Wednesday, February 12, 2020

2/12/20 Report - Nuestra Senora del Juncal Shipwreck. Havering Hoard Questions. Beach Renourishment.


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

Half Reale As Found (left) Compared to Same Reale Partially Cleaned (right)

I received some email thanking me for posting the coin cleaning instructions that I posted on 2/7.

The half reale shown above is only very slightly cleaned.  There are even still some visible pieces of shell attached.  I soaked it in a diluted solution of Muriatic acid an hour or two.  Still you can see some difference.  I could continue to clean it until all of the debris and corrosion is removed, but I don't see any need for that right now.  How shiny you like your cobs is a matter of personal preference.

When I saw the shape of this half, it reminded me of the heart shape that you sometimes see on the very desirable heart-shaped cobs of Potosi, but the little tail is very common on ordinary Mexico half reales.  Sone say it is due to twisting of the shears when the planchet was cut.

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Spain and Mexico will cooperate in a renewed search for a 17th-century treasure galleon, the Nuestra SeƱora del Juncal.  One goal of the project is to train underwater archaeologists.

The Juncal is thought to have been carrying between 120 and 150 tonnes of precious materials, dwarfing the 14 tonnes of cargo recovered from another Spanish wreck, the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, in 2007...

Here is the link.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/feb/10/spain-and-mexico-renew-search-for-17th-century-treasure-galleon

See also

https://www.nauticalnewstoday.com/nuestra-senora-del-juncal-el-destino-final-de-un-barco-que-no-debia-zarpar/

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Yesterday I posted a bit from an article on the Havering Hoard.  Here are some questions they have.

… There are four theories about why so many objects would have been deliberately broken and meticulously buried.

  • Was it a ritualistic offering to the gods?
  • Was it to do with it being the late bronze age and start of the iron age, so the objects were no longer so highly valued or wanted?
  • Could a powerful person have been trying to control the amount of bronze that was in circulation and being traded?
  • Or was the location a kind of bronze age storage site? The total weight of the objects is 45kg, so they could not have been easily carried around.

All of the theories raise their own questions. If they were being stored, for example, why were they not retrieved?...
Interesting to think about.
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Pavo1994 sent his thoughts on beach renourishment.

Here's what I've been posting online about beach renourishment in Miami-Dade county, and writing to politicos, for whatever its worth, which is nothing, I suppose.



I don't think we've had any public debate on the massive amounts of quarry sand being dumped on our shell sand beaches, the environmental damage that may be causing, the cost, who pays and who benefits? I'm referring to the incredibly huge publicly funded and federally managed construction project going on along the entire beachfront of Miami-Dade County. By the end of 2020 the corps will have dumped almost 600,000 tons of sand on Miami Dade County beaches in 2019 and 2020 al one (continuing possibly into 2021). This isn't counting at least 285k tons in 2017-18. The price tag for beach renourishment in Miami Dade county for 2019 and 2020 will be almost $200M. These projects financially benefit primarily the beach front property owners. What is the value of that property in M/D county? I dunno...trillions? I would guess. How much are these extremely wealthy property owners paying to protect their investments and income flows from the encroaching seas? ZERO. They contribute nothing. 100% taxpayer monies. As usual, the middle class and working poor subsidize the billionaire beachfront property owners. Socialism has been our form of government for a few decades now, but its socialism for the rich, and it calls itself capitalism.

But, that's not my main beef. Being exploited financially is one thing, The destruction of the environment I find so much more disturbing. This quarried sand buries and kills every living thing on the shell sand beach and nearshore (only the turtles get protection, and we have no idea how they will really handle it). Does the beach ever really recover? I dunno.If once a population of critters along the beach is exterminated, does it come back? Has anyone researched what being buried under 10' of quarried sand...foreign to the living creatures in the local shell sand.... does to a living beach in South Florida? I doubt the folks dumping the sand have, and if they have, they haven't broadcast what they found out. I would guess the folks who want that sand protecting their hotels and luxury condos are not real interested in the ecology of the beach or nearshore ocean. If reefs get buried or silted, "What me worry?" As long as my condo appreciates in value. Have you noticed the water turns white on Miami Beach now due to the silt in the quarry sand? Scoop up sand and there are no worms, no sand fleas, no crabs, no nothing. Scan the water; there are no fish. The only seabirds feeding are a few garbage scavenging gulls. The Peeps who chase the waves up and down...not feeding any longer in the renourished beaches. 


Here are a couple reference links that go with that.


https://www.theguardian.com/.../surfside-florida-beaches...

Make your thoughts and opinions on the subject known.  You are funding the renourishment projects whether you like it or not.

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We are having high tides now.  The surf will increase Saturday up to around 4 - 6 feet.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net