Friday, August 16, 2019

8/16/19 Report - Treasure Diggers Arrested. Evidence of People in Florida 14550 Years Ago. Fossils and Stone Tools.


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

Mastodon Tusk Found in Florida.
Source: National Geographic - See link below.

Prehistoric mastodon bones and a stone knife found in Florida’s Aucilla River provide further evidence of early humans in the Americas. The findings, radiocarbon dated to around 14,550 years ago, puts humans in the southeast U.S. about 1500 years earlier than previously thought.


A thousand years before big game hunters who used what are known as Clovis spearpoints spread across North America, earlier arrivals were living near Florida’s Aucilla River alongside mastodon and other animals now long extinct. So say archaeologists who spent four years investigating an underwater sinkhole known as the Page-Ladson site, located in northern Florida east of Tallahassee.

A “bifacial” stone knife—one with a blade chipped to sharpness on both edges—and other stone artifacts found in riverbed sediment dated to 14,550 years ago provide “unequivocal” evidence of human habitation, says one of the principal investigators, Michael Waters of Texas A and M University, The researchers’ findings were reported Friday in the journal Science Advances...


Click here to read more of that National Geographic article.

Thanks to Dustin L for that link.

As you might know fossil bones, including Mastodon are found on the Treasure Coast beaches, I've seen both Mastodon teeth and tusk sections, as well as bones of many other animals including Rhinoceros, which was one of my favorites.

Fossils showed up on some beaches in large numbers back a few years ago after some heavy erosion.  I haven't seen many in the last few years.

---

A 56-year-old man suspected of trying to dig up “precious metals” on Ted Binion’s former property in Pahrump has been arrested, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office said.

The manager of the property once owned by the late gambling executive had identified 56-year-old Richard Cleaves to detectives on April 2 as one of three men who trespassed on the land with shovels on March 30. The men were captured by surveillance cameras, according to a sheriff’s office video posted on social media Wednesday.

The sheriff's office that arrested Cleaves, who formerly worked on the property, on Friday on charges of burglary, conspiracy to commit grand larceny and destruction of property...


Here is the link for more about that.






Thanks to SuperRick for the link. Rick says that shows why you need to get permission to detect on private property.

---

Mitch K. found a photo of a plated ink well very much like the one I talked about yesterday.  This one is described as vintage on ebay, thought I don't think the author really knows its age.


Vintage Ink Well Shown on eBay.
Notice the dimensions.  It is about three inches in diameter - not circumference.

Let me remind you once again that if you want help identifying an item, it helps if you provide dimensions and/or some object for comparison.  Also multiple views and the composition of the item can be very helpful.  Mention any marks.

I wondered about the apparent ledge around the opening of the item.  I didn't know for sure if there was an inner pot or if it was just a ledge.  If it is like this inkwell on eBay, the ledge is to seat the top.

---

It is at night that my brain turns on the brightest.  Sometimes it runs and runs in a long train of memories and ideas.  Sometimes a dream starts the train of thought, and sometimes that is what leads to the thoughts that I end up posting.

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night like I often do.  Pitch black and totally quiet, I laid there and smiled inside.  The only thing I heard was the beating of my own heart.  It sounded like a base drum in my ears, but that isn't what I noticed most.  It was the joy that shined inside me.  It is life - awareness - undistracted by things and cares.  Just the pure joy of awareness and the presence of my wife that slept beside me.

I always liked quiet.  That is one thing I very much like about a deserted beach, which is even more quiet at night,

I used to like to detect the beach at night - not that I recommend it.  Usually there is some light from the moon, and sometimes the stars are bright, but sometimes it is pitch black.  At night there are fewer distractions. You feel the wind and hear your headphones, and maybe you hear the surf.

I remember moving to Florida (for the second time) in 1979.  Driving down either the turnpike or 95 ( I don't remember for sure which it was now, but I think it must have been 95. ) and noticing snapped trees and a broken billboard.  Hurricane David had just passed.  

I knew nothing about the storm.  I hadn't paid any attention to the news or anything.  I just packed a very few things into my Porsche 914 that was getting like 64 miles per gallon in overdrive while drafting big trucks on the way from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale.  At some point, probably around Cape Canaveral, I decided to go over and take A1A the rest of the way.  Remember, this was back in 1979 and it wasn't nearly as built up as it is today.  It was dark and quiet for long stretches.

I drove for miles in the pitch dark along A1A after the storm, hearing nothing but the roaring sea to my left and seeing nothing but the road in my headlights.  I liked the sound, but I didn't know what it was saying.

It had to have been the stretch between Cocoa and Vero.  I remember stopping at a gas station in Vero and the fellow told me if I went over and took the newly completed highway, which must have been the turnpike, I'd make Fort Lauderdale before dawn.

In my head I can still hear the sound of the beating waves as I drove down A1A that night in 1979. The roaring surf was the like voice of a stranger back then.  Now it is the voice of an old friend that I eagerly want to hear call out to me again.


---

According to the National Hurricane Center map there is nothing of interest forming yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net