1/21/20 Report - Vero Man and Treasure Coast Fossils. Kang Hsi Notes. Big Surf Coming.

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

Source: SiberianTimes.com web site.  See link below.

The Kotelny island woolly mammoth was killed by humans some 21,000 years ago, say scientists.

Dr Albert Protopopov shared new pictures of the remains found at a location which was then part of the vast Beringia Land Bridge connecting what is now Siberia and North America.

'The traces on the bones show that the mammoth was killed and butchered by ancient people,' he said...

Here is the link for more of that article.

https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/arctic-island-woolly-mammoth-shows-strongest-evidence-yet-of-human-slaughter-and-butchering/

You might be aware that some of the oldest things you can find on the Treasure Coast beaches are fossils. It might surprise you to learn that you can find mammoth fossils on our beaches. I've found both mammoth teeth and a section of a tusk.

Mammoth Tusk Section.

Source: SiberianTimes.com (Same link as above).

The tusk section I found was of about the same diameter as the one shown in the above photo.  The end was sticking out of some eroded sand on the Treasure Coast.

Every Floridian, full or part-time, should know about the world-famous "Vero Man" site and James Kennedy's history making find of a 13,000 year-old mammoth bone bearing a human carving.

Wikipedia describes Vero Man this way: Vero man refers to a set of fossilized human bones found near Vero (now Vero Beach), Florida, in 1915 and 1916. The human bones were found in association with those of Pleistocene animals. The question of whether humans were present in Florida (or anywhere in the Americas) during the Pleistocene was controversial at the time, and most archaeologists did not accept that the Vero fossils were that old. Recent studies show that the Vero human bones are from the Pleistocene and are the largest collection of human remains from the Pleistocene found in North America.

See https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/6/110622-mammoth-bone-oldest-art-americas-science/

And also https://www.livescience.com/20088-early-floridians-mingled-mammoths-mastodons.html

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Shards Found South of Seagrape Where Kang His Has Been Found.

Photo by Robert C.

I recently received multiple questions about Kang Hsi porcelain.  As you might know, Kang Hsi porcelain is sometimes found on 1715 Fleet shipwreck sites and on the neighboring beaches.

Robert C., who sent in the above photo showing shards that he found, was wondering if others might know of Kang Hsi porcelain found on the Treasure Coast having colors other than the more common blue and white.

I'm sure he'd like to know if anyone had opinions to offer on the shards shown above.

I've talked about Kang Hsi porcelain in the past, but made some new photos that I think might be helpful for those attempting to identify Kang Hsi.

Below is a comparison of a piece of what I believe to be Kang Hsi porcelain and a piece of common European blue on white pottery side-by-side

Broken Edge of Common Blue on White Pottery (left) and Kang Hsi porcelain (right)

First off, in my experience, the paste of Kang Hsi porcelain is very white and very fine as compared to the common blue on white shards that you'll often find, and Kang Hsi porcelain is generally thin.

Another thing you will notice from the above photo is that the color will sit on the surface of most shards, while the color on Kang Hsi will penetrate the glaze.  The yellow on the shard on the right is encrustation, not a part of the shard.

I am far from an expert on this, and will gladly accept correction if I am wrong about any of it.  From my experience, though, these observations seem to hold.

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It has been a relatively busy year so far.  While there have not been a lot of shipwreck finds, there have been some finds, and there has been periodic erosion at a few spots around the Treasure Coast.  Too bad there is so much renourishment sand to deal with.

The surf predictions look real encouraging.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

The surf will start to build today and peak tomorrow (Wed.).

The wind and primary swell is northerly, but the wind is a bit off-shore until tomorrow

Not only will we have high surf (if the predictions are correct), but we'll also see some swells coming from the north and a few wind direction changes.  Altogether, it looks promising at this point.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/12/15 Report - 100th Anniversary of One World-Famous Vero Find. The Religion Of Christopher Columbus.

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


You undoubtedly already know that this is the 300th anniversary of the 1715 Fleet disaster, but did you know that this is the 100th anniversary of a world-famous land-based discovery made within the boundaries of  Indian River County?

In 1915 human bones associated with mammal fossils from the Pleistocene were found in the banks of a canal.  Some think those bones, along with other finds at the same site, show that humans were in Florida much earlier than previously thought possible. 

Here is one paragraph from the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee web site.

Today, the conventional view has it that humans began the trek, on foot or by boat, to North America around 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. This is in part due to the Old Vero Man Site finds.  Newer DNA testing is even suggesting a much earlier migration by at least another 10,000 years. This would easily allow for humans in Florida 14,000 years ago. However the controversy on how old the "Vero Man" was does remain. Carbon dating, as a technology, was not available before the 1950’s. The original bones are listed as missing in 1945 while in transit from the Florida Geological Survey in Tallahassee to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. We need new artifacts to test.

So the conventional view is that the indigenous populations are of European descent too.  They just beat Columbus by thousands of years.

It seems that the government has a long history of losing important artifacts.  

You can visit the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee web site by using the following link.

http://www.oviasc.org/Old-Vero-Man-Site-History--Old-Vero-Ice-Age-Sites-Commitee--preserving-and-appropriately-excavating-important-Ice-Age-archaeological-and-paleontological-sites-in-Vero-Beach-and-Indian-River-County.html

Ales Hrdlicka authored a paper that was published as Bulletin 66 of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology.    The title is Recent Discoveries Attributed to Early Man in America. It was published in 1918.

Below is a photo of the Vero man site as published in that bulletin.  Notice the two arrows pointing to the location of human bone finds.

Below is another illustration from the bulletin.

This is not the only illustration showing the stratigraphy of the site and the location of various finds.

Notice how the several bones were discovered on the boundary between the second and third layer.  It is not unusual to make finds on the beach that are on top of a lower layer.  There are similarities between layers found at inland sites and on a beach.  The main difference is that the top layers on a beach are displaced much more frequently.

The mystery of Vero Man is yet to be resolved to the satisfaction of many.  Evidence is being collected and you can be a part of the project.  Volunteer opportunities will be available in 2016.  You can also tour the site or visit displays.  You can learn more about that at the OVIAC web site.

You can read the entire Smithsonian Bulletin 66 online.  Only part of it concerns the Vero site, but I think you'll find it very interesting.

It can be found through books.google.com.

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Columbus is a controversial figure to some.  With Columbus day coming tomorrow, below is an excerpt from an article that you might want to read.

I believe that there are two keys to understanding Columbus:  his Catholic faith and his courage. Columbus lived in a religious age, but even in his time he was noted for the fervor of his faith. Masses, penances, pilgrimages, retreats, the reading of the Bible, all the aspects of devotion that the Catholic faith offered, Columbus engaged in these things all of his life. Any ship he commanded was scrupulous in religious observances, with the Salve Regina being chanted by the crew each evening at Vespers. As his son Ferdinand noted:   “He was so strict in matters of religion that for fasting and saying prayers he might have been taken for a member of a religious order.”

Here is the link.

http://www.catholicstand.com/columbus-catholicism-courage/

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On the Treasure Coast we're supposed to have a few days of one-foot surf.  Then out about a week in the future, the prediction is for up to nine feet.  

I'd give that about a 1 percent chance of actually happening, but it would be nice to get a big surf like that, especially if we could get some north/northeast winds at the same time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/19/13 Report - Big New Excavation of Vero Man Site to Begin in January, Lead Ingots From Roman Shipwrecks, and Tlingit Helmet

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


Did you know that the Treasure Coast has one of the most important Ice Age sites in North America?  We do.   It is known as the Old Vero Man site in Vero Beach.

Famous Mammoth Bone Carving
Found by James Kennedy
Photo from Palm Beach Post link below.

 A new excavation by the Mercyhurst Archaeologica Institute will begin at the Vero Man site in January of 2014.  The site was discovered nearly 100 years ago.

I've mentioned this site before in this blog and once attended a conference in Vero about the world-famous mammoth carving that showed that men lived along with mammoths in Florida during the Ice Age.

Artifacts from the dig will be analysed and then returned to Vero Beach for display.

Here is the source of that story.

http://www.mercyhurst.edu/mu-news/news/research/2013/december/vero

Not surprisingly the article fails to mention the local amateur who found the most famous artifact from that site, James Kennedy.

Here is a link to how James discovered the famous carving on the bone after he had the bone stored under his sink for three years.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/prehistoric-vero-beach-carving-may-be-americas-old/nL5GT/


Lead ingots from old Roman shipwrecks are used to line modern equipment used in dark matter research creating a controversy between archaeologists and physicists.  The old lead ingots are well suited to the purpose, being less radioactive.

Archaeologists don't think the ingots from the past should be used up for modern scientific research.  The article questions which is the most important, an item form the past or research for the future.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ancient-roman-lead-physics-archaeology-controversy

Tlingit War Helmet Discovered in Science Museum.

Where is the best place to search for lost ancient artifacts?   In museum storage vaults.   Of course, in addition to being hidden and forgotten, they also could be misidentified or unidentified.

The helmet shown here was recently discovered after many years of not seeing light of day.

How could something so nice be forgotten for so long?


Below is the link to the story.

http://www.springfieldmuseums.org/news/view/762-a_hidden_treasure_revealed_rare_tlingit_war_helmet_discovered_at_springfield_science_museum


The surf on the Treasure Coast is around three feet today.  It will be increasing to about five feet by Christmas.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net