1/27/19 Report - More On Melborne, Florida Artifact Find Reported In Some Sources As An Ican Funerary Mask. More Surf Tomorrow.

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

Find Reported As Incan Funerary Mask.

A couple days ago I reported on what was said to be an Incan funerary mask found on the beach somewhere near Melborne, Florida.  As I said then, a lot of it didn't seem to make sense to me.  It turns out that I was not the only one that felt that way.  The ancient-origins.net web site also found the stories confusing and offered some corrections.  It seems that the artifact is not as old as reported and is does not included metal from a meteorite.

The ancient-origins web site reports You are immediately forgiven if you have watched the News 6 video and are in a state of utter confusion, as was I. Sparvero’s introductory scene in the video confidently states the mask is “possibly 10 or 12,000 years old.” But in reality, the Inca formed in the Cusco area of modern Peru in the mid-12th century AD. Going with professor Torres’ suggestion that it’s an ‘Inca funerary mask’ it was forged no longer than 800 years ago, but other archaeologists claim “a native civilization smelted the mask possibly thousands of years BC” according to an article in Florida Today …

While Torres says the mask is Inca, right after that he says “it might be the first evidence of smelting” in South America. But that was thousands of years before the Inca formed. Searching for hard facts, clarity can be found in an excellent research paper, Metallurgy in Southern South America , written by three of the world’s leading scholars on ancient metallurgy; Colin A. Cooke, Mark B Abbott, and Alexander P. Wolfe. The scientists state , “The earliest evidence to date for smelting activity in southern South America comes in the form of copper slag from the Wankarani site in the highlands of Bolivia dating between 900 and 700 BCE (Ponce 1970).”

Thanks much to Dale J.. who sent me the ancient-origins link, which is probably closer to the truth than much of what has been said and reported about the mask.

Here is the link.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/inca-artifact-0011370

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Today was the first day this year that made me want to run out to the beach.  The weather was what I consider excellent metal detecting weather, as long as you have a metal detector that can take the rain.  It was exactly the kind of weather I love for metal detecting - too bad I caught the flu and decided to stay in.

I don't know what happened to the beaches today.  I heard there was both an on-shore and long-shore currents, making it even the more tempting.

As you can see, it looks like we'll have a four to six foot surf tomorrow, along with some north wind.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

If any of you went out Sunday, I'd like to see any photos you got of the beach.

That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/26/17 - Colonial Era Religious Medallion Find. Metal Detecting Practice In The Park.

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

Nice Religious Medallion Find.
Find and photo by Bart B.

Here is what Bart said about the medallion.

I found this along the Old Spanish Trail in Texas and have had no luck determining how old it is. Based on your article it could be pre 1800 due to the direction of the hole at the top of the medal, any other insight would be greatly appreciated.

Near as I can tell the writing on this side says:

R or B*VIRGO*SINE*PECCATO*OR or B*CONC

The writing on this side is very worn, my best guess is:

SS*SAC L*S*LL or 11

Other Side of Same Medallion.
Find and photo by Bart B.

Virgo sine pecatto means virgin without sin.  IHS refers to Christ.  I think it is Jesuit.

Same Medallion From the Side.
Photo by Bart B.

Thanks for sharing Bart.  I hope the readers can provide more information on the medallion.

The wear looks a little strange to me.  Some of the low spots are as worn smooth as much as the high spots where you would expect a lot of wear.  Maybe that is from manufacture.

The surface corrosion (or lack thereof) sure looks different from the medals you typically find on the beach, but that is to be expected since it came from a different kind of environment.  A salt water beach is really hard on metal.

Thanks for sharing Bart!

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I seldom post YouTube videos except for the few I've made to illustrate specific things.  I'll share this one though.  I have a variety of reasons for that.  One big reason is the message that Rick delivers.  It is an important message and something I would say myself, but Rick has already done it.  I also referred to this same video in another post a day or two ago.  Rick has often contributed to this blog.

Here is what Rick said in his email to me.

When you get out and practice with your detector you start finding what others have missed. Here are some of the finds (See video) that I had after hitting the local parks. I use the parks as practice and I will hit the same park many times changing settings on the detector every time that I hunt the same park!

You can't get any better at what you are doing if you don't practice what you are doing and what better way of doing it then hunting a local park or two. Now if you live by the beach, you need to go there at different times of the day to see where all of the activity is! One of the things that changing where to hunt is the new parking meters. Most are not using change, and let's face a fact, in south Fla. it cost a lot to park on the beach.  The only problem is that beach-goers are now paying for their parking by credit card.

So you are better off setting up for jewelry and hunting the beaches where you have a lot of beach goers that like to show off what they have in the way of jewelry! Do you have any beach bars where these kind love to hang out?

The main thing I want to repeat is "practice, practice, practice."  Trying different kinds of environments helps you learn more about detecting and your detecting too.  If you don't have the time to go where you really want to go, or you just want to practice, a local park (where they permit it) it just fine.  In a park you might have the challenge of surface trash.  You might learn how to overcome that.  You might have to worry more about target separation and target masking.  You can learn from that.  And even though you might not find the Queen's Jewels at your local park, if you keep at it long enough, I'll be you eventually get a pleasant surprise.

Here is Rick's YouTube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZd6emKGasA&ytbChannel=Rick%20superrick

Thanks Rick!

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If you've been waiting for calm water and a good low tide, this might be your chance.  Take a look at this.  Just in time for the long weekend too.

Source: Magicseaweed.com.

Send me any thoughts or information you might have on Bart's medallion find.

4:31 PM Update:  I just received a lot of good information on the medallion from researcher and author Laura Strolia.  I'll post that tomorrow.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net