4/10/19 Report - Pre-Columbian Metallurgy and Gold Analysis. More On Terry's Gold Artifact. Avoiding Treasure Hunting Wild Goose Chases.

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

What do you see in the above picture?  Some people will see a vase.  Others will see two faces.  You can see both, but you will generally see one first and stick with that until your focus changes.

The point is that who you are will determine in part what you see.  Perception involves more than simply what is there.  How you perceive things will be influenced by your history.

Your brain interprets what your eyes see.  As a result, different people see things differently.  People reveal something about who they are by what they see.  Perception is not as passive and simple as we tend to think.  That is the basis for the entire field of projective testing (a method of personality testing used in psychology that includes ink blot tests and word association, to name just two).

Almost everything presents something of a projective test.  That is something people can't entirely avoid.  They might think that what they see is what is out there in the world, but there is also a degree of interpretation. Past experiences, learning and memory play a roll in perception. Social scientists go to great length to keep their own biases from affecting their experiments.

This is a complex topic, but I'm going to try to keep it brief.

Treasure hunters approach the world with a perspective that is a little different from other people.  When they dig up something that is ambiguous to a degree, their unique perspective comes into play. That is just what humans do.

When a treasure hunter digs up a key or lock, one of the first things he might think of is a treasure chest, even though there are many other types of keys - those used for toys, clocks and music boxes, for example.  You see that type of thing all the time.  I see it all the time on some of the TV treasure shows.

Treasure hunters have a tendency to see coins in ambiguous lumps.  One of the most common questions I get is about those lumps of rust that are found on the beach.  People wonder if they might be old coins.

It is natural for a TV show that wants to attract viewers to manufacture drama.  The participants are rewarded for it.  That is how they get face-time.

Some people will see gold in any flash of yellow.  They'll see Spanish treasure galleon spikes in any old spike, or a cutlass in any long thin flat object, or a spear point in a cribbing spike.  It is natural for a treasure hunter to be excited by such things, but hopes and dreams won't solve the problem. 

You won't see the slow tedious work of archaeology or any other science on TV.  The pursuit of truth is too slow, and nobody wants to watch it.  It requires too much discipline.

Our hopes and desires influence our perceptions and interpretations.  Everybody has a unique perspective that they carry with them.  That is natural, but it is something that a scientist, or anybody that wants to find truth, needs to limit and control.  They go to great lengths to be objective.  Let the data speak - not your wishes.

If you are hoping to get clues from the things you find, you want to avoid wild goose chases.  An incorrect interpretation can be very costly.  It is better to avoid quick conclusions and continue to entertain competing theories and suspend judgment until you have a wealth of evidence, and even then remain open to changing your mind when new evidence is presented.

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Yesterday one of my topics was XRF analysis, which determines the metallic composition of tested items.  It is a useful way to analyze items such as coins and artifacts.

I just found the following table giving the metallic composition of various types of gold.

Color of Gold                              Alloy Compositions Containing Copper

Yellow Gold (22 kt)                    Gold 91.67%, Silver 5%, Copper 2%, Zinc 1,33%

Red Gold (18 kt)                         Gold 75%, Copper 25%

Rose Gold (18 kt)                       Gold 75%, Copper 22.25% Silver 2.75%

Pink Gold (18 kt)                        Gold 75%, Copper 20%, Silver 5%

Gray-White Gold (18 kt)            Gold 75%, Iron 17%, Copper 8%

Light Green Gold (18 kt)            Gold 75%, Copper 23%, Cadmium 2%

Green Gold (18 kt)                     Gold 75%, Silver 20%, Copper 5%

Deep Green Gold (18 kt)            Gold 75%, Silver 15%, Copper 6%, Cadmium 4%

You can use the following link to go to the article that provides the above table along with a technical discussion of Pre-Columbian depletion gilding.  It was published in Mechanics, Materials Science and Engineering in 2017.

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1601/1601.00845.pdf

There is a lot in that article that you might find interesting.  Here is a very brief excerpt from the article just to give you the idea.

Because all the metals that reached Europe were melted back into their constituent metals in Spain, there is only an example of such a load, a group of over 200 tumbaga bars, discovered in the remains of an unidentified shipwreck (around 1528), off Grand Bahama Island. This shipwreck was found in 1993... 

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Terry S. has continued to research his gold pendant-looking find.  He recently talked to a very accomplished world-wide expert about it.  I'll pass along what Terry was told, as Terry explained it in an email.  The following is what Terry said.

… He then told me that these were often low karat gold anywhere from 8 karat on up. I told him that the one I found was 22 karat and he said then it was probably made well before the Spanish arrived probably 1 to 2 hundred years before the 1715 Spanish fleet. He told me he knew of a sunken 1600 ship that was filled with this type of jewelry. He explained there were 3 ships that were filled with trade items, blankets, beads and other items of interest to the natives. They had orders to trade for this type of gold jewelry from the Aztec, Inca or Maya Indians in Mexico and Central and South America. Only two of these ships returned to Spain. He told me where he believes this ship sank and went on to say that this is the only sunken ship that he knows of that is filled with this type of native jewelry. 

When trying to identify any piece like this there is always room for error but I think I can be pretty comfortable in saying I have a small piece of history. I believe that it is probably from a Aztec or Inca funerary mask or another ceremonial gold jewelry piece.

Thanks Terry.  I hope you'll keep us up to date on any additional developments.

I saw a few more pictures of funerary masks with very similar attachments to Terry's mystery item.  I'm also reminded of the funerary mask find reported in my 1/24/19 and 1/27/19 posts. That was found in the Melborne area and was said to be associated in some way with a  4 billion dollar shipwreck that was being sought.  There was no evidence of such attachments on that mask, but it was not complete.  It was initially reported as Incan, which, was reported by another source as being wrong. With the inaccuracies and controversy, that story got to be pretty messy.

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I have some other topics I've been working on.  One has to do to the slope of a beach.

I also have a detecting spot that I'm dying to check out when the conditions are right.

I should have gone into engineering.  I need a digging/sifting robot.

We won't have much surf for a couple of days at least.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/30/18 Report - Nailed Old Coin Find. Ranking the Top Posts of 2018.

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

Coin With Nail Through It.

Photo by NumisRob clipped from CoinCommunity.com.

I saw this coin impaled by a nail posted by NumisRob on CoinCommunity.com.  It was found by a metal detector in a farm field.

The coin is a 1920 UK Florin.  It is 50% silver.

One of my recurrent topics is the difficulty of interpreting isolated finds.  When you have an item and you don't know its purpose, here are four categories to consider - utilitarian,  recreational, political, and superstition or religious.

I think archaeologists too often use the recreational and religious categories when they don't know what an item might be.  I've seen many items called "game piece" when there is very little evidence to support that conclusion.

Starting with the utilitarian category, how could this item [possibly be used?  Could it be a type of washer meant to hold something in place?

Political?  Maybe someone was showing their contempt for King George when they drove a nail through his likeness.

Superstition? Maybe it was mounted it for good luck or something.  A little reading might turn up something like that.

Recreational?  Maybe a spinner, top or toy of some sort.

What do you think?  Any good ideas?

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Today I'll go over the top-ten most-read posts of the year.

The most read post of the year I mentioned the other day.  It is the April report giving the names of Florida congressmen to contact regarding proposed legislation that was thought to restrict beach access in Florida.

1. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/04/4518-report-who-to-contact-concerning.html

The second most read post of the year was posted in April.  It is about experimenting with your metal detector to get to know it better.  In this experiment three different one-cent coins were used.  The
reason for the different read-outs for the three different coins was discussed.

This was an instructional post, and I'm glad it was so well received.

2. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/03/31018-report-experimenting-to-learn.html



Third on the list is a January report about the Palm Beach beaches being severely eroded, and also about finding shipwrecks using Google Earth.

3. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/11218-report-palm-beach-beaches-low.html



Seven of the ten most read posts of the year were posted in January.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  First, beach conditions were better then, and people were detecting a lot, and good finds were being made.  Earlier posts have an unfair advantage because people continue to read old posts as long as they are available, which makes it very difficult for newer posts to have as many readers.


The fourth most read post was posted on January 21.  It showed the several shipwreck finds, including among other things, an ornate silver cross and reales.

4. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12118-report-ready-to-be-excited-first.html



The fifth most read post was posted on January 23.  It showed another Spanish reale find and some reflection on metal detecting back a few decades ago when I was in South Florida.

5.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12218-report-another-2018-cob.html



Sixth was the January 11 post, which discussed one man's success with sifting for silver coins.  It also presented some other finds, including a spike and old bottle.

The posts on sifting, including this one, provides some very good information on a alternative technique that can be extremely effective.  There are times when it is more effective than metal detecting.

6.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/11118-report-finds-sight-and-otherwise.html



The seventh most read post of the year was another January post.  This post reported on another very old looking silver cross and a modern gold chain.

7.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12818-report-mystery-object-and-other.html



Eighth was a post about what the beaches and detectorists were doing.

8.  https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12718-report-what-beaches-and.html




The ninth most read was about an unusual pendant that looked like it could be a reale with loop attached.  Also s modern dive-watch find.

9. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/01/12518-report-treasure-coinpendant-find.html



And rounding out the top ten most-read posts of 2018 was a post about one man's winning ways at the Treasure Coast Archaeological Society Annual Hunt.

10. https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2018/03/31118-report-one-mans-winning.html



To sum it up, it was a good year and good finds were made, but it was not one of the better years for beach detecting.  

Many of the most interesting beach finds were made in January.   As I've said before, January and February are often the best beach metal detecting months.  October through March is generally much better than the other months.  Good hunting can occur in any month, but we often get some of the best beach hunting in January and February.

For me personally, I didn't get to do much beach hunting at all this year.  That was due to a variety of factors, but I did mange to come up with some nice cache finds.  

As I said, most of the top posts were posted in January, both because the conditions were good then, but also because the early months have the advantage of being available to readers for a longer period of time.

It took me quite a while to look through the stats to determine the most read posts.  Maybe some of those that did not show up in the list because they were posted late in the year will get more viewers in the future.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/15/17 Report - Trade Silver Artifact and Difficulty of Identifying Items. No New Storms.

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

Detectorist Working North of Sebastian Inlet.
Photo submitted by Darrel S.

Thanks for the photo Darrel.

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MACKINAW CITY, MI - Excavators at Colonial Michilimackinac uncovered a 250-year-old piece of trade silver earlier this week; their second big find this summer. 

According to Dr. Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology at Mackinac State Historic Parks, the triangle-shaped artifact has a small hole in it, which means it was likely part of an earring or pendent worn around 1765...

Source: See mlive.com link below.

This might make you think of the posts I did on Seminole and Calusa silver artifacts.  This item wouldn't be associated with either of those groups, but it is said to be trade silver.  It seems to me this item could easily be misinterpreted.  It is a simple geometric shape and could be used in a variety of ways. It could even be a left over scrap or part of something that had no particular function at the time it was lost.

After reading most of the article, I did something I don't usually do:  I read some of the comments.  I don't know what happens to people when they are sitting at a keyboard and faced with the opportunity to type something, but in a lot of cases it isn't pretty. It makes you wonder about the state of our civilization and hope for the future.  I think you know what I'm talking about.  I can't even describe it.

Anyhow, there were a few comments that I thought were illustrative or otherwise interesting. Someone commented that it could be part of a fishing lure.  You might not think so if it is really silver.  On the other hand, I can imagine circumstances when a person might use a random piece of shiny silver for something like that even if it was previously or subsequently used in other ways.  We might go to the store or order the precise part that was designed for a very specific purpose, but people in the past, and some of the more handy and creative people of today, might save any miscellaneous piece of material and use it in any multitude of ways.  If you wanted to be creative and think of all the ways this piece could be used, I'm sure you could come up with at least a few.

I always remember one item that was dug up during an archaeological excavation of what was described as a slave quarters and the item an archaeologist said was one thing ( I think they said it was a tobacco pipe ) turned out to be one of those small toys from a box of Cracker Jacks.

It can be difficult to interpret finds - even when they are found in context.  It is easy to be wrong.

Lets say there is a range of possible uses for an artifact.  For example, a triangular piece of metal, like the one shown above, could be used as a pendant, or it might be used to attract fish, or it might be used as a screw driver, or to scour a line in wood or cut leather, or if shined up to reflect light, to signal someone on a distant hill.   I think you get my point.

There is a range of possibilities. To any interpreter, some of those possibilities would seem more likely than others.  If you assigned probabilities to each of the possibilities, you might say something like you feel that there is a 75% chance that it is a pendant, for example, and maybe a 2% chance that it was used to reflect light and send signals.  In general you might expect a bell shaped curve something like the following.

The vertical axis would represent the probability that an item is a certain thing.  There might be a relatively high probability that the item is a pendant.  Items like that would fall at about the center of the curve above.   But there are other possibilities, some of which might be considered to be much less likely.  They would be either far left or right on the curve.   (Maybe the curve should be cut in half.)

I am just thinking at the keyboard, so I apologize for the lack of refinement and poor explanation.

It must be something like medicine.  You go to the doctor and present symptoms X, Y and Z, so the easy diagnosis is something common, like the flu, yet symptoms X, Y and Z might also indicate something very rare.  The tendency would be to over-diagnose the most likely illness and under-diagnose rare diseases.

Undoubtedly archaeologists and treasure hunters tend to identify finds according to what seems most likely or probable.  That makes sense, but in the process some interpretations are overlooked or too quickly dismissed.  That would result in a narrowing and heightening of the curve.

I hope you get what I am saying, and I apologize for trying to put it out there before I thought it out more completely.

There were other comments to the mlive.com article that were interesting.  A couple people said something like that they were out at the dig site last week and dropped the item.  One person jokingly said that, and then said they would appreciate having the lost item returned.

While those people might have been joking, they make an important point.  Sites can always be contaminated.  And odd things can be found where you'd never expect to find them.  Some kid might take a thousand year old fossil or hundred year old coin from dad's collection and drop it in the school yard.  Just because an item is old doesn't mean it was lost a long time ago.

Another point is that there are people who will try to claim things they did not lose.  It happens.  I've seen people try to claim a diamond ring or gold chain they did not lose.  I've talked about that before, and you have to be careful.   Don't provide a full description until you know you have the real owner.  Ask them for the inscription inside the ring or something to prove ownership.  That is one reason the picture that I posted of the lady wearing the lost cross pendant was important.  It helped prove ownership.

Here is the link to the original article.

Click here to go  to "trade silver" article.

Sorry this topic wasn't better developed.  I'll undoubtedly have to spend some more time on the subject and probably have to clean up this post later.

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There is no tropical weather of concern right now.

The surf will be two to three feet on the Treasure Coast this weekend.  Otherwise, beach detecting conditions remain unchanged.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net