Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
Bronze Dagger Found With Metal Detector.I noticed this dagger for sale on eBay some time ago and posted a photo of it then. Since that time I heard from the finder, Lawrence Gladsden, who provided the photo and the following information. I thought the information was interesting and useful.
Here is what Lawrence said about the dagger.
... I checked with several archaeologists, and a guy familiar with forging and welding, and the consensus was that it was not made earlier than the late 19th century. Apparently all antique bronze arms were cast. No one was familiar with an antique edged weapon of any origin made from bar stock and brazed together. My understanding is that Bronze does not weld, though it can be brazed of course, and at a certain temperature it is quite plastic and can be hammered or drawn, and then cold-worked to harden it. Again, though, that was just not done in antiquity to make edged weapons as far as I could find out, probably because it was too much work. This piece appears to have been brazed together from bar stock and then roughly ground to shape. The sort of thing a 20th century amateur with a torch and grinder or belt sander would do in his garage. I also found a piece of clearly modern bar stock, though of a different size and shape than used in the dagger, on the same property. A Nail found in the hole near the dagger was a modern wire nail, though extremely rusted, probably from early 20th century. Also, Bob Carr said the depth it was found,about 4"- indicates it was not Spanish.
A day or two ago I gave you some links to articles and resources related to Precolumbian gold that was found in Panama. In response I got the following email from Steve Small. Here is what he said.
Thanks for the links to Panama. This month's National Geographic's cover
story is about the most recent finds at Sitio Conte. Fascinating stuff.
I couldn't find a link that shows it. Anyway, I grew up in Panama and it
was a wonderful place to grow up in the 60's and early 70's. We ran
around all these old ruins, finding old cannonballs which we tossed into
the ocean. A friend even lent me a Tesoro detector in 1972 or
thereabouts and I went to one of the old Spanish fortresses (Ft. San
Lorenzo) at the mouth of the Chagres River, on a cliff overlooking the
ocean. Of course, I didn't know what I was doing and all I found was
some clad. Can't do that now down there. Only detecting for modern stuff
on the beach. We also used to dig up old bottles left over from the
construction of the Canal. Some of my high school friends have
stupendous bottle collections. I have some great memories. Thanks for
bringing them back to mind.
There are times when I especially enjoy doing this blog. This was one of them. I was glad that I helped bring back Steve's fond memories, and it was nice to hear his story. That is what it is all about. It is about life, adventure, growing, learning, sharing and enjoying all that life has to offer.
There is something about finding things, especially older things, that somehow seems to enrich the life experience and fires the inner self. I suppose it is a bit different for everybody, but I think that in one form or another it is usually there.
Some archaeologists seem to think that they are the only ones that should be allowed to participate in that basic human drive. Others like Don Powell, mentioned in the following article about the discovery of the site of the Mantanzas massacre, take a more constructive approach rather than the very common archaeologist-versus-the-world attitude.
A couple of TV shows and some articles recently came out about the guys up at St. Augustine who found the Mantanzas massacre site. Here is a link to one of those articles.
http://m.staugustine.com/news/local-news/2012-01-07/metal-detectorist-finds-rare-treasures-under-sands-st-johns-county
Another archaeologist published an article stating something to the effect that artifacts by themselves teach us nothing. She said it is where the artifact is found and its relationship to the various historical layers of earth and other artifacts that provides the information.
Her argument actually explains why detectorists hunting on a beach do not destroy historical or archaeological evidence. When you find an object on the beach, it is not found in a preserved stratigraphic context that could provide any information about when it was used or where it was lost. Detectors only detect inches deep. And those layers of sand have been jostled around many times, as have the other items that are found on the beach. Therefore the contextual information that this archaeologist refers to no longer exists, and as she claims, the artifact itself provides no historical information.
I still recommending contacting the appropriate people if you do find something that might have some historical or archaeological significance.
I posted a lot of reader input today, but no one offered any guesses about my most recent mystery object.
We had a little wind yesterday, but nothing that would stir things up much. Today the wind is from the west and the seas relatively calm. A cold front will be passing through soon and the seas will pick up a touch Friday and through the weekend. Still not enough to improve conditions significantly.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
