4/6/19 Report - 16th Century Shipwreck. Reader Firsts. Scientific Approach To Treasure Hunting.

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

Copper Sheets From 16th Century Shipwreck.
Source: See nltimes link below.

Researchers found a Dutch shipwreck from early in the 16th century while cleaning up containers that went overboard from the MSC Zoe on New Year's eve. This is the oldest shipwreck ever discovered in Dutch waters, the National Cultural Heritage Agency said on Wednesday...

During the container salvage operation, copper plates and wooden beams were found. An archeological investigation was immediately launched. According to the Cultural Heritage Agency, the wooden beams came from a ship with a smooth hull that was likely around 30 meters long. The wood was further examined and this revealed that it was felled in 1536 and that the ship was built in the Netherlands around 1540. It sank while transporting copper plates.

Investigation into the copper plates dated them to around the same period. An interesting detail is that the plates are marked by the Fugger family, who had a monopoly on copper production in the 16th century. "The find is of very high cultural and archeological value", the Cultural Heritage Agency said...

Here is the link.

https://nltimes.nl/2019/04/03/16th-century-dutch-shipwreck-found-shipping-accident-cleanup

I had this article for a few days but put it on hold to discuss some other things first.

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I like to find different kinds of things.  Some seem special.  There was my first ring, my first Rolex watch, my first Spanish treasure coin, and my first gold nugget, to name just a few.  I often mention reader firsts.  Last month DJ experienced some firsts and shared them with me in an email.  Here is what he said.

... I have decided that your blog is an encyclopedia of information, much of which I was able to use in March. Thank you for sharing this information, it makes the hobby all the more rewarding.  

A list of firsts: First time I found lots of targets, jewelry, first silver ring, green clad lying on top of the sand and first square copper/brass nail. 

Also helpful were the strategy of reading the beach, checking, making myself check another beach if things are not too good where I am. Many examples exist and were put into play this trip...

Congratulations on so many firsts in such a short time DJ.   Many more to come!

I'm delighted that you are making such good use of the blog.

There were others who recently sent me emails of thanks.  I sincerely appreciate them all.  It keeps me going.

Thanks guys!

In a world filled with so much discord and hate, I'm encouraged daily by the fine kind people I meet through the blog. 

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Coming from a scientific background, it was only natural that I would bring a scientific attitude to my metal detecting and treasure hunting.  While a treasure hunter will usually not want to conduct any kind of formal scientific experiments, adopting a "scientific" approach is recommended.  To a large extent that means being abundantly cautious, systematic, thorough, disciplined, reserving judgement, and highly valuing evidence, or data.

There is a lot more to science than laboratories, test tubes and experiments.  Science requires a number of traits and attitudes. It requires a real desire to understand, creativity, objectivity, logic and skepticism.

That might sound like a lot, but you undoubtedly already possess and use some of those traits, and others can be developed and improved.

I can't do a comprehensive treatment of the subject in one post, or even a lot of posts, but I'll discuss some things that I've found very helpful and recommend that you at least consider them.

You'll often see someone make a find and without any serious thought or study, proclaim what the item is.  There are usually a variety of possibilities that should be considered.  I always like to try to think of as many alternative explanations as I can.  It is important to develop theories and hypothesis, which can be tested or evaluated.

They say, "You don't know what you don't know," but I know a lot of things I don't know.  It is important to have an awareness of what you don't know. A scientific approach requires having a deep respect for  how much you don't know.  I wouldn't want to have brain surgery conducted by a podiatrist.  Over-confidence can be deadly literally as well as figuratively.

No matter what you think of the TV treasure shows, they provide a lot of examples and illustrations that many of us have seen and can discuss.  Sometimes you will see a hap-hazard, disorganized, poorly considered approach.  They look here and look there and find this and that, most of which has no significance, and come up with conclusions that are little more than wild speculation.  That creates drama, which is something a TV show must do, but for me, it is not the way to solve a problem.  That is the reason I am so critical at times.

A number of seasons ago on Gold Rush, Parker finally got Tony to drill some test holes to sample some ground.  I thought, its about time.  Sampling is a scientific strategy that I use all the time in a different form.  It is a systematic method of collecting data.  That is just one of many examples.

Don't get me wrong.  A skilled professional who has tons of experience on a specific type of activity can be successful without all the stuff I am talking about today.  My father-in-law was in coal mining his entire life and could tell by just looking at the land where there was going to be good coal.  There is no substitute for that type of experience. You can find that type of experience and skill on the Treasure Coast.

A more scientific approach used by a relative novice will lose to vast professional experience every-time.  However, I believe anyone who wants to and makes the effort can benefit by taking a more scientific approach.  It will dramatically increase the learning curve for the less experienced and prevent costly mistakes and increase efficiency for those who are already skilled.

Taking a scientific approach is not a quick path to success.  Neither can it replace long hard work.  It will help though.  In some cases it might be absolutely necessary - depending upon what you want to accomplish.

Some people will not be interested at all in a scientific approach.  For some, it just will not mesh with their personality, philosophy or goals.

Some people are just out for a little relaxation.  Some people like to go by feel or hunch.  That is fine.   And if you disagree with everything I just said, that is fine too.

I haven't even began to scratch the surface on this topic and may or may not get into more detail in the future.  I suspect I will from time to time.

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We now have a slightly negative low tide.  Other than that there is not much change to report concerning beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/25/18 Report - Some Ideas About Coin Caches. What Are Your Dug Coins Trying To Tell You?

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

Coin Found Friday.

Did you ever notice that most coin caches are found by accident? Very few coin caches are found as a result of a hunt for that specific cache.  You can prove that for yourself by doing a little research.  If you do a Google search, you'll find that most caches are discovered purely by accident.  Gardening accounts for a few. Some have been dug up by dogs or other animals.  Some have been found by spelunkers.  Very often someone is just searching a field or conducting an archaeological dig when they discover a cache.

A cache of gold, dollars and euros found in a garden outside of Gaddafi's stronghold.  

A cache is typically described in terms of the quantity of coins, dates, denomination and types of coin.  The earliest and most recent dated coins and distribution of dates is often significant.

The container is also significant.  It seems a good number of caches are buried in canning jars, others in metal or ceramic containers and many in bags of some type.  Cloth containers often deteriorate and disappear.  Most often they are not buried deep - at least not those that are discovered.

As with any find, it can be difficult to learn much from a cache if without information about the context.  Archaeological context  refers to the place where an artifact is found, including the soil, the site type, the layer the artifact came from, what else is found in that layer or area, including remnants of buildings and things.

I've talked before about how dates on coins can be misleading. I won't go over that again now.

I saw a new episode of the Oak Island TV show the other day.  I had pretty much lost interest, but was encouraged by the Seismic Scanning Survey.  Up until that time their search had been, with the exception of the sample holes, unfocused and disorganized.  The sample drill holes from last season and the seismic survey of this season are the two most reasonable things they've done.

As a scientist, I like to see defined goals and theories that give rise to hypotheses that can be tested.  I prefer a thorough systematic approach.  After a while, running around in circles and making wild claims about miscellaneous isolated surface finds deposited over the history of the island is at first comical but eventually becomes tiring.

 Hopefully the seismic scan will keep them focused.  I know they have to get enough video for a season of TV, and the miscellaneous surface finds do that, but the surface finds are misdirected energy and don't do much to answer the big question of what, if anything, is buried in the shafts or vault.

I'm not talking about a leisurely metal detecting outing here.  If you just want a leisurely hunt and there is no big question or puzzle to be solved, you can go about it any way you want, but when you have a specific targeted cache or treasure, a lot of research and a more scientific approach is wise.  Old maps that show the island in centuries past could be very helpful.

A few targeted caches have been found as the result of good thorough research.  Ron Pastore has reportedly found some of the smaller Jesse James caches, even though the big James cache has not yet been found.  Some criticize Pastore's book, Jesse James' Secret, which they claim is full of mistakes, but Pastore has appeared on the History Channel's documentary, Jesse James' Hidden Treasure ,and was also discussed at some length in Jack Myers' book Knights' Gold.

Here is an interesting web site presenting Pastore's materials on the James treasure.

 http://jessejamesphotoalbum.com/the-rj-pastore-collection/

When a random coin cache is found, it can be difficult to figure out where it came from and why it was buried.

Here is a brief excerpt about a Nazi cache find.

An amateur archaeologist in Germany has found a historic collection of gold coins worth around 45,000 euros, probably buried during the Nazi era or shortly after World War Two, experts said on Wednesday.

Armed with a metal detector, Florian Bautsch found 10 coins in a hollow under a tree near the northern town of Lueneburg and professionals then excavated another 207.

They are of French, Belgian, Italian and Austro-Hungarian origin and date from 1831 to 1910.

Two aluminum seals featuring swastika crosses, eagles and the words "Reichsbank Berlin 244" were also discovered under the field with the coins. Germany's central bank was called "Deutsche Reichsbank" during the Nazi era and an analysis of the metal in the seals suggests they were made some time after 1940.

"This was all found under a pine tree that is around 50 years old ... and that must have grown afterwards ... so we know it must have been buried in the last days of the war or shortly afterwards," Mario Pahlow, a local archaeologist, told Reuters...

And here is the link for more about that one.

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Nazi-gold-cache-buried-at-end-of-war-or-after-found-in-Germany-409096

You might want to take a look at that one.  It provides some good hints and tips.

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Dime Found Friday.

The past couple days I went out to see what was going on at the beach.  On Friday I did a few minutes of detecting at a couple beaches.  At the first beach I found the dime shown above.  It was discolored but otherwise looked in pretty good shape.  Just a clad find.  I was surprised by the date when I got it home and took a look.  Only one year off being silver.  It looked pretty much like the other coins that I was getting at that particular beach.  Nothing real old.

I then moved to a beach that had been renourished probably about a year ago.  The coins there looked different.  You can see one of those at the very top of this post.  It is a heavily encrusted and worn quarter.  It had more crust on it when I dug it up.  I just brushed some of the crust off, but still can not see a date.

As you can see beside being encrusted it is heavily worn.

Closer Look At Edge of Same Quarter Shown Above.

You can see how worn the edge is.  You might think it has been out there a while.  It sure looks like it.

Here is another coin found at the second beach.  I found it after the quarter.

Penny Found At Same Beach As the Quarter.

The penny is also encrusted with similar color shell bits, but the discoloring and encrustation is not as complete as on the quarter.

Also unlike the quarter, you can see that the lettering on this coin is still sharp.  It must have been lost nearly new.  The penny, however, is at least as recent as 2008.  I can't make out the third digit at this time.  So even though it is encrusted fairly heavily, it has not been out there a very long time.

These shield cents deteriorate in regular circulation, but this one has held up well even though it is encrusted.  It doesn't look like it took long to become encrusted.

While I can't say for sure, it looks like the encrusted coins from the second beach might have been dumped with the renourishment sand.  I'll have a better idea of that when I clean the penny enough to see the remaining digit of the date.

My point here is that you can sometimes get some useful information from the condition of the coins you find.

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The Treasure Coast surf is supposed to be around two to four feet today.  

The wind continues out of the west and the tides remain high 


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net