This week on The Curse of Oak Island, the team was fired up after discovering an ancient ornate artifact, and the drill team continued to locate previously unexplored tunnels in the area of the garden shaft.
After an action-packed start to Season 10, the Fellowship of the Dig seemed to be playing the waiting game for much of this episode.
They are waiting for the Dumas mining company to excavate the garden shaft, and they’re waiting for the Muon Technology sensors to return data so they can begin mapping under the surface of the island.
In the meantime, the drill team is keeping themselves busy by attempting to track the course of a tunnel approximately 40 feet away from the garden shaft. But on last night’s episode, they complicated matters by uncovering a second tunnel at a shallower elevation.
Unfortunately, their progress has now been hampered by the Muon detectors that are placed in the ground not far from the garden shaft. These sensors will not be finished collecting data for another few months, and the team can’t risk damaging them by digging nearby.
Rick and the guys came up with a compromise and picked a spot to dig that they felt was far away enough from the detectors and could still hit a tunnel. However, to the viewer, it looked a bit like a hopeful shot in the dark.
Mysterious artifact is found on Lot 8 of Oak Island
Meanwhile, Gary Drayton and Jack Begley found an interesting artifact in Lot 8. The ornate artifact, which fitted comfortably in the palm of Gary’s hand, was a flat object decorated with symbols on either side.
The archaeology team, led by Laird Niven, were baffled by the artifact, each stating that they had seen nothing like it before. The object went into the XRF Machine (X-ray fluorescence), which concluded it was a copper alloy. The metallic makeup, coupled with the hand-made markings, all suggested that this was a very old object.
The CT Scanner took over and cut through all the erosion to give the guys a clearer look, but the object remained a mystery.
Expert suggests Oak Island find is a ceremonial object from Europe
The team drafted in Dr. Edwin Barnhart, an archaeologist, and specialist in the Mayan civilization, to take a look. He, too, seemed a little baffled by the strange object and suggested he be allowed to study it in more detail.
Barnhart did speculate that it could be a religious icon and was likely used in a ceremonial function. He also guessed from its metal composition that it probably did not come from the Americas but was most likely European.
The guys previously uncovered what they thought was a gemstone from a brooch on Lot 8. However, they were recently informed that it could have been from a masonic ceremonial breastplate. Perhaps these two items are linked?
Like so many episodes, this one had more questions than answers. On the plus side, the Dumas crew should have the garden shaft excavated in the next month or so, hopefully allowing the guys to finally get underground and into the Money Pit.
The Curse of Oak Island airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on History.
Oh… and in regard to finding evidence of tunneling. No. What they’re are digging up is remnants from past futile endeavors on the island; much of which was never properly documented. They know they’re going to find wood, which of course is not exciting. So much is buried down there. Yet when they declare (falsely) that it’s evidence of tunneling… well, let’s say it is an old tunnel. Somebody had been down there already. And found nothing. But no, they’ve got eleven seasons of a television show to do the same things all over, and try to make it new each year as if we haven’t watched them already do the same things over and over.
Thanks for the updates! I sometimes doze off during the show……
it is curious to me that a coffer dam was built years ago outside of the tunnel openings that allowed water access into the chambers. The coffer dam was then removed and access to the chambers was opened to find flooding “DUH”. Maybe if the dig another 50 holes in the island these tunnels and chambers will drain out or the island will sink!
The alloy item resembles an Egyptian cartouch to me.