The Curse of Oak Island: Newly found ancient artifact could date back to 12th century

SPOILER ALERT! This article contains a full recap of The Curse of Oak Island Season 6 Episode 3, don’t read below here if you don’t want to know what happened!

The Curse of Oak Island’s latest episode had a huge reveal — that an anomaly consistent with a chamber lies in the Money Pit. But that wasn’t all! It also emerged that a newly found ancient artifact could date back as far as the 12th century, with possible Templar connections.

The day dawns with great expectations as construction on the cofferdam at Smith’s Cove finally commences. Irving Equipment Limited is using a hydraulic hammer to drive deep into the ground, in an effort to wall off the ocean water from the shoreline.

Such a drainage pit of epic proportions is needed so that the treasure-hunting team headed by Rick and Marty Lagina can discover what, if anything, of value has been hiding below the ocean’s depths.

Prior, similar work has resulted in flooding, but in a mere three weeks’ time the team is hopeful that they will be trotting on dry land and pocketing valuable artifacts.

As the cove work continues, members of the team including Marty, Dave Blankenship and Craig Tester travel west to Calgary. They’re headed to the Eagle Canada headquarters to look at the seismic results the geophysical exploration company has ready from prior dynamiting on the island.

Barely inside the massive headquarters conference room, the team is told that exciting news awaits. Colorful charts reveal that an underground chamber is the first anomaly. Could this be a fabled cavity full of golden loot?

Below any of the historical excavations the charts show a hard roof above a void in the limestone at 160-170 feet. “That’s where a lot of odd stuff came out of H8,” says Rick.

It’s in the area of the presumed Chappell Vault, where pottery, leather book binding, and human bones were also found. It was later determined that the bones belonged to two individuals, one from Europe, the other from the Middle East, dated to more than 400 years old.

Marty is thrilled and wants to move forward based on the data, with the caveat that more data is needed.

Meanwhile Jack Begley, Gary Drayton, and Mike West, a local geophysicist and metal detector, search for artifacts on Lot 26. Mike uses an EM61 device, which, unlike conventional metal detectors capable of sensing metal objects 1-3 feet below the earth, can detect objects to a depth of 20 feet. The cutting edge device is also equipped with a GPS to locate even deeper, promising dig areas.

Mike’s device starts dinging and Jack starts in with his shovel, uncovering something that excites Gary who exclaims, “that’s an oldie … that’s a 1700s spike.” Could the rusty, roughly foot long metal spike possibly be from a fishing wharf used by pirate captain James Anderson, the former owner of Lot 26?

But that’s not all they dig up. A second potentially important artifact is uncovered, a rusty, crusty old hook that Gary speculates could have been used to unload cargo from ships.

At the end of a long day, Marty meets team members in the war room to show off the maps of the exciting seismic data that reveal underground anomalies. The task at hand is picking locations for further exploration via core holes.

Next up, it’s time for Rick and Marty to venture to Smith’s Cove and oversee the cofferdam operation. Rick tells the crew of the area, “We think there’s something in the Money Pit area…but here, we know there’s something.”

Decades ago Dan Blankenship dug another cofferdam at the site and found remains of an elaborate wooden structure, dubbed the “u-shaped structure”. But who made it and for what purpose?

There’s never a lull in the action on Oak Island, and later that day Rick and other team members gather at the Oak Island visitor center to meet with a drilling company that specializes in a boring method which uses vibrations to create a high frequency sound to pulverize objects.

Over at the seismic site, the first hole is dug at a spot called D6 with hopes of eventually finding 100-foot deep tunnels and a chamber at 170 feet. At depths of 93 feet and 96 feet, the drill bit brings up bits of horizontal wood, possibly the top of a tunnel.

But from what period? Is it from a searcher tunnel or an original underground structure? What is known is that the area represents an anomaly detected by the seismic data. But does the Chappell Vault lay waiting to be found?

Going back to Lot 26, the metal detecting trio dig up another promising find. “What is it,” cries Jack, before adding “oh shoot, unbelievable!”

Gary knows what it is, “a bleeding bow!” He adds that the crossbow bolt could be “Templar old”, which leaves Jack aghast. Such implements were used prior to the 16^th century. Could this weaponry provide evidence of Templars on the island hundreds of years ago?

Gary thinks so, claiming that such a pointy metal rod was used to pierce chainmail. When they show Rick he adds that if the find is indeed authentic it could be 12^th or 13^th century.

It’s been an exciting few days on the island and the team is closer than ever to solving a centuries old mystery.What will next week’s action uncover on Oak Island? Be sure to tune in and find out!