2/13/19 Report - If You Want To Find More, Try Sifting. More on the Melborne Artifact.

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

Finds Found by Sifting an Old Home Site

Finds and photo by Russ P. 

I received this photo of finds that were made by Russ P and his sons by sifting an old home site.  Here is what he said.

... I took my boys sifting this morning at a trashy old house site. The finds pictured are fairly typical, in variety and amount. One of my sons likes to collect the colorful ceramic shards.

The aspect of sifting I think I enjoy most is seeing everything.

There is a Buffalo nickel and a couple of wheats...

Thanks Russ.

Russ has conducted experiments in which he recorded finds from lots that were detected several times and the sifted.  His experiments show that metal detecting only results in a fraction of the coins that can be found at a site.

Take a look at the following link and some of my other posts on sifting as compared to metal detecting.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/03/33018-report-more-on-sifting-compared.html

I highly recommend sifting if you want to get more of what a site holds.

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Here is more on the artifact that was originally erroneously referred to as an "Incan" funerary mask.  This article is by Rick Neale of Florida Today.

MELBOURNE BEACH — An undersea treasure hunter has discovered a possible ancient Peruvian artifact near Melbourne Beach that may have been transported by the doomed 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet.

"I thought it was scrap. I thought it was a NASA scrap, honestly. I thought it was a piece of an aircraft," said Mike Torres, chief technology officer of Seafarer Exploration. He found the item Jan. 14 in pre-dawn darkness.

Measuring about 10 inches across, bordered with intricate patterns, the circular copper relic features an image of a bird-like figure. John de Bry, director of the Center for Historical Archaeology in Melbourne Beach, said the object may have once been gold-plated...

Here is the link to read the entire article.

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/local/florida/2019/01/22/treasure-hunter-discovers-possible-ancient-artifact-near-melbourne-beach/2648527002/

It seems that some of the inaccuracies that were in earlier reporting have been cleaned up.

For one thing, the artifact is no longer referred to as "Incan" but rather a Peruvian artifact.  As I posted in this blog before, the determined age of the item did not match with the period of the Incan civilization.

You can find what I've previously posted concerning this artifact by going back a few days in this blog.  There were many questions about the find.

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X-ray fluorescence reveals exact origin of porcelain recovered from the ocean floor. 

Here is the link for that article.

https://cosmosmagazne.com/archaeology/scientists-crack-mystery-of-ancient-chinese-pottery-found-in-shipwreck

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Looks like we'll have a little increase in the surf later Wednesday and Thursday.  I don't think I'll get a chance to check it out.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net