6/3/20 Report - Edge of Empire Symposium Topics. Mistakes I've Made and Learned From. Tropical Storm Cristobal.

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

Tropical Strorm Cristobal

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Tropical Storm Cristobal looks to be  headed towards Louisiana.

Source: Ventusky.com

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I've been finding a lot of good information online.  Below is a link that will take you to articles on the following twelve topics.  You can read any and all of them online.

1. A group for the study of iberian seafaring – Filipe Vieira de Castro  7
2. The iberian caravel: tracing the development of a ship of discovery –  George R. Schwarz  23
3. Exploration and empire: iconographic evidence of iberian ships  of Discovery – Katie Custer  43
4. The nau of the Livro náutico: the textual excavation of a portuguese  indiaman – Alex Hazlett  63
5. The spanish navy and the ordenanzas of 1607, 1613, and 1618 –  Blanca Rodriguez Mendoza   79
6. Diego García de palacio and the instrucción náutica of 1587 –  Erika Laanela  153 7. Rigging an early 17th – century portuguese indiaman – Filipe  Vieira de Castro, Nuno Fonseca and Tiago Santos  177
8. Santo António de Tanná: story, excavation, and reconstruction –  Tiago Miguel Fraga  201
9. Spanish shipbuilding in the eighteenth century: the album  of the Marques De La Victoria – J. Bradshaw Coombes  215
10. Ship timber: forests and ships in the iberian peninsula during  the age of discovery – Pearce Paul Creasman  235
11. Nautical astrolabes – Gustavo Garcia  249
12. Design of a computer-based frame to store, manage, and divulge  information from underwater archaeological excavations: the pepper  wreck case – Carlos Monroy and Richard Furuta 275

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/2026686/Edge_of_Empire._Proceedings_of_the_Symposium_held_at_the_2006_Society_for_Historical_Archaeology_Annual_Meeting_Sacramento_California?email_work_card=title

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I was thinking of some of the mistakes I've made over the years and came up with a quick list of ten.  These are mistakes I regretted enough that I kept them in mind over the years and have avoided repeating them too many times.  Some are very simply yet costly.   The one I'll mention today is very simple, yet it is something I never want to repeat.

It occurred around thirty years ago.   I parked at a state park, and walked probably a good mile or so to get to a shallow water area in front of a high-end resort that I liked to detect.  The people gathered in a small area with a sandy bottom.   I guess the surrounding sea grass kept them from spreading out more, so that helped me.   It was a small exclusive resort so there wasn't a lot of people, and there weren't many coins or good items, for that matter, but I could usually pick up one good find.  It was  not easy to get too, but there was one fellow who worked at the resort who also regularly detected the area.  He was closely watching me and what I was doing when I dug up a gold chain in the very shallow water right in front of him.  I saw him react with disgust upon seeing the flash of gold in the sunlight when I lifted my scoop out of the water.  It was a very delicate 14K Italian chain with a small Jesus charm.  Very pretty.

Anyhow I stuffed the chain in my shirt pocket and started my long walk back to the car.  When I got to the car I noticed the chain was missing from my pocket.  Additional inspection revealed a small hole in the corner of my pocket.  I had to walk back most of that mile or so before refinding the chain partly exposed in the wet sand.  I learned that it only takes a very small hole for a thin gold chain to escape.  I also learned to check my pockets before putting any good finds in them.

There was also the time my wife thought she found a very good spot and was picking up a lot of coins.  She discovered she was picking up some of the same coins because they were falling through a hole in the leather marble pouch she was using.  We both had a laugh over that one.  At least it was just coins and she didn't have to walk a mile to find her losses.

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Soaring and Mourning.

What a day of contrasts!  Saturday we saw the human spirit soar towards the stars and fall to the depths of hate and despair.  When the human spirit is free, it soars to the heavens, but when wounded, it burns cities.  The riots of this weekend reminded me very much of the Viet Nam war era protests  and riots when I was a psychology professor 50 years ago.  The only thing that surprised me this time, is that it didn't happen sooner.  The pressure was building before the George Floyd killing lit the fuse.

As Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist, wrote: man's primary drive is not pleasure; it is the discovery and pursuit of meaning.  The life of the spirit must be maintained along with that of the  body.  When the God-given rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are taken away, you can expect an explosion.   

I am not justifying or excusing illegal or destructive behavior - just taking a look at one psychological factor that contributed to the explosiveness of the situation and at the same time holds the solution.

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The bush burned and was not consumed.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/24/19 Report - System Developing in Gulf. Eagle Pin Identified. Starting Discussion on Factors Involved With Dating Dug Items.

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

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

We have a new system in the Gulf that has a 20% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  It is just below Louisiana now.  The map is getting more active.

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I thought the eagle pin I showed yesterday wouldn't take long to ID.  Mitch King was once again the first to respond saying that it is a navy petty officer third class collar insignia.  Mitch provided the following link.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petty_officer_third_class

DJ confirmed that adding, ...construction port office third class rank in the US NAVY.  DJ provided this link.

Scott B. also got it.

Thanks much guys!  

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I plan to develop a list of factors that can help identify the age of a found object when the age is unknown or uncertain.

There will be a lot of times when a single factor will not be definitive or conclusive.  There will be times when one factor might provide a degree of confidence and additional factors will add to the level of confidence.  At other times it might seem that some factors are suggesting one answer and other factors are suggesting another answer.

I think the exercise of developing the taxonomy will help us become more clear and precise in our understanding of the various factors to be considered and how they contribute to an estimated date range.

For many who hunt the Treasure Coast, there is one type of target that is on their mind - 1715 Fleet treasure.  When they look at a newly dug find, what they wonder if the item might be from a Spanish shipwreck.  I've received many questions over the years that seem very binary - is it an old shipwreck treasure, or not.  That is the primary interest.

There are times when you look at something and it seems the age is obvious enough.  In more complex cases, a single factor might not be definitive or conclusive.  Some factors provide more help than others and are more reliable than others.

You might end up with some pieces of evidence saying one thing and other factors saying something else.  Some factors might deserve more weight than others.  I'll attempt to quantify that to whatever extent I can.

Right now I'll just throw out a few random general factors.  

 Factors for determining age

Shape
Material composition

Amount of wear from usage
Corrosion

Stamps or markings

Context or stratigraphy

Known history of the area
Scientific age testing ie. radiocarbon

I'm just throwing that out now as a place to start.  The list might become longer and it will definitely become more detailed.

I am aware of detailed checklists for certain types of objects.  For example, SHA has a very good one for bottles.

In going through the exercise, I'm sure I will learn a lot and hope that others benefit too.  

I'll kick off this discussion with one simple and super-easy example today.

Small Silver Pendant of Charm.
Approximately 3/4 inch wide.

Here is a dug pendant or charm.  It is approximately 3/4 inch wide.

The shape of the object is very recognizable.  It appears to represent a known historic structure.  It looks like the Acropolis to me.  If that is true, we already have a starting date, but the pendant appears to show the Acropolis in a state of decay.  That could be helpful in some cases, but in this case the object at first glance doesn't seem very old anyhow.

Acropolis In State of Decay.

The recognizable shape provides some quick information, but if we turn the pendant over we are very fortunate again.

Back of Same Pendant.

Look at the bonanza of markings.  There is a country name, maker's mark, and mark of purity.  And it is all very readable without having been cleaned, although magnification does help.

The markings provide a lot of date information too, but I don't have time for all of that today.

Just one more quick comment on the context -  it was found on a volleyball court in front of the Fountainbleau Hotel.  That adds information too.

That was an easy one.  I could post a lot more if I got more into the stamped markings, but I'll have to do that some other time.

We'll eventually look at more difficult examples.



Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

3/26/14 Report - Cuts On Treasure Coast On Some Beaches and Helicopter Metal Detecting

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

A Three Foot Cut on the Treasure Coast This Morning

 Since I entered my pre post, I got out to the beach to see what the cold front did as it came through with the North winds.

First off, the modern jewelry hole that I had been working with good success disappeared.

Too bad.  But when sand moves, it adds at one place and disappears at another.




What I often try to do is find where the sand just left.

It did move yesterday and this morning.  I found two beaches that were cut pretty nicely and two that weren't cut.

The cut beaches had cuts that ran hundreds of yards.  The cuts that I saw were from one foot in height up to just over four feet.

Scallops on One Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

At some places there were scallops.

I would rate beach conditions as about 1.5 right now.  It is starting to get interesting, but from what I saw this morning I wouldn't say it is good enough for a two rating on my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Conditions Rating Scale.

It could improve enough for an upgrade if the north winds keeps blowing. 



What has been happening lately is that the wind direction changes quickly again.  If it does change and we start getting the wind out of the East, don't expect any more improvement in conditions.



Long Cut of Two To Three Feet

 If you look closely at the face of the cuts you will notice something important. 

There is no layering.  All of the sand was of the same type and there were no layers of shells.  It was therefore probably built up during a single period of accumulation.

If you remember I commented not very long ago that a lot of sand had recently accumulated.

Unfortunately the cuts that I found this morning were where a bunch of that new sand had recently built up.  It was very mushy before.  That newly accumulated sand is what eroded.  And there were very few targets in it, and very few signals along these cuts today.

I did run into one of those stubborn targets that you can detect but not recover (DBNRs).  It was in detecting range but just beyond recovery range.  It was in the wet sand down a little over a foot, and the sand kept falling in before I could get the target out.

More Cuts This Morning.

Pictures can come in handy.  If you inspect cuts at the same location at different times, especially those that have produced targets at one time and not another, look for differences that might be clues.

One thing I am pointing out today is how the face of the cut reveals something about the history of the sand and the probability of targets coming out of it.

The sand that eroded today was in front of the beach.  The slope was very gentle. 

The eroded sand created a front beach that extended out about fifty yards at most locations.

The surf tomorrow will be about four feet.   Unfortunately they are predicting a change in direction.  They predict the wind coming out of the South/Southeast.  If that happens, the cuts will probably fill in again rather than improve.

There were very few people on the beach this morning.

One more thing, I saw very few shells where I was.  Didn't even encounter shells in the holes that I dug.

The Navy is using a helicopter equipped with a 16 magnetometers.  Flying at a height of 5 feet it can detect metal as small as two pounds.  It will detect metal down several feet.  Looks like a good way to cover a lot of ground.

Here is the link for video and article.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/os-metal-detecting-helicopters-20140323,0,1045196.story

Thanks for the link Doug.


One reader reports that the dredge was back south of Jupiter Inlet Tuesday.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net