This week on The Curse of Oak Island, the team discovers a wood dated from 1648 to 1694, which suggests they’ve found a tunnel leading to the original Money Pit.
The preview for this episode had teased us with the idea that the guys might have finally hit the Money Pit; unfortunately, the episode failed to confirm that was the case, but there is some compelling evidence that they could now have it.
As Marty Lagina put it, “we’re running out of space.” The Lagina brothers and their team seem to agree that the Money Pit simply has to be in the area where they are now drilling. “The Money Pit can only be here,” said Rick. Essentially, they’ve dug everywhere else.
Oak Island team have tunnel from before the 1795 Money Pit excavation
But the signs are looking good. They’ve hit solid wood at 87, 88, and 89 feet, and they have every reason to believe it will continue and form a tunnel. What’s more, it’s old, real old.
Craig Tester sent a sample of the wood for carbon-14 dating and made sure to get the results fast-tracked. And one of the dates came back as 1648 to 1694. That means this tunnel predates the original Money Pit discovery by at least 100 years, which in turn means there’s a good chance there’s treasure down there.
Marty asked bluntly, “Where’s the treasure?” And the guys responded by saying, well, let us put a drill down there so we can find it. The excitement was visibly growing in the guys. They feel like they’re close and that the Money Pit is either here or nowhere.
Stone roadway continues to provide more questions than answers
Also, in this episode, the mysterious stone roadway continues to confound the archaeologists and the Fellowship of the Dig. The roadway increasingly appears to have been a major and costly construction project. They think it was built to transport cargo, but why was it kept so well hidden? Why the secrecy?
Archaeologist Aaron Taylor has been wondering why such a large and ancient construction site has so few artifacts. He said it’s as if those who used the roadway cleaned up after themselves. It looks like someone was determined to keep the roadway and their own presence on Oak Island a secret.
It certainly makes sense that if you’re burying large amounts of treasure on a secret island, then you may want to hide that fact.
Leather book strap from 1500/1600s discovered on stone roadway
Also, this week, despite the lack of artifacts on the roadway, there were a couple of interesting finds. Aaron found an old leather strap that expert Joe Landry said was likely from an old book log or ledger of European origin from the 1500s or 1600s.
Charles Barkhouse jokingly suggested the ledger might have been used by pirates to make a note of all the booty they were burying.
They also uncovered a small piece of earthenware, which Aaron suspected dated from before 1600. He told the guys of a simple test to determine if it was old earthenware or made from modern ceramic; if your tongue sticks to it, it’s earthenware. Just, maybe, wash it first, eh!
It’s really starting to feel like the guys are getting real close to a major breakthrough with the Money Pit, and if that doesn’t work out, we’ve still got a fascinating whodunnit in the stone roadway.
The Curse of Oak Island airs at 9/8c on History.
Well, I hope they find The Money Pit and some treasure. I have watched since the beginning and I am beginning to believe that the “Real Money Pit” is the show itself. There has not been a discussion in the War Room about money running out for quite some time. But I’m hooked……I’m an Acorn.
The archeological finds are a lot more interesting than the hunt for the Money Pit. I feel like if they want4ed to find anything, they should just blow up the entire island, which is basically what they did with their grid system.
I thought it was funny when they stated that the leather strap was a “Watch strap”, ignoring the fact that there weren’t any ‘watches’ back in the 1600s. The strap is either from a ledger of some kind or a shoe strap.
Since they have the location of the money pit dialed in, they should get that company in to sink one of those 8′ diameter cassions down to the correct level and see what they can come up with.