4/6/20 Report - Great Finds. Thousand Year Old Atlatl Point. Lead Railroad Seal. Making History Every Day.

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

1000 - 4000 Year-Old Atlatl Point Found on Treasure Coast Beach.

Find and Photo by Doug R.

Here is one super find that could be up to four thousand years old!  It was found by Doug R., who sent me the following message.

I’m a snowbird from CT and have come down to Sebastian for the month of February for the last 15 years. I do a little bit of metal detecting but not so much the past few years as conditions haven’t been that great. I’ve never found anything Spanish on the Treasure Coast (even that really good Saturday this year). I read your blog every day while I’m there and often when I’m not. I appreciate the work, time and effort that you put into doing the blog. It is truly outstanding. The first week of February I found this point on the beach about halfway between Wabasso Beach and Golden Sands. It was in a shell line that was 1-2 feet wide. At the time they were doing beach renourishment at that spot but the water had not reached that area at the base of the dunes yet so I’m pretty sure it didn’t come from this years renourishment sand. Could have come from previous years renourishment or the ocean?? I showed it to the guy at McClarty’s and he was extremely excited. He said it’s an atlatl point from one to four thousand years ago. It’s 4 inches long. I believe you’ve always said something to the effect “keep your eyes open at all times” so this proves your point. I never expected this.

Thanks again,

Doug R.

Congratulations Doug!  Thanks for sharing.

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Open St. Johns County beach (top) and a closed Duval County beach (bottom) on March 29.

Source:  Click here.

Now, of course, St. Johns County beaches are closed too.

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Lead Railroad Seal Find.

Photo submitted by Al C.

Al's buddy found this lead railroad seal.  Very cool!

Al also sent the following information about lead seals.

Thanks Al.

I've found some FEC seals.  Here is link to a post that shows some of those.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2012/09/92912-report-florida-east-coast.html

And here is a photo of the same.

Four Lead Railroad Seal Finds.

My photography wasn't as good back then.

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Most detectorists are interested in history.  We study history, but we live and create it everyday.

Yesterday I was most struck by the Palm Sunday services at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York being conducted without a congregation.  I don't know if that was the first time that happened since it opened 140 years ago, but it felt like it could have been.

There are events such as World Wars and pandemics that change the way that generations see the world. such as World Wars and pandemics.  In more recent history it was the 9/11 attacks.  In the 1960s it was the Cuban missile crisis.  You can't read a social psychology textbook without reading about JFK and the decision making process during that crisis.  It popularized the concept of groupthink.  Many people in the U.S. built bomb-shelters.  My own father built a concrete block room in our basement.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, the deadliest in history, infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide—about one-third of the planet’s population—and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims, including some 675,000 Americans. The 1918 flu was first observed in Europe, the United States and parts of Asia before swiftly spreading around the world. At the time, there were no effective drugs or vaccines to treat this killer flu strain. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters and businesses were shuttered and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march...

With no cure for the flu, many doctors prescribed medication that they felt would alleviate symptoms… including aspirin which had been trademarked by Bayer in 1899—a patent that expired in 1917, meaning new companies were able to produce the drug during the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Before the spike in deaths attributed to the Spanish Flu in 1918, the U.S. Surgeon General, Navy and the Journal of the American Medical Association had all recommended the use of aspirin. Medical professionals advised patients to take up to 30 grams per day, a dose now known to be toxic...  
(https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/1918-flu-pandemic)

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The lawn service showed up at my neighbors house this morning and started mowing.  Essential service?  No!  Are they safe distancing?  No.  Big problem?  No.  Better to allow them to keep themselves financially afloat?  Probably.   That's my opinion.

All men are created equal, but some are not essential?  I saw the phrase "non-essential individuals" in one government order.  Essential to who?  I just don't like the phrase.  Seems like a very slippery slope that can end up in a very bad place.  You don't have to go back far in history to see where that can lead.

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The surf is supposed to be seven feet or so today.

Too bad so many beaches are closed.  Nice and rainy too.

Have a blessed Holy Week,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net.

6/22/14 Report - Land and Sea Treasures: New Finds By The Capitana Crew At The Green Cabin Wreck and Nice Inland Finds.

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

Bronze Shipwreck Artifact Found by the Crew of the Capitana Yesterday.
Photo submitted by Captain Johan Martinez.

I started to write up one topic this morning but didn't complete it.  I couldn't get it organized and ready, so I gave up for a while.  I'll get back to that topic some other time.  Maybe tomorrow.

It actually is better that I put that topic off because as I was writing I was coming up with more and more information.  I might have to break it up and present it in two or three different posts.




In the mean time I got some updates from Captain Jonah and the crew of the Capitana who are still finding some super items on the Green Cabin wreck site.

They found this bronze artifact along with some other artifacts yesterday.  Really neat!  Keep it up guys.

Reale Found by the Crew of the Capitana
Photo submitted by Captain Martinez.

Captain Jonah also sent me pictures of a couple of reales they found.  I'll show one of those today and another some other day.  I'll also get into a discussion of the details and identification at some other time.

Really nice detail showing on this reale!

Great job guys.  Thanks for sharing!

Like we said the last time, there is more out there and will be for a long time to come.













On the Treasure Coast beaches we've been having such poor beach detecting conditions, and no sign that that will change much any time soon.

Things can still be found.  I've been surprised by my rate of jewelry finds on the beach lately despite not finding hardly any coins.

Michael E. and William M. have been doing some inland hunting after calling to get permission from land owners.

Finds included vintage buttons, a merc dime, old shot gun shells, wheat cents, and a lead seal.

Michael says he likes the shot gun shells because you can date them with a little research.  I like them too.  They have different graphics and show a good bit of information.

Then Michael did some water hunting and got his 34th and 35th rings of the year.  Very good for anybody but especially for someone that hasn't been detecting a long time!

Variety of Very Nice Inland Finds
Photo submitted by Michael E.

Tungsten Ring Found by Michael
Photo submitted by Michael E.

Thanks for sharing Michael and William.  Nice finds during poor detecting conditions!

With the high price of gold you'll find a lot of rings made of other metals.

\That is all for today.  I'll be back with more some other time.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

6/6/12 Report - Clues to OMD Lead Seal Found & More



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




Back in my 3/11/12 report, I posted a photo of what appeared to be a lead seal bearing the letters OMD, which was submitted by one of this blog's readers for help with identification.   It appears that a very similar looking item, identified as being from an early 17th century shipwreck, is shown in this picture which was sent to the detectorist.  Both the lead seal and the olive jar rim find, which I showed not long ago, appear to be from the same early 17th century shipwreck. 

[Above Referenced Picture Removed.  I just found out the photo was from a copyrighted source and even though it was not used here for any commerical purpose, removed it as quickly as possible.]

I really like the problem-solving process and how all the clues slowly come together to provide a picture of when and how an item was lost.  I appreciate that much more than the economic value of an item, which doesn't mean much to me.

One common misconception about detectorists is that they do it for the profit.  There are some that do, just like archaeologists want to be paid for their work, but many detectorists never sell a single thing that they find.  They are more interested in the history of the item and conduct a lot of research to get to know more about their finds.  I would say that is especially true of the guys that are really dedicated and have been in the hobby for a long time, as opposed to newer hobbyists who are always asking "what's it worth."  Of course, asking how much something is worth doesn't mean that they are going to sell the item, but  how much an item is worth is to them a crude measure of the item's interest-value (or how good of a find it is).  It provides an external reference for those who haven't through their personal experiences yet developed a well-defined internal value scale of their own.

My favorite story of all that has ever appeared in this blog, is the story of Ian's coaked sheave.  The thing I liked so much about that story is the excellent research that Ian did, and how the story slowly came together from various clues and resources. 

You can see a photo of Ian's coaked sheave by going back to my 1/21/2010 post. 

By the way, a quick way to find topics from old posts is to use this blog's search box.  People don't use the search box enough.  Try it out.

I found a listing of archaeology blogs the other day.  You might find it handy.

Here is the link.      http://www.thebestcolleges.org/top-archaeology-blogs/

After finding this list,  I took a look at the first post in the first blog on the list.  And wouldn't you know - that post was about what appears to me to be the primary preoccupation of modern archaeology - looters.  Well, not really.  It was about Ric Savage and the American Diggers TV show. 

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not for looting.  But I am against characterizing anybody who digs up any object anywhere anytime as a looter or just as bad as one.  If these archaeologists would get busy on real projects, they would have something to do besides watching TV programs by ex-wrestlers and bashing everybody who finds something in the dirt.

Before proceeding, let me also say that I am not a big fan of either American Diggers or Ric Savage.  But neither am I a fan of mischaracterization.  And I certainly don't believe that every object that has ever been dropped should instantly become the property of academic archaeology or the government.

The blog of which I speak, seemed to blurr the distinction between artifacts capable of providing new insights into ancient cultures with anything and everything that has ever been lost.  I don't know if the failure to make that distinction is the result of dishonesty or simply fuzzy thinking.  Since I have to believe that archaeologists are capable of making the distinction between archaeologically significant finds and the billions of tons of miscellaneous junk that litters the landscapes of the world, I tend to take it as dishonest attempt by archaeologists to claim the world and everything in it as "their" domain - everybody else being an ignorant intruder.

I could go on and on about this, but I'll stop there.

Did you know that there are tens of thousands of treasure coins in the Florida collection?  Mostly coming from the efforts of treasure hunters?   Do you think that it is the proper business of the state to maintain such collections?  At tax-payer expense?   Have you seen any of those coins?   What benefit have you derived from the collection?  Just a few questions.  Maybe I'll do a poll on that sometime.

By the way, I posted a new poll in this blog recently.  Your response will help provide meaningful information.

Tomorrow I'll have more on the Helldiver found in the ocean off of Jupiter.


There was a little rain this morning cooling things off.   The seas remain calm.   In the next few days the seas will be increasing a little, but only up to about two or three feet, so that won't change detecting conditions significantly.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net