likely than finding something from one of the many coin chests stored as cargo.  However, I have not presented any evidence that it would have anything to do with a treasure chest or anything like that.

Dr. Lori on the Oak Island TV show suggested that a metal plate with holes in it could be from a treasure chest and everyone seemed to be very impressed.  There was no analysis or evidence presented at that time.  Maybe there will be some in the future.  We'll see.

For more of the Malcom article, here is the link.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/The_Treasure_Chest_Defined_Atocha.pdf

Now that we've considered one hypothetical idea and done a little research relative to that, lets consider another idea.  Could it be hull-sheathing?

We know that lead hull sheathing was used and you can see examples in the Mel Fisher artifact database.  Lets look at what an authority has to say about lead hull-sheathing to see if we can learn anything.

Lead Hull-Sheathing of the Santa Margarita is another article authored by Corey Malcom and reprinted online from The Navigator: Newsletter of the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society, Vol. 16, No. 1 December, 2000/January, 2001.

Here is an excerpt.

Lead sheet in one form or another has been found on other Spanish vessels roughly contemporary to the Santa Margarita. The wrecks of the 1554 fleet found along Padre Island, Texas; the 1618 Honduran fleet’s San Martín, wrecked on Florida’s East coast; the mid-1500’s St. John’s wreck, the 1559 Emanuel Point wreck in Pensacola Bay, and the wrecks of the 1715 Nueva España fleet, have all produced lead sheet which was being used to cover seams, patch holes, or guard against shipworms. The sheet from these sites is generally described as similar to that from the Santa Margarita - thin, with a cloth impression - indicating that it was all used, or created in a comparable manner...  

Here is more from the same article.

The recovered lead bears many holes pierced by the fasteners that held it in place. Though none of the fasteners has survived (likely due to the aforementioned electrolysis) these holes, along with impressions in the lead, reveal the type that was used and the density of their spacing. The tacks that held the sheets to the hull had broad heads of 22mm diameter, and shanks 5mm square. They were spaced at 5-10 centimeters, with their placement tending toward the edges. The direction from which the tacks pierced the lead show that the sheets were placed with the cloth impression toward the hull, leaving a smooth exposed surface that was less friendly to adhering organisms. 

You can read more of that article if you want.  Here is the link.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/Lead_Sheathing_from_Santa_Margarita.pdf

Now we have some information that we can use to analyze the lead find.  If we were holding the item we could look for holes near the edge, measure the size, spacing etc.

If you look at the photo you can see what might be a cloth impression.  The reason I picked that photo is that is shows the cloth impression.  The impression could esaily be over-looked or thought to be insignificant.

Some people think the impression lead sheathing was made by the lead being installed on the hull over a layer of cloth.  Other people think the impression has to do with how the lead sheets were manufactured.  In either case, we can see what appears to be a cloth impression.  If you have any interest in this at all, I would recommend reading the entire article.

Some peope will say all of this is unnecessary.  They might be able to look at the item and immediately know what it is.  If they can do that, they have previously accumulated the necessary knowledge through long experience.  That is great, but when you are unsure, a research thorough research process is necessary. And I would encourage anyone to avoid being "too" sure, and continuing to learn and see if there is anything they can add to their knowledge.

One book on artifacts ( I had the reference here earlier but lost track of it somehow ) strongly makes the point that in the 18th century, items were used and repurposed and reused time and time again.  That would certainly be true of lead.  It could be used for a lot of things and it can be very difficult to say what it was last used for.  If it was sheathing, it could be kept for a variety of other purposes including being melted to make lead shot or fishing sinkers.

What I tried to do today was give you some idea of the slow process of researching a find rather than jumping to rash conclusions without sufficient continuing research.  The individual resources and facts were only presented to illustrate the process.

I know that some of you will find very little if anything new or interesting in this post, but I hope some of you benefit from what I tried to show of the long slow process of researching a find.

Disciplined research and thorough analysis can be key to unlocking treasure mysteries, while jumping to premature conclusions, no matter how exciting they might seem, can delay or prevent the solution.  I highly recommend an analytical scientific approach.


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I'm eager to see what three days of north wind will do.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/11/17 Report - How The Competition Can Actually Help You If You Effectively Analyze Your Finds. A Twist on the Spanish Conquest.

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

As you know I cover a wide variety of topics.  Once in a while I get on a particular topic and stick to it for a while before changing again.  For a few weeks I was on the weather and developing beach conditions.  Sometimes I'll be on beach dynamics or treasure coins, or metal detectors or strategies techniques or equipment.  Sometimes even things like fossils, sea glass or Native American artifacts.

Lately I've been talking about one 8-mile stretch of beach that I detected a lot in the past.  I'll  talk a little more about that today, particularly two of the better modern jewelry beaches.

The first I described as "a very narrow swimming beach where a lot of people crowded on nice days.  It produced a lot of good quality jewelry on a regular basis."  The jewelry finds were generally good quality and seemed to be a good representative sample of what the people wore there.

On the other hand, there was another jewelry beach that I described as " a good hole.  It was in front of an active high-scale resort.  Not as many items as in zone 1, but higher quality.  Some very good finds came from there even though there was known competition.  I believe that it was resort staff.  A fellow stood and watched me working the water one day and left cursing when he saw me dig a gold chain in very shallow water.  I could tell that  a lot of my finds from there were not the easy finds and were things somebody could easily miss."

The things I found there were not things that were easy to detect.  The average and large size things never appeared.  It was always a very thin gold ring with a good gem, or a small gold chain, or something else that might easily be missed by the detector.  Finds were not frequent but they were good. There was no junk and very few coins. 

If you carefully analyze what is being found or not found, you can tell a lot about a site and modify how you hunt accordingly.  Since I knew there were very few junk targets and few big targets, I could really pump up the sensitivity turn off discrimination and hunt slow and listen for the small signals.  Overall, it was very productive hunting.

Once I was traveling on business and stopped at a roadside beach with a couple picnic tables near Pensacola.  There were four posts marking out a square area in front of the picnic tables.  I started hunting found the are within the square marked by the posts thoroughly cleaned out so I moved just outside the square area and found three gold rings in a very short time.  Whoever was working that area on a regular basis, worked the square but left the area just outside the square untouched.

My point is to carefully analyze finds and junk to determine what is going on and then make adjustments.  The competition can actually help you out if you figure out how to take advantage of what they are or aren't doing.

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Monday was Columbus Day, and as you would expect, in response to any mention of a celebrated historic or national cultural event that at one time played any roll in fostering national identity, we are treated to a parade of contrary boring poorly-thought-out  incessantly-repetitious emotion-driven arguments by dissenters for their "favorite" group, skin color, nationality, ideology or whatever.  I am all in favor of presenting "the other side."  In fact I highly recommend and encourage exactly that.  I only want the argument to be thorough, consistent and justified by something other than myth, repetition and emotion.

Victim-hood attracts sympathy.  I understand that, but being a victim does not automatically make you right.  It does not grant merit.

The Spanish ( or Europeans or Whites - however you want to define your favorite group or your favorite hate group) conquistadors did terrible things.  I am not defending that at all.  However, the Maya and Aztec, foe example, appeared to have little aversion to violence, human sacrifice, war, slavery, or territorial expansion, all of which existed in the New World before Columbus arrived.

The difference is not that one group was evil and the other inherently good.  The big difference came down to the fact that one group was more successful in effecting the evil in their heart.  I have no reason to believe that if the Aztecs, for example, had the ships, army and war technology to project power overseas, that they would develop a non-violent non-aggressive culture and limit the evil they would do.   I see no reason to believe that if they had the power to project domination that they would not have done the same thing to North America and Europe and we might be speaking some strange language today.

I accept that the more powerful group is responsible for the greater damage done, but not having the ability to do more damage hardly makes you a better person.  It was not that one group was completely good and the other completely evil.  No group is completely good or evil - especially not any group defined by such superficial simplistic things as skin color, ancestry, race, national identity or culture.  We have to learn to look at things in less simplistic terms, and we need to start looking at people as individuals - not just group members.  We need to get over this obsession with skin color, race and nationality.   No person is perfect.  Neither are groups.

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The poll is progressing nicely.  Not much longer to get your responses in.  I know that some people have not responded because I know of some finds in areas that still have zero votes. 

Please respond before it is too late.  I think this is one of my more interesting polls.

Thanks!

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Compared to September there isn't much excitement.  The surf isn't huge, yet it isn't real small now.

I haven't been able to get out lately, but hope you have.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/9/17 Report - 2011 Law Concerning Ownership of Artifacts and Space Exploration Artifacts. Blog Poll Conclusions.

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

The Cape Canaveral area, being the site of so much history, including early historic sites and a treasure wreck or two, provides another class of artifacts.  I'm talking about space exploration artifacts.

Space exploration artifacts occasionally show up on the Treasure Coast, most commonly including the relatively common melted bits of titanium, which I've discussed in the past, including instructions for identifying titanium. Occasionally more interesting items show up.

The recent Cooper's Treasure TV programs suggested another type of connection between space exploration and treasure hunting.  This blog's posts concerning the questionable trustworthiness of that show received a lot of attention.

On July 20th, Sotheby's will hold their Space Exploration auction, which among a long list of artifacts, includes the flown flight plan from the Apollo 13 mission.  That flight, which encountered serious problems and could have ended very badly, was the subject of a movie.

As I've said before, you can not separate politics from treasure hunting.  In 2012 President Obama signed a law concerning the ownership of space exploration artifacts.  (I won't get into the Odyssey Marine issue again, in which the courts ruled to give tons of silver recovered by Odyssey Marine to Spain, reportedly as part of a deal to obtain a valuable painting for a U. S. citizen.)  Here is how the Sothebys site describes that law concerning ownership of space exploration artifacts and how that law relates to the flight plan.

Here is the link for more information related to the flight plan and various incidents that occurred during the mission.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/sotheby-s-at-large/2017/06/houston-problem-here-flown-apollo-13-flight-plan.html?cmp=email_N09759___selects_space_hero3_30-jun-2017

You might also want to browse the auction lots.  I found them interesting.

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The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.

As you can see from the bar chart below, the respondents generally go more by analysis and observation than intuition. That isn't surprising considering the amount of time I spend on analysis of beach conditions and other things.  Only one of the 45 respondents said that they went almost exclusively by intuition and hunches.

On the other end of the spectrum, 4 respondents said they rely almost exclusively on analysis.

The vast majority of those that responded, appear to use some mixture of analysis and intuition.  Overall the results were definitely skewed in the direction of analysis and observation over intuition.

Here are the results expressed in a bar chart.  I reordered the categories from how they were ordered when the poll was presented, and also shortened the category labels.  The numbers in the chart are percentages.

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Sunday I watched a series of TV programs on the Dare Stones and the Lost Roanoke colony.  Pretty good series.

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I've been working on another topic for a few days, but it just won't seem to come together.

There is no tropical weather in the Atlantic or Gulf right now.  No significant changes in beach conditions are expected real soon either.  There will be a little bump in the surf around Thursday, but not much.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/3/15 Report - Blog Poll Results On Finds Made Last Half Of October.

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

The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.

This poll was conducted in part to validate my beach detecting conditions rating scale.  I upgraded the beach conditions rating to a 2 back in mid-October.

The rating scale is a five point scale that goes from 1 to 5.   A 1 rating indicates poor detecting conditions and a 5 rating indicates excellent beach detecting conditions.

The rating indicates the chances of finding a cob or treasure coin on the Treasure Coast ocean beaches.  The rating scale does not indicate the chances of finding modern items.

Although the rating is for the Treasure Coast in general, different beaches will vary.  It is possible for one Treasure Coast beach to be a "3" while another might be a "1."  Although different beaches will be different, there will generally be some correlation.  When one beach changes, it is likely that others will change in a similar manner.

The poll results are based upon the sample of people who read this blog and responded to the poll.  For this poll, the sample is additionally limited to those who actually detected on the Treasure Coast during the last half of October.  The sample size is therefore smaller than my usual poll.  Not everybody who reads this blog lives close to the Treasure Coast.  Many of those people will not make the trip to detect every time beach conditions improve, especially when conditions do not improve a lot.

Now, to the poll results.  70 people responded to this blog poll.  As I said, that is a smaller sample size than usual,  This poll was only for those who actually detected Treasure Coast beaches during the last half of October.  That excluded those who were not on the Treasure Coast and those who did not have the opportunity to detect the beaches during that period of time.

Of those 70 who did detect the Treasure Coast beaches, about 87% did not find either a treasure coin or artifact.  This was not a highly productive period for detectorists.  It was, however, better than what would be expected when there is a "1" (poor) rating.

The beach conditions looked better than that.  There was a good amount of erosion and fairly large cuts along much (not all) of the Treasure Coast.

I heard of a small number of cob finds that were not reported in the poll.  Evidently a few people who found cobs either do not read this blog or did not respond to the poll.

Among the reports of finds that I received was a half reale found by a lady who did not realize she had a cob in her hand until she was told what it was.  Evidently she does not read this blog or she probably would have been able to recognize the cob.

There are many examples of lucky first timers, including one lady who found an escudo on her first detecting outing.  It happens, but rarely.  For most detectorists it takes a lot of time before they find their first treasure coin.

Two people reported finding cobs in this poll.  One person reported only finding a treasure coin, while another reported finding both a treasure coin and an artifact.  That would be slightly over 1.5 percent.  That is not a high percentage.  Despite all the big cuts and how good conditions looked to the eye, this was indeed a small improvement in actual beach detecting conditions.  I attribute that to two things.  First is the large amount of renourishment sand on many of the Treasure Coast beaches.  The renourishment sand would cover and protect items from washing out from the dunes and older layers of the beach and shallow water.  I also believe that the large amount of sand just in front of the beach was also an obstacle.

I know of one cob that was found, which was found away from the renourishment sand.  I don't know if that was the case for others.

About ten percent of those who responded to the poll reported finding an artifact of some sort.  That is not bad. It appears that there was a much better chance of finding an artifact than a cob.  That is something you might expect when the beaches improve a little.  Some items, such as copper sheathing, china, or pot shards, will tend to appear before cobs.

I don't know what types of artifacts were found, and invite those who found one to let me know by email.  With blogspot, the poll option are very limiting.

One person reported finding both at least one cob and at least one artifact.

I don't know how many cobs or artifacts were found by those who reported finds in the poll.  All I know is that they found at least one.

As I've shown from past polls, if you find one the chances of finding more than one are fairly high.

I would not have been surprised if a few more cobs were found.  As I said, I did receive reports of a few additional cob finds.

Overall, the poll results seem to make sense to me.  They also give me some idea of how accurate my beach ratings are.  There were slightly fewer cobs reported than I expected.  The poll results definitely support the idea that my rating should have been no higher than a "2."  I feel that I gave the right rating, since it seems conditions did improve enough for finds to be made, but there was not enough found to justify a higher rating.

Thanks to all who responded to the blog poll.  I believe this kind of information helps us all.

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Here is an interesting story about a sudden crack that appeared in the earth in Wyoming.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/10/31/huge-crack-discovered-in-earth-in-wyoming/

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Next week I'll have a post on Native American artifacts found on Treasure Coast beaches.  Some were found by people hunting sea shells.

I also expect to have some more information on heart-shaped cobs.

That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/24/13 Report - Time To Analyze Your Find Records? It Might Tell You Something. What you do has a lot to do with what you find.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.BlogSpot.com.

Fossils And Sea Glass Recently Found In A Shell Piles
On A Treasure Coast Beach.

I got some email concerning the signal or ID you'll get from a Rolex watch.  As I said, using an Ace 250, if you are in coin mode, the test Rolex gave no signal, however in the Jewelry and All-Metals mode, you get an ID that shows up in the nickel to penny range, which also includes the pull-tab and gold/bronze range.  

The ID was different when the coil was swept over different parts of the watch.  If the coil was mostly over the band that produced a different ID than when the coil was more directly over the watch case. 

Robert H. said he got a good coin signal on a Rolex when using an Excal II in discrimination mode.  I don't know how much discrimination he was using.   He also said he almost gave up digging after a number of scoops because he thought it might be a can. Good thing he went for that last scoop.

Robert's observation is consistent with the ID I got when using the Ace in the Jewelry and All-Metals modes, but don't forget, the Rolex produced no audio signal in the Coins mode.  That is the critical point.  I don't know about you, but I don't want that to happen.  I'd gladly give up hundreds of clad coins for one good Rolex.  What I am talking about is making informed intentional strategic decisions that will maximize success however you may define success.  If success to you is a pile of clad coins, then  use the techniques and strategies that will accomplish that.  However if your goal is to find other types of targets, perhaps targets that are of a less determinate size or composition, you might choose to operate otherwise.

As I mentioned yesterday, one person said that the thing that motivates him is the possible big find that might come at any time.  In that case you want to be ready for the unexpected, not eliminating everything but the common.

I'm not trying to suggest that a Rolex will give one type of signal no matter what.  Just the opposite.  There are many types of Rolex watches.  They come in different sizes and are made of different materials.  Some are gold and others stainless steel.  And of course there are a variety of different types of bands too, which can affect your signal or ID.

There are also many types of detectors and different modes and settings you can select on each detector.  I've mentioned some of those differences.

The point is that you need to know the detector you are using because there is the distinct possibility that you could misidentify or entirely miss a very good target - perhaps repeatedly and consistently because of the way you hunt.  That is especially more likely if you always hunt the same way using the same settings.  You might habitually eliminate a specific set of good targets. 

I recommend a periodic review.  Analyze your record of finds.  What do you find a lot of?  What do you seldom find?  What have you never found that you would like to find?  The answer to those questions might tell you something about how you are detecting that you might want to change.

I've said this before, but back when I began detecting, I found a lot of men's rings but few women's rings.  I thought that men lost more rings.  That was wrong.  I was using a level of discrimination with my 1280 that made me miss many of the smaller and often more valuable women's rings.  After decreasing the discrimination setting on the 1280 I found out that there were as many women's rings to be found as men's.

Maybe you know everything there is to know, but I don't.  I intend to continue learning.  That is something that makes it all more interesting, and it is also something that helps me do better.

If you haven't made any changes in how you hunt for a long period of time, maybe that is a sign that you should think about that.  It is all too easy to fall into habits and get in a rut. 

I always like learning something new.  Not only does it improve performance but it also keeps it interesting. 

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The photo above shows some fossils and sea glass found on a Treasure Coast beach a few days ago.
Nothing great, but I do enjoy finding them.  Some, not these particular ones, can actually be worth some money.

If you keep your eyes open while detecting you can find things like this.  The fossils are much older than the cobs you might find.  And sometimes they can be worth more than a treasure coin. 

Nice pieces of sea glass can also worth something.  Fine examples of the less common colors, such as red or yellow, can be worth more.   They can also provide good clues.  An occasional Native American artifact can also occasionally be seen in shell piles.

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Spike Found by Joseph G.
Photo by Joseph G.

I've been thinking of a bunch of things lately, but haven't put them together for a post. 

Did you ever hear of soil liquefaction?

Soil liquefaction is when saturated or partially saturated soil loses strength and stiffness in response to an applied stress, such as the vibrations caused by an earthquake or other  stress conditions, causing the soil to behave like a liquid.

Interesting!  Buildings can collapse etc. 

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I've really noticed huge differences in how some detectors eat batteries.  Battery life is much higher in some detectors than others. 

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On the Treasure Coast we'll have a three or four foot surf for a couple of days with variable wind direction.  Nothing that will affect us much.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net

10/20/14 Report - Treasure Coast Beach Conditions. Another Reason To Not Discriminate. How To Know Where To Detect. Know Your Gem Stones.

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

I took a look at the beach yesterday near low tide.  Here is the first beach I looked at.  The waves were breaking there right near the foot of the beach.  Course sand was piled up on the front of the beach.

A mile or two away, I saw a beach that was different (Second photo.).  The waves were about the same size, naturally, but they were breaking about 40 yards farther out.

On that beach the sand bar was farther out and there was a dip between the sand bar and the foot of the beach.

On the front of the second beach, the sand was even more course and the slope was covered by very course sand with shells and even small rocks next too the water.  I wish I got a picture of how that course sand transitioned.  There was a sharp division between the course material on the slope and more fine sand in the dip.

Notice the shells in this second picture, and also notice just above the center of the picture and a little to the left, how the water is piled up near the foot of the beach.  Just below that you can see the flat water covering a dip.

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The other day when I talked about discrimination, I ended by mentioning that when I talked about what I called "working the washing machine" I dug only one trash item while digging a good number of good targets.

Some beaches are so busy that you can always find some recent drops, no matter how poor the conditions in that area might be.  You can have a spot that is very mushy where anything good will sink quickly, but if the item was just dropped, you can still find it before it disappears.  I don't generally spend my time in areas like that,   though in some situations, if there might be high value targets and I don't have a lot of good alternatives or the time to travel, I might do that.

Normally I am always assessing the situation and trying to find areas where the good to bad target ratio is good, and I don't stick around in areas where I determine from any evidence that I can gather, that the area is not where I want to spend my time.

How do you know which is which?  First you can tell a lot by how it looks..  That is the first level of analysis.  Learn to read the beach, and also the water.

You can also tell a lot by checking.  Do a little sampling.   What are you digging?  Aluminum junk or dense objects?  That will tell you a lot.  Where are the dense items?  Maybe lead or coins?  You won't get all the information if you are discriminating. 

Not only is the type of item important, but also how deep it was found.  What can you tell about layers?

This type of hunting works well in wet sand and shallow water, but is also applicable to other types of areas as well.  What I focus on is finding a well defined area where I can really focus my efforts.  That would be an area where I can quit prospecting and begin mining, as I sometimes put it.  That would be an area where there are few trash items relative to the number of good targets.

There is more than one way that the distribution of items (good and bad) can be changed.  In wet sand and shallow water, the water action and movement of sand and other materials has a lot to do with it.

In the dry sand or even on dry ground there are still many relevant factors that can affect how good an area might be.  Inland, for example, besides the fact that there are still layers and the layers are occasionally changed by water, for example by rain or creeks, or falling leaves, or human events and activities, those areas can also be changed by other detectorists and how they hunt.

What I'm trying to say is that my focus is on learning how items are distributed, and finding those areas with concentrations of high value targets, and that junk as well as good targets provide good information about the area and which direction to go next. 

Things are not distributed randomly, and I want to locate and spend my time working the most productive spots.

Not only does the type of item provide information, but how old it is and how deep it was, also provides good information.   For example, how deep a pull tab was found is important, as is the age of the pull tab.

I'm always considering the type of item, depth, density, age and its history, and any other factors that might shed some light on if I should stay where I am or which direction I should move next.

I'm generally not going to spend my time in an area where the junk to good target ratio is poor.  There are a few exceptions.  For example, if I have reason to believe that a dip filled with course sand and aluminum also might contain a Rolex or other high value target, I might hunt that area.  The point is that there is an analysis of all evidence and an intentional calculated decision about where to go next.   It is not just a process of wondering around and hoping to hit something good.

As I said, when working the washing machine the other day, I was finding almost all coins or better items, and only one junk item.  Under the circumstances I was going to stay in that general area.  I was going to try to find any center point and return towards it if I started wander away from it.   If I started to wander one way or another and started to get into an area where I was only finding aluminum, I would try to find the center of the good area again.  It is better to spend a lot of time in a small area once a good area has been identified.  If the good area was cleaned out, I would move on and try to find another good area.

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What is the most expensive gem stone?  Here is a link that will show you several of the most expensive.  I bet you haven't heard of some of them.

http://www.gemstonesadvisor.com/most-expensive-gemstones-in-the-world/

Red diamond will bring a million dollars per carat. 

Mistaking your gemstones can cost you a lot of money.   Don't assume or guess.

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Tomorrow the surf on the Treasure Coast will be down to one or two feet again.

There is an interesting disturbance down by Central America that might come our way.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net