The Curse of Oak Island will be taking a break over the festive period, History have confirmed.
The next episode, Season 5 Episode 8, will air on January 2 rather than next Tuesday, which falls on Boxing Day.
We can also exclusively reveal that title of the next episode is “Dan’s Breakthrough”, suggesting long-time treasure hunter Dan Blankenship plays a significant role.
It could possibly include the moment Dan presses the button to start the drilling of a huge caisson down into what the team believe is the original Money Pit, a scene which was previously shown on the Drilling Down episode at the start of the season.
We asked History for further information about when the next episode will be broadcast, and they confirmed that there will not be a new episode this coming Tuesday, December 26, but that the season will resume on Tuesday, January 2.
A nine-minute short first-look at the episode will air on December 28.
It will follow on from this week’s episode in which one of the most significant findings the team have ever had was revealed — that a bone discovered in what they believe is the original Money Pit is from a person with Middle Eastern origins.
A second fragment they discovered was found to be from someone with European ancestry. The rest of the remains of both people are still believed to be buried underground on Oak Island.
The revelations came after the bones underwent advanced DNA sequencing at St Mary’s University in Halifax, with Dr Timothy Frasier, an associate professor in the Department of Biology, revealing the results.
As mentioned above, the next episode is expected to show the team starting to drill down with a large caisson into the exploratory borehole they recently dug called H-8, which they believe is the location of the original Money Pit.
They hope drilling a larger hole will help them recover whatever is down there, and help them find out more about the source of various items found in the spoils from the borehole.
They include the bones, fragments of decorated pottery, and even what appear to be parts of a historic book.
We know from the sneak peek at the end of the latest episode that the next one will also see metal-detecting expert Gary Drayton find a piece of ammunition, possibly from a cannon.
Meanwhile, six pages of a historic ship’s log are also uncovered which talk about a “deep pit” being dug and “treasure securely buried”.
As well as the revelations about the bones, this week’s episode also saw a theory being discussed about whether Sir Francis Drake could be buried on the island.
Meanwhile, a stone wall with a flat top was discovered which the team believe could have been part of a ship’s staging area, possibly a walkway or a ramp that led down to the ocean and which could have been used to load and unload goods from a ship moored off the island
You can read our full recap for the latest episode here.
We told earlier this week how the latest episode of The Curse of Oak Island topped the cable ratings chart — and was also the most-watched cable show — on Tuesday night.
The Curse of Oak Island returns on Tuesday January 2, 2018, at 9/8c on History.