8/27/19 Report - PSS-14 Mine Detector. Latest on Dorian. Gold Increasing. Evolution.

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

PSS-14 Mine Detector.

Source: See Military.com link below. 

Before I talk about Dorian today, I wanted to show this mine detector, which is combines metal detection with ground penetrating radar.

The AN/PSS-14 revolutionizes landmine detection by combining ground penetrating radar (GPR) and highly sensitive metal detector (MD) technology using advanced data fusion algorithms. This unique combination enables the system to reliably and consistently detect anti-personnel (AP) and anti-tank (AT) mines and to reject the detection of metallic clutter, increasing operator confidence and efficiency.

In order to maximize operational effectiveness and efficiency, the AN/PSS-14 offers the highest probability of detection of any handheld system along with a minimal false alarm rate. The system maintains this level of performance across all environmental conditions and soil types, including those that are heavily mineralized...

Here is the link for more about the PSS-14 mine detector.

https://www.military.com/equipment/pss-14-mine-detector

As you probably know, beach metal detecting on the Treasure Coast pretty much began with WWII mine detectors.

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Now for Dorian.  Below is the cone from the 2 PM update.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

The track is heading towards Florida, but you'll also notice that nowhere along the track does the National Hurricane Center show it as anything more than a tropical storm.

You can make too much out of that.  The track could change, as could the strength of the storm.

Looking, at the surf predictions for the Treasure Coast, at this point it looks like we could be a bump in the surf on Saturday.

Ro

Source: magicseaweed.com.

That doesn't look too exciting, but it is too early to tell for sure.

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About two weeks ago, I mentioned the increasing price of gold.  Since that time it has increased another forty or so dollars per ounce, now being around $1535 per ounce.

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I gave my opinions about evolution years ago in this blog, but now a renowned Yale scientist, David Gelerntner, discovered the fallacies of Darwinism.  Here is what Stream.org said about him.

This isn’t someone you’d expect to reject Darwin. He lives and works at the heart of the intellectual establishment. He’s a renowned computer scientist at Yale University — the New York Times called him a “rock star” — and served on the National Council on the Arts. He explained in a recent essay in the Claremont Review of Books why he no longer believes Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. He makes similar points in a recent interview with the Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson...

Gelerntner said, ... the incremental development of new species is largely not there. “Most species enter the evolutionary order fully formed and then depart unchanged.” Darwinism can’t explain that

Here is the link where you can read more about that.

https://stream.org/renowned-yale-computer-science-prof-leaves-darwinism/

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We'll keep watching Dorian.  It could change a lot in the next few days.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

12/5/18 Report - Policarpa On Dug Coin. George Washington Silver Dollar Throw. Puzzling Use of New Tech. Ring Bearing Name of Pontius Pilate.

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

Dug Columbian Coin Showing a Lady - Not Liberty.

I've been talking about coins showing Lady Liberty.  Here is a coin showing a lady with a very different look.  She appears to be bound.  She is not Lady Liberty.  She is known as Policarpa Salavarrieta.

From Wikipedia:  Policarpa Salavarrieta, also known as "La Pola," was a Neogranadine seamstress who spied for the Revolutionary Forces during the Spanish Reconquista of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. She was captured by Spanish Royalists and ultimately executed for high treason. The Day of the Colombian Woman is on "her" day. She is now considered a heroine of the independence of Colombia.

• 
  

• Born: Jan 26, 1795 · Guaduas, Colombia
• Died: Nov 14, 1817 · Bogotá, Colombia
• Parents: Joaquín Salavarrieta · Mariana de Ríos
• Buried: Church of San Agustín

Coins often portray historical figures.  Sometimes they are presidents or other admired or respected people.  The image is not only meant to portray and honor the person, but also to convey a message and inspire people.  Even when the image is of a actual person, there are often myths that come to surround the person.

One story that you might have heard is that George Washington, as a young man, threw a silver dollar across the Potomac.  The story is meant to illustrate his strength, but is it true.  There is some disagreement on that.  Here is what one web site says.

But alas, his famous coin toss is apparently not the whole truth. This popular myth is often told to illustrate his strength, but the river was not the Potomac (about a mile wide) nor was it the Delaware. Looking at his childhood homestead, perhaps it was the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia. According to myth, Washington threw a piece of slate, about the size and shape of a dollar, not a actual silver dollar. This account took place according to Martha Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis. While the story has never been verified, historians concede that the feat is a possibility. At the site of the Washington family homestead, the Rappahannock measures only 250 feet across, an impressive but not impossible throwing distance.

Moreover, there were no US silver dollars available when Washington was a young man.

Source: https://www.ngccoin.com/boards/topic/123308-did-george-washington-really-throw-a-silver-dollar-across-the-potomac-river/

Whether he actually threw a coin (silver dollar or not) across a specific river is not really the point, I guess, but you should realize that representations are not always literally true and that myths are often added to the image of historical people and events.

I'll have more to say about that in the near future as it relates to treasure hunting.  I also plan to talk about the psychology of meaning and how to interpret signs and symbols.

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Just because a technology is available doesn't mean it should be used or that it will be used correctly. New technologies can seem promising, but if you don't use it well, it won't do you much good.

Ground penetrating radar has been around a while now.  In fact it was invented in the 1920s, but it wasn't used much until the 1970s when the military began exploring its use for finding mines, buried weapons, tunnels etc.  In recent years it has been used more frequently by archaeologists and treasure hunters.

The selection of the best technology for the job depends upon a variety of factors.  Using a golf analogy, there are times when you would chose a putter and times when you would use a driver.     

On one TV show (Oak Island) the EM61 metal detector was used on a strip of rocky land.  There seemed to be no strategy other than seeing what might be found.  Maybe they didn't know if the system might be useful and just wanted to explore using it a little.  If that was the case I can understand it to some extent.  But what was strange to me, was that after the EM61 "got a hit" then the CTX 3030 was used to detect the target before retrieval.  In each case that they showed, the target detected by the EM61 was also detected by the metal detector.  Again, that doesn't make much sense to me unless you are simply trying to find out how the EM61 works or how to use it.  I already talked about this to some extent in a previous post.

NOTE: I originally referred to the EM61 as a GPR system.  I am told that it is actually a metal detector, so I corrected the references in the above paragraph.   Thanks to Jorge Y. for pointing out that mistake.

Here is a link for information about the EM61.

http://www.geonics.com/html/em61-mk2.html

On the other TV program, a GPR system detected a very large area of disturbed earth, where it appeared there might have been a large object buried or uncovered in the past.  After scanning the ground with the GPR and detecting the large area of disturbed earth, the switched to using a Garrett ATX on the same ground.  That made no sense to me either.

The fellow using the ATX found what you'd expect to find around a mid 20th century building -  some bottle caps, pull-tabs, etc., and eventually a coin.  That had nothing to do with the GPR scan.  It seemed they ignored the large and deep area of disturbed earth,.  I don't really get that strategy either.

Not only did they seem to ignore the area detected by the GPR system, but the ATX was a bad choice for that situation too.  Although I am not generally a big fan of a lot of discrimination, for what they seemed to be doing, I would have chosen another type of metal detector.

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To the very short list of clues about Pilate as a historical figure, archaeologists have added one more: a 2,000-year-old copper alloy ring bearing his name.

The ring was discovered in the late 1960s, one of thousands of artifacts found in the excavation of Herodium, an ancient fortress and palace south of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. But it was not until recently that researchers, analyzing those objects with advanced photography, were able to decipher the ring’s inscription.

It reads “of Pilates,” in Greek letters set around a picture of a wine vessel known as a krater, and is said by archaeologists to be only the second artifact from his time ever found with his name. Kraters are a common image in artifacts of that time and place...

The article continues:

The report says it is unlikely that the ring belonged to Pilate, in part because such simple rings usually belonged to soldiers and lesser officials, not to someone as wealthy and powerful as a prefect.

“We think it implausible that a prefect would have used a simple, all-metal, copper-alloy personal sealing ring with a motif that was already a well-known Jewish motif in Judea before and during his rule,” it says...

Here is the link if you want to read the rest of the article.

https://www.geopost247.com/2018/11/pontius-pilates-name-is-found-on-2000-year-old-ring/


There is a good lesson.  The authors didn't try to jump to conclusion that the ring was Pilate's simply because his name was inscribed in it.  They considered other things and came up with a more reasonable conclusion.

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It looks like the surf will increase a little by the weekend.  Not much else going on.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/16/18 Report - Shipwreck Artifacts From Treasure Coast Beaches Displayed. Buried Ship. Error Nickel.

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

Artifact Display Created by Terry S.

Photo by Terry S.

Here is another fine artifact display created by Terry.  Here is how he described the items.

Ships nails and spikes, two pieces of Aies indian pottery, a silver shoe buckle believed to be 1715, 2 old silver rings, a 1 reale and a lead bottle cap. 

Thanks once again to Terry S. for sharing this fine display of Treasure Coast finds.

If you missed the artifact displays I posted the past couple of days, you might want to go back and take a look.

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Using ground penetrating radar a Viking ship was found buried in a burial mound.

Here is the link for that story.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/viking-longship-discovery-thrills-archaeologists/vi-BBOqu2M?ocid=spartandhp

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I found another lamination error nickel in my old finds.

1940 Nickel With Lamination Error.

Closer View of Lamination Error.

If you haven't studied this, it might be difficult to tell a lamination error from corrosion or other damage.  This coin does have some other damage besides the lamination error.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

I've been watching this system down by the Yucatan and checked the wind predictions on Ventusky.com. It looks like this one will not do what Michael did. This one is going inland and looks like it will reform on the Pacific side.

It looks like we'll have a one or two foot surf for a couple of days, then it will begin to increase, reaching four to five feet on Friday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/31/16 Report - Happy New Year. 2016 Popular Posts. Magnetometers and Ground Penetrating Radar: Technology and Application.

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

A  New Year Post Card Received by My Grandfather in 1913.

Well it is the end of the year again.  It seems like they fly around faster and faster.   It is a good time to look back and assess things.  What went right?  What went wrong?  And how can we do better?

For the Treasure Coast and metal detecting, Hurricane Matthew provided a lot of the big news this year. First we hoped that it would move some sand and leave us some treasure.  Then as it grew and grew and appeared to be headed towards us, we hoped that it wouldn't cause a lot of destruction.  As it turned out, after all the preparations were made, it skirted the Treasure Coast.

You'll see the most popular blog posts of 2016 at the top left of the main blog page, where I'll leave them for a couple of days.  They are the most read posts of 2016.

As you can see most of those popular posts dealt with Hurricane Matthew in one way or another, and six of the ten were posted in October of 2016.  The most recent posts are at a disadvantage since readers continue to read the older posts over the days, months and years.

One of the most popular posts of 2016 was posted in 2014.  It continues to be popular year after year.

I never expected this when I started this blog back in 2008.  I had no idea that I would have something to say almost everyday or that the blog would grow like it did.  On an average day the blog has  1000 page views.

For some there were losses in 2016.  Some lost family members or loved ones or experienced other hardships.  The holiday season is a sad time for some who remember departed family members and happier times.  I hope 2016 was a good year for you, and I'm hoping that 2017 is a great year for you.

One of the more interesting finds that I reported on this year was the 68 karat emerald found at Golden Sands park by a lady looking for shells.  No detector.  Not even a treasure hunter.  Just someone beach combing!

Next year is already very promising.  I know of a couple exploratory things being done.  I'm thinking of investigating one of those with a technology that is new to me.  Maybe I'll be able to give you the details some time in 2017.

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Yesterday I was talking about the advantages of conducting a comprehensive visual site survey.  I still intend to get out and take some pictures to help illustrate that.  I also plan to get into steps after that.

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Time spent in the field is a critical factor for beach hunting.  Finds can come in clusters and being out there a lot multiplies your chances of finding those really hot spots when they first pop up.

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If you are interested in learning more about how magnetometers and ground prentrating radar works and their practical application, here is a theses entitled Magnetics, Radar, and Steam: Geophysical Testing of the Allegheny Portage Railroad Industrial Historic Site by Michael Raymond Sprowles.

Here is the link.

http://knowledge.library.iup.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1953&context=etd

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We are starting the year with a small surf and a little negative tide.  A week or two down the road they are predicting a 4 - 7 foot surf.   Those types of long range predictions seldom happen.  We'll see.

Happy New Year.

Be kind.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net