1/1/15 Report - Happy New Year! First Beach Day of the New Year. Viking Finds.

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



Silver Viking Cross
Source" Archaeology.org linked article.

More and more of the big archaeological stories that I read include a note stating, often very inconspicuously, that the discovery was made by a detectorist.  Those discoveries attributed to detectorists are most often made somewhere other than the US.  I would not be surprised if the laws and attitudes towards detectorists in the US are a factor. 

The story about this Viking silver cross is just one example.  The article began as follows: Metal detector enthusiast Derek McLennan found a hoard of more than 100 Viking artifacts on land owned by the Church of Scotland.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.archaeology.org/news/2620-141014-scotland-viking-silver-cross

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In 2008, workers digging trenches for electrical cables in the tiny island town of Salme uncovered human bones and a variety of odd objects that they unceremoniously piled next to their trench. Local authorities at first assumed the remains belonged to a luckless WWII soldier, until Konsa arrived and recognized a spearhead and carved-bone gaming pieces among the artifacts, clear signs the remains belonged to someone from a much earlier conflict. Together with a small team, Konsa dug a little deeper and soon found traces of a boat’s hull. Nearly all of the craft’s timber had rotted away, leaving behind only discolorations in the soil. But 275 of the iron rivets holding the boat together remained in place, allowing the researchers to reconstruct the outlines of the 38-foot-long craft.

http://www.archaeology.org/issues/95-1307/features/941-vikings-saaremaa-estonia-salme-vendel-oseberg


If you are wondering about the relevance of these discoveries, there are often very useful clues in articles like that.  For example the discovery described in the paragraph immediately above was made while electrical cables were being buried.  How often have you seen something like that while driving around town?  Did you think about what might be uncovered?  Did you think about returning later with you detector?

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I took a look at the beach this morning before low tide. It was a little different than yesterday but not a lot.

There were scallops, as you can see.  The biggest cliff was about three feet at one beach and about one and a half feet at the other beach.

There were few targets but I found my first coin of the year, a zinc penny and first jewelry, a pendant.

Here is a video showing the surf and beach.

A Couple Treasure Coast Beaches This Morning Before Low Tide

The above photos show beach conditions this morning.   The sand in front of the cuts was mushy.  Very few targets there.

It was still rainy.  Not many people were on the beach this morning, just a few people fishing.

Happy New Year,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net