1/29/20 Report - Spikes Found. Diving Neanderthals. Columbus and Caribs. Searchable Database.

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

Spikes Found Early Last Week.

Here are some spikes I found last week.

Shipwreck spikes?   Nope.

They are railroad spikes.s

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Neanderthals went diving for shells to turn into tools, according to new research, suggesting our big-browed cousins made more use of the sea than previously thought.

The study focuses on 171 shell tools that were found in a now inaccessible coastal cave in central Italy, known as the Grotta dei Moscerini, which was excavated in 1949. Dating of animal teeth found within layers alongside the shell tools suggest they are from about 90,000 to 100,000 years ago – a time when only Neanderthals are thought to have been present in western Europe.

The tools had previously been thought to have been formed from shells collected by Neanderthals from the beach where they had been tossed by waves. But now experts have peered at the shell tools through microscopes, revealing many do not show the wear and tear that would be expected from such a fate, such as the presence of barnacles or marks on the shells...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/15/neanderthals-dived-for-shells-to-make-tools-research-suggests

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Christopher Columbus’ accounts of the Caribbean include harrowing descriptions of fierce raiders who abducted women and cannibalized men – stories long dismissed as myths.

But a new study suggests Columbus may have been telling the truth.

Using the equivalent of facial recognition technology, researchers analyzed the skulls of early Caribbean inhabitants, uncovering relationships between people groups and upending longstanding hypotheses about how the islands were first colonized.

One surprising finding was that the Caribs, marauders from South America and rumored cannibals, invaded Jamaica, Hispaniola and the Bahamas, overturning half a century of assumptions that they never made it farther north than Guadeloupe.

“I’ve spent years trying to prove Columbus wrong when he was right: There were Caribs in the northern Caribbean when he arrived,” said William Keagan, Florida Museum of Natural History curator of Caribbean archaeology.  “We’re going to have to reinterpret everything we thought we knew.”

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/carib-skulls-boost-credibility-of-columbus-cannibal-claims/

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I started talking about Kang Hsi porcelain and other pottery and then got off on some other things, but you might find the following web site helpful if you pick up shards.

It is the Florida Museum of Natural History pottery database.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/flarch/blog/new-searchable-guide-to-florida-pottery/

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I thought that blog Followers might get notice of new posts, but someone said he didn't think so. 

I have some topics that I need to address, but they'll have to wait until some other time because they are fairly complex and it will take me a while to get them put together.

For now,
Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

1/21/20 Report - Vero Man and Treasure Coast Fossils. Kang Hsi Notes. Big Surf Coming.

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

Source: SiberianTimes.com web site.  See link below.

The Kotelny island woolly mammoth was killed by humans some 21,000 years ago, say scientists.

Dr Albert Protopopov shared new pictures of the remains found at a location which was then part of the vast Beringia Land Bridge connecting what is now Siberia and North America.

'The traces on the bones show that the mammoth was killed and butchered by ancient people,' he said...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/arctic-island-woolly-mammoth-shows-strongest-evidence-yet-of-human-slaughter-and-butchering/

You might be aware that some of the oldest things you can find on the Treasure Coast beaches are fossils. It might surprise you to learn that you can find mammoth fossils on our beaches. I've found both mammoth teeth and a section of a tusk.

Mammoth Tusk Section.

Source: SiberianTimes.com (Same link as above).

The tusk section I found was of about the same diameter as the one shown in the above photo.  The end was sticking out of some eroded sand on the Treasure Coast.

Every Floridian, full or part-time, should know about the world-famous "Vero Man" site and James Kennedy's history making find of a 13,000 year-old mammoth bone bearing a human carving.

Wikipedia describes Vero Man this way: Vero man refers to a set of fossilized human bones found near Vero (now Vero Beach), Florida, in 1915 and 1916. The human bones were found in association with those of Pleistocene animals. The question of whether humans were present in Florida (or anywhere in the Americas) during the Pleistocene was controversial at the time, and most archaeologists did not accept that the Vero fossils were that old. Recent studies show that the Vero human bones are from the Pleistocene and are the largest collection of human remains from the Pleistocene found in North America.

See https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/6/110622-mammoth-bone-oldest-art-americas-science/

And also https://www.livescience.com/20088-early-floridians-mingled-mammoths-mastodons.html

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Shards Found South of Seagrape Where Kang His Has Been Found.

Photo by Robert C.

I recently received multiple questions about Kang Hsi porcelain.  As you might know, Kang Hsi porcelain is sometimes found on 1715 Fleet shipwreck sites and on the neighboring beaches.

Robert C., who sent in the above photo showing shards that he found, was wondering if others might know of Kang Hsi porcelain found on the Treasure Coast having colors other than the more common blue and white.

I'm sure he'd like to know if anyone had opinions to offer on the shards shown above.

I've talked about Kang Hsi porcelain in the past, but made some new photos that I think might be helpful for those attempting to identify Kang Hsi.

Below is a comparison of a piece of what I believe to be Kang Hsi porcelain and a piece of common European blue on white pottery side-by-side

Broken Edge of Common Blue on White Pottery (left) and Kang Hsi porcelain (right)

First off, in my experience, the paste of Kang Hsi porcelain is very white and very fine as compared to the common blue on white shards that you'll often find, and Kang Hsi porcelain is generally thin.

Another thing you will notice from the above photo is that the color will sit on the surface of most shards, while the color on Kang Hsi will penetrate the glaze.  The yellow on the shard on the right is encrustation, not a part of the shard.

I am far from an expert on this, and will gladly accept correction if I am wrong about any of it.  From my experience, though, these observations seem to hold.

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It has been a relatively busy year so far.  While there have not been a lot of shipwreck finds, there have been some finds, and there has been periodic erosion at a few spots around the Treasure Coast.  Too bad there is so much renourishment sand to deal with.

The surf predictions look real encouraging.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

The surf will start to build today and peak tomorrow (Wed.).

The wind and primary swell is northerly, but the wind is a bit off-shore until tomorrow

Not only will we have high surf (if the predictions are correct), but we'll also see some swells coming from the north and a few wind direction changes.  Altogether, it looks promising at this point.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/15/20 Report - One Thing That Can Make It More Difficult To ID the Date of Dug Items. Dug Coin Revealed As Fake. More Surf.

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

Winged Liberty Head Imprint.

It can be difficult to tell what an item is and how old it is when you dig it up.  We might have a first impression that tells us that the item is old or that it is modern.  But those two terms are very general and we might not know precisly how old the item is, and our impressions can be way off.

Bot "modern" and "old" are very general terms that might mean different things to different people.  You might even use them differently at different times.  When I say an item is modern, I'm usually thinking that it is 20th century or later, but that can vary.

In the absence of any definitive marks, when it comes to estimating an item's age I think most people look first at wear and deterioration.  That is the first and most obvious thing you will see.  An old item will generally look worn or corroded, but that really doesn't tell you much.  Appearances can be very misleading.

Many years ago I thought that items that are hundreds of years old would look crude or primitive, but I learned that many really old items were very skillfully and wonderfully made, at times being every bit as nice as the finest modern items.  If an item looked too good, I could have mistakenly dismissed it as being more modern.  I probably made some mistakes like that.

It does take some time for items to wear down or corrode, but that process can take place very rapidly or very slowly, so the amount of wear or corrosion can be a very poor indicator of age.

The environment can have a lot to do with how quickly an item corrodes.  Coins will corrode faster in salt water environments than fresh water, for example.  I was always impressed by how well silver coins held up in the cold fresh water lakes of the north.  And coins buried in the acidic soil around mangroves, on the contrary, corroded very rapidly.  Nearby items can also accelerate corrosion or protect an item from corrosion.

Buried items can become encrusted.  At the top of this post is an imprint of an winged liberty head.  The imprint is in a clay coating that encased a mercury dime that I once dug up.  After finding the coin, I took it home and placed it in Muriatic acid to clean it.  The Muriatic acid appeared to have absolutely no effect at all on the crust or coin.  I tried a stronger solution and left it longer, but the crust was completely resistant to the acid and completely protected the coin no matter how long I left it in the acid.

The imprint you see at the top of this post is on the inside surface of the crust that was removed from one side of the dime.  The other side of the dime and the edges were completely coated too.

Outside Surface of the Crust Removed From The Same Dime.

When the crust was removed, other than discoloration, the Mercury dime was still in great condition and looked very much like it probably looked when it was lost.  The protective crust protected the dime very well until the crust was manually removed.

Here is another example.  I've used this example before.  It really shows how an item can be protected by a crust.

Here is how one side looked when it was dug (below).  It actually wasn't so much dug as scooped up from the rushing water that was bouncing off an eroding cut.

Heavily Encrusted Side of Half Reale.

That shell/sand crust was very hard and strongly attached to the surface of the coin.  I couldn't budge it mechanically without doing damage to the coin.  Muriatic acid did the job though.

Here is the extremely well preserved surface that was revealed when the crust was removed.

Surface of the Cleaned Coin That Was Protected by the Crust.

The details on the side that was protected by a crust are unusually nice and sharp.  The other side of the half reale had no protective crust when I picked it up.  Here is the other side, which is not much different than it appeared when it was taken out of the scoop.

Same Reale  

Side That Did Not Have a Protective Crust.

You can see that the edges, which were not covered by the crust are worn and the side that was not covered by the crust is not nearly as clear as the details on the side that was covered. If you go by the amount of wear or corrosion alone, one side looks older than the other.

Time alone does not cause an item to look older or newer.  It depends upon where the item was and what happened to it.  An item lost hundreds of years ago can easily look newer than an item that is actually very new.  How well an item is preserved depends upon the material, the environment, and how the item reacts to the environment.  An item can appear to age either very quickly or not hardly at all.  You can not judge the age of an item with any precision from the amount of wear or corrosion, even though that is what we usually tend to do.

Today I gave two examples of items that were protected to some extent by protective encrustation.  In the future, I plan to present other examples illustrating other things that can radically affect the apparent age of a beach find.

Items that are hundreds of years old can look days old and other items can deteriorate very rapidly, making them look much older than they are.

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Yesterday I showed a Facebook photo of a find by a Tom J. who was visiting the Treasure Coast and found what looked like a reale.  Although the photo was not real clear, I thought I could see a raised edge on the object that made it look incorrect.   I didn't have the entire text of the Facebook page yesterday, but DJ sent me the rest of the text, so I'll present that now.

So the bottom line is that Tom J.'s find is a fake treasure coin.  Don't you wonder how they end up on the beach?  I think some are souvenirs that are lost just like many of the other things we find.  I think others might be put out to entertain children who want to play pirate.  And perhaps others are meant to fool someone.

Thanks to DJ.

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Looks like we'll get another bump in the surf - but only for one day.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Too bad the wind will be mostly east/southeast.

I'll be talking more about corrosion on coins, Kang Hsi shards, Aztec gold and a variety of other topics that I've already started.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/14/20 Report - Some Early 2020 Treasure Coast Finds.

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

One Uncleaned Half Reale With Two Others.

Finds and photo by Terry S.

Yesterday I posted photos of some finds made by Terry S.  After sending those pictures, Terry sent me the photo above.

Referring to the items I posted yesterday, Terry then continued with the following. 

… Just before I found them I found this half reale. I didn’t clean it to be able to show others what they look like when found. If you look closely you can make out the cross on it. The cleaned 1/2s on either side I found a couple years ago and the dime is to show size...  There are a lot of people out there that have never found a 1/2 and don’t know what they look like when found before cleaning. I enjoy your blog and check it daily as many of my friends. You put out a great blog and I commend you. Terry

As you can see, the uncleaned new find (in the middle) is encrusted as found, and it is difficult to tell what it is except for the faintest bit of the cross showing.  I'll talk more about that another day.

Thanks Terry.

Below are a couple interesting finds from Alberto S., including a quarter for size comparison.

Shard and Button Find

Finds and photo by Alberto S.

Alberto asked me for comments on these and one other find he made.  I thought these two were the most interesting.  He said the button rang up as a 12.8 on a CTX 3030.

That is a very interesting button.

Concerning the shard, what I would want to see is the edge of the shard.  I once did a post on the subject of identifying porcelain and Kang Hsi.   Actually, more than one post.  Anyhow, the edge of Kang Hsi porcelain will show a very fine dense and very white paste.  The blue paint will have depth and appear to sink into the glaze rather than sit on top of it.

Here is one link that will direct you to additional information.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2019/05/52919-report-book-on-1715-wrecks-kang.html

Thanks Alberto.  Very interesting.  Of course, any information or comments about those finds would be appreciated.


DJ sent me a photo from the Facebook page of a Tom J. whose page says he was in Melborne with the family for a couple of days and one afternoon did some detecting north of Wabasso where he found the item shown in the following photo.  He said it rang up as a 20 on the Equinox and thought it was going to be a penny.

Item Reportedly Found North of Wabasso by Tom J.

Photo submitted by DJ

I magnified the photo and it appears to have a Potosi like cross on it, but it also appears to have a strange raised edge around it.  I can't really see it very well.  I also was not able to read the entire Facebook page, but the text I could read ended by saying "So don't get too impres…"  Sounds like there might be a surprise ending.  I wasn't able to read the reveal, but have a suspicion.irme

See tomorrow's post for the conclusion of this story.

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The beginning of the year wasn't the worst for metal detecting on the Treasure Coast.  It is the time of year when beach detecting conditions often improve.  Too bad there is so much renourishment sand on so many beaches.  Still, as you can see, some interesting things have been found.

The predictions call for a 3 - 4 foot surf on the Treasure Coast for at least three of four days.  The low tide will be decent.

Nobody has run down the mark's on Duane's silver ring yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/13/19 Report - 2019 Salvage Season Off To Great Start: Gold Reliquary Found. Mel Fisher Days Coming.

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

Bones Uncovered In Dunes

Source: See VeroNews link below.

A skeleton was uncovered in the dunes by a construction company and gold was found under water nearby

The bones are thought to be old, but there were no buttons or any associated artifacts.  The skeleton will be studied before the age is determined.

You might recall we had some discussion in this blog about the relative absence of known 1715 Fleet burials.  This one might or might not be.  Perhaps that will be determined.

Source: Same VeroNews link below.

The 2019 Treasure Coast salvage season is off to a great start.  Back a week or so ago I posted pictures of salvage boats working near Turtle Trail, and some great finds were made.

Most interesting is an encrusted gold object, thought to be a reliquary, found at the Corrigan's site by Maritime Research Recovery's vessel, Capitana, on  June 4th, 2019.

Here is the link for those two stories.

http://veronews.com/2019/06/13/a-week-of-discoveries-sunken-treasures-and-human-remains/

MRR is working under contract with Queen's Jewels LLC.  The Capitana is one of three vessels operated by Maritime Research Recovery, LLC.

Other reliquaries have been found on Treasure Coast wreck sites, including one found some years ago near Douglass Beach.  Here are links for more information on that one, including research by author and researcher, Laura Strolia.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/83114-report-more-on-1715-fleet.html

 https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2014/08/81414-report-treasure-coast-gold.html

The Sea Reaper and Seatrepid, also operated by MRR, are also making good finds, including a nice piece of Kang Hsi porcelain and musket balls.

Here is the link to the MRR web site that shows the finds.

https://www.mrronline.com/single-post/GoldReligiousArtifact

Thanks to DJ for pointing that out to me.

The MRRonline web site mentions that the reliquary bears the symbol "IHS."  You will find the same letters on many religious pendants that you will find.

Here is an explanation from the Catholic Herald.

Early scribes would abbreviate the sacred names of Jesus by using the first two letters of the name, or the first and last letters, with a line over the letters. For example, the Greek letters Chi-Rho (which looks like our English X and P) was an abbreviation for the name "Christ." Likewise, I (iota) and H (eta) are the first two Greek letters for "Jesus." Sometime in the second century, the third letter, S (sigma), was added, thereby rendering IHS. These Christograms, such as XP or IHS, served as secret codes, whereby inscribed on a tomb, they indicated a deceased Christian, or on a doorpost, a Christian home. 

If you ever saw Christmas written as Xmas, you might have wondered about that. Some people object to that abbreviation saying that "Xmas" takes Christ out of Christmas, however the X represents the Greek letter Chi, also being the first letter of the name of Christ and having that significance.

Similarly, you might know of the Christian fish symbol that you'll see on the back of some cars.

Ichthus, or in koine Greek, ἰχθύς which means "fish," is an acrostic from “ Ίησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ “, (Iēsous Christos, Theou Yios, Sōtēr), which translates into English as “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour”.

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Mel Fisher Days will be July 11 - 13 this year in Key West.

Events will include tours of the Fisher private conservation laboratory.

For more information see

http://melfisherdays.melfisher.com/

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The weather has been good for salvage work but not so good for beach hunting.  I have plans to metal detect an inland site when I get a chance.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/29/19 Report - Book on 1715 Wrecks. Kang-Hsi Or Not. Couple Odd Finds.

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

Illustration from Sunken Treasure on Florida Reefs.

I had some of my treasure books out a few days ago and talked about a few of them in recent posts.  The Frank Hudson books give the general location of various sunken and buried treasures.  If you are more interested in the details of 1715 Fleet wreck sites, you might be interested in books such as Robert Weller's Sunken Treasure of Florida Reefs.  In addition to giving the location of the wrecks, he also shows details of the wreck sites and scatter patterns and a good number of photos of the more outstanding finds.

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Kang-hsi porcelain was carried on the 1715 Fleet, and can be very valuable.  I've talked about Kang-hsi porcelain in several posts and posted pictures of shards, and even provided information on how to identify Kang-hsi.  See my 3/29/13 post, for example.

Obviously not all blue on white shards are Kang-hsi.  Blue and white pottery is very common and has been for a long time.

There was other pottery shipped in the Manila galleons that was not as fine as the Kang-hsi porcelain. Lower quality pots were used for storage.

Here is a part of a cup I found.

Broken Cup.

Another View of the Same Cup..

Notice the thickness and quality of the paste.  It does not appear to be of the quality of Kang-hsi.  Beside the thickness and the coarse paste, the color sits on top of the surface.

In the past I've also posted photos of pieces of Kang-hsi porcelain that were found on the Treasure Coast.

See https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2013/12/122913-report-1715-fleet-kang-hsi.html

Here is a link to a Sothebys auction of Kang Hsi porcelain.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2014/kangxi-porcelain-n09110/kangxi-porcelain/2014/02/kangxi-porcelain-a-.html

That will give you a good idea of possible values.

And here is a Kang-hsi teapot that was found on a shipwreck, although the web site doesn't say which wreck.

https://orientalceramics.com/index.php/product/a-yongzheng-porcelain-teapot-from-the-ca-mau-cargo/

They are not always marked, but if you are lucky enough to find a mark, this site might help you.

https://antique-marks.com/kangxi-chinese-porclain.html

Both complete pieces and broken bits have been found on the Treasure Coast.

I always remember the story of one detectorist who saw a stack of plates exposed by erosion and thought nothing much of it.  He just figured they were plain old plates, but after he learned they could be valuable, he went back to find them again, but couldn't.  It could have been a fortune.

That is why I talk so much about various types of treasure.  You can walk right past a fortune and not realize it.

Here is a link to a brief but good overview of the archeology of the Manila galleons

http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/61b274c68e00272c5e50f0af53f5b140.pdf


Introduced to Europe in the fourteenth century, Chinese porcelains were regarded as objects of great rarity and luxury.

The examples that appeared in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were often mounted in gilt silver, which emphasized their preciousness and transformed them into entirely different objects.

By the early sixteenth century—after Portugal established trade routes to the Far East and began commercial trade with Asia—Chinese potters began to produce objects specifically for export to the West, and porcelains began to arrive in some quantity. An unusually early example of export porcelain is a ewer decorated with the royal arms of Portugal; the arms are painted upside down, however—a reflection of the unfamiliarity of the Chinese with the symbols and customs of their new trading partner...

That is part of an essay on Chinese export porcelain. Here is the link for the rest of the essay.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ewpor/hd_ewpor.htm

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I found the following corroded copper disc.  It is about the size of a penny, but has no obvious details.

Two Sides of a Penny-Size Copper Disc.

I have pennies that are one third the thickness of this disc that still show enough remaining design to make it identifiable.

The second photo shows a side has something that if you really use your imagination could be construed as a profile of Lincoln.   I couldn't really see that at all until I took this photo.  I'm not certain, but it must be a corroded penny.  That is my best guess anyhow.

I also found this die.  I thought it was wood until I magnified it.  Now I think it is bakelite.

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One person from Miami recently thanked me for the beach conditions reports.  When I don't post any on a given day it is usually because the conditions aren't much good and haven't changed much since the last time I gave a conditions report.

I used to post conditions reports more often, but it became to repetitive.  During the summer months there is usually not much change unless we have a storm or something.

Today the surf is supposed to be only two or three feet and the wind from the south.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net