"Hairy Situation" is season 11's penultimate episode. With winter approaching, the Fellowship has a limited amount of time to conduct more searches and make further discoveries. The time remaining is time they know to wisely spend.
RUNDOWN While there is never a dull moment on and around Oak Island, the major takeaway for me in this episode was the European adventures. On Oak Island, Marty Lagina, Jack Begley, archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan, and lead archaeologist Laird Niven meet in the lab where they confirm that clay samples collected from different features on Lot 5 match those collected from the Money Pit. This is conclusive evidence that the activity conducted on Lot 5 is related to activity in the Money Pit. Later, Begley and historian Charles Barkhouse travel to Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where Dr. Christa Brousseau and Dr. Xiang Yang analyze the conglomerate rock Marty found beneath Cone E in last week's episode. The hair protruding from the conglomerate did not appear to be human hair, but rather from an animal. A likely animal would be an ox as oxen would have been used to set the Cone E boulder in place. Across the Atlantic in Roskilde, Denmark, Rick and Alex Lagina, Doug Crowell, Emiliano Sacchetti, Corjan Mol, and Peter Fornetti visit the Viking Ship Musuem. The team learns that it is possible that Vikings could make the transatlantic voyage. Curator Dr. Marten Ravn informs them that Norse ships were originally rowed, but at the beginning of the Viking Age (approximately AD 750), the mariners began using sails, thus making a journey to North America easier. The team then tours a replica of a Viking cargo ship which could carry up to 20 tons. In the 13th century, a cargo may have contained Templar treasure! Crowell points out that parts of the ship are similar to wooden artifacts found in the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island that are likely from a ship. From Denmark, the team travels to Reykjavic, Iceland. At the Arni Magnusson Institute, they meet curator Prof. Gudvardur Mar Gunnlaugsson and are informed that Templar astronomical knowledge had in fact spread as far as Iceland. More than 15 abbeys had been established between the 11th and 14th centuries where hundreds of manuscripts containing astronomy and sacred geometry were produced. The team was shown a 12th century manuscript written primarily in Latin with some passages in Norse. This manuscript names several stars including Arcturus, which was one of the stars that archaeoastronomer Prof. Adriano Gaspani stated was used in the stellar alignment and construction of Nolan's Cross on Oak Island. Crowell also notes a symbol within the text that matches one on a copper artifact found on the island and may be of Viking origin. Following their visit to the Arni Magnusson Institute, Rick and company head south to the National Museum of Iceland to find out if there is any Viking Age connection to 5th century Roman coins discovered on the island. They have come to this museum since there are Roman coins in its collection. Curator Armann Gudmundsson notes the trade between Europe and the Mediterranean and suggests that the Vikings could have come by the coins within the British Isles. Before returning to Oak Island, the team concludes their Icelandic adventure outside of Reykjavic where they join researcher Roberto Pagani at Kverkarhellir Cave. The cave is a man-made feature, created around 800 AD by a Christian monastic order from Ireland. The area was later conquered by the Vikings in 874 who settled the land until the 13th century. Pagani shows the team a carving near the mouth of the cave depicting a cross with a round top. This same image bears a striking resemblance to the lead cross artifact found on Oak Island as well as the shape of a Templar stronghold in Italy and a carving on the wall of a Templar prison in France. The teams led by Rick and Marty regroup in the War Room on Oak Island to share what they have learned and discovered. CONCLUSION I find it fascinating that the Vikings most likely had a collaboration with the Knights Templar. Sure, one artifact cannot tell an entire story, but when further investigation and world travel yield results that corroborate with a theory brought forth by the artifact, then the truth of the story becomes more apparent. The Norse-Templar connection may have been a theory among the Fellowship, but after visiting Portugal, Italy, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Iceland, and finding even a simple artifact or carving that links them together, that theory is becoming more probable. Only one episode remains of season 11. Even if a borehole does not yield the desired result, all data is good data and, like a game of Battleship, the Fellowship of the Dig is narrowing the grid and closing in on the ultimate hit.
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With three episodes remaining of season 11 of The Curse of Oak Island, it is a race against television time for Acorns and armchair archaeologists to see what discoveries the Fellowship makes and what secrets are brought to light. Episode 23, "Cone E Island," shed light on some of the island's questions as well as asking more.
RUNDOWN Continuing their adventures across the Atlantic, Rick and Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, Doug Crowell, Emiliano Sacchetti, Corjan Mol, and Jacquo Silvertant arrive at the 12th century Valkenburg Castle in the Netherlands. While touring the dungeon beneath the castle, they find Templar carvings on a 14th century wall which are not unlike those discovered on and around Oak Island and other European locations associated with the Knights Templar. Among these carvings was one that may depict the sail of a Viking longboat; you may recall from previous posts that there is a possible connection between the Templars and the Vikings. Does this etching confirm their collaboration? From there, Rick and company travel to Bornholm, Denmark where they meet with author/journalist/documentary filmmaker Erling Haagensen at the 12th century Nylars Church. Suggested to have been built by the Knights Templar, it is here, that Haagensen believes that Vikings had met with the Templars to plan a transatlantic voyage to the New World, i.e. Oak Island. While looking around the church, Rick Lagina points out that several Norse runes match the carvings on Oak Island's 90-Foot stone. Besides the runes, there is also depicted what appears to be a Templar cross. The trail takes them to Madsebakke where they are shown a 3,000-year-old feature consisting of a series of petroglyphs. Local historian/researcher Jeanne Cordua explains that this is a Scandinavian Bronze Age astronomical compass. The Vikings and the Templars could have used this to study navigation. Among the symbols was that of the four-dot cross which represented the rising and setting sun. Cordua also points out a group of five potholes that represent the Hyades star cluster. It is, in fact, this same star cluster with which Prof. Adriano Gaspani had recently stated the five stone cairns on Oak Island are in alignment. The team's final Dutch destination in the episode is the Ladby Viking Museum in Kerteminde. Here, Doug Crowell shares with curator Ane Jepsen Nyborg a photo he had taken of an artifact which was found on Oak Island in the 1960s by treasure hunter Robert Dunfield (refer to my post covering S11 Ep21). Nyborg dates the artifact, a Viking arrowhead, as early as AD 800 to no later than the 1200s. On Oak Island, Marty Lagina visits Lot 10 where Cone E, the westernmost boulder of Nolan's Cross is located. The goal is to lift the boulder to find any clues underneath that could confirm whether it was placed naturally, i.e. by a glacier, or artificially. Representatives from Corkum's Towing used a tow truck to lift it up. Beneath it, Lagina collected organic samples which geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner can analyze. He also found a peculiar rock which could be cement. He later joined Jack Begley, Laird Niven, Terry Matheson, and Emma Culligan in the lab where Niven makes note of a strand of hair found within the conglomerate rock. Culligan said they can conduct an SEM (scanning electron microscope) test on the hair. We will have to wait for next week's episode to see what this clue can reveal. CONCLUSION To me, the Norse discoveries made in Europe add further credence to the possibility of a Viking-Templar collaboration. It is also noteworthy that the four-dot cross that has been associated with the Templars was also found on the Bronze Age feature at Madsebakke; how many more symbols were appropriated by future communities and cultures? Who originally established these symbols and what did they mean to them? To once again paraphrase Rick Lagina, "It's an Old World treasure wrapped in an Old World mystery," (S11 Ep22) so where better to search for answers than in the Old World? This is not just a journey through history, it is a journey through time; the Fellowship is retracing the footsteps of those who came to bury treasure, and following in the footsteps of those who came to find it. Oak Island is only one side of the coin, with Europe being the other side. The two are more connected than anyone could have imagined, going far beyond a European fellowship arriving on the island for such-and-such a purpose. With every piece put in place, the puzzle is coming together to reveal long-lost pages of history. This week, we were treated to two hours of Oak Island adventures! Following the premier of episode 22, "Abbey Road," was a new episode of the spinoff, Drilling Down, which finds host Matty Blake learning what archaeoastronomy is and how the Fellowship is utilizing this discipline to help solve the 229-year-old Oak Island mystery.
RUNDOWN Due to the flooding of the Garden Shaft, Dumas Contracting, Ltd. is no longer able to deepen the construct. It was noted in a previous episode that they could still search for an adjacent tunnel but at a more shallow depth. Based on data collected by geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner and his colleague Dr. Fred Michel, the team is further narrowing their search for the aforementioned tunnel. The data in question is analyses of water samples taken from the area west of the Garden Shaft which yielded evidence of precious metals including silver and gold. While Marty Lagina oversees work on Oak Island, his brother Rick is leading his globetrotting team featuring his nephews Alex Lagina and Peter Fornetti, and researcher/historian Doug Crowell. Their first stop is in Morimondo, Italy where they meet up with researcher Emiliano Sacchetti, archaeoastronomer Prof. Adriano Gaspani, and translator Marzia Sebastiani. They rendezvous at Morimondo Abbey, established by Cistercian monks in the 12th century. Much to their surprise and delight, they right away found symbols matching those found on Oak Island. Rick points out an image that curiously depicts oak leaves. Their next stop is in Bianzano, Italy. Here, the team meets up at Bianzano Castle, built by the Knights Templar in the 13th century as a Templar HQ. Prof. Gaspani explains that Bianzano Castle, like Nolan's Cross on Oak Island, was contructed using the same astronomical alignments, based on the Cygnus constellation. While touring the castle, Crowell point out another symbol not unlike one found in Nova Scotia; an eight-pointed star, which Prof. Gaspani notes is called Polaris, was previously found depicted in the Bedford Barrens petroglyph in Bedford, Nova Scotia. The same symbol was also depicted by the Mi'kmaq. A text known as the Cremona Document, co-authored by 12th century Templar Ralph de Sudeley, describes the Templars' discovery of religious artifacts under the Temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem. The text also describes a device called an abetor which was used for navigating and constructing by tracking stars. Prof. Gaspani presents a replica abetor he made and demonstrates how it would have been used by the Templars to travel to Oak Island and build Nolan's Cross. From Italy, Rick and Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, and Doug Crowell travel to the Netherlands where they meet author/researcher Corjan Mol and cultural historian Jacquo Silvertant. They explore the 12th century Caestert stone quarry, outside the city of Maastricht, where Mol believes the Templars once hid their treasures. Throughout these underground passageways, the ceilings were decorated with Templar symbols, some of which had been seen on or around Oak Island as well as other locations around the world including Portugal, France, and Italy. Mol says these are "breadcrumbs" which the Templars left behind. Rick also notes that it can't just be random to find similar imagery in multiple places, these places must all be connected. What are the Templars telling us? AS ABOVE, SO BELOW In the new episode of Drilling Down, "Written in the Stars," host Matty Blake discusses the discipline of archaeoastronomy and how it is helping the team uncover the secrets of Oak Island's history. Prof. Gaspani defines archaeoastronomy as dating a site using stellar targets. The field relates to anthropology, archaeology, and astronomy. From it we can learn how ancient cultures used celestial bodies to build sites such as Stonehenge and the Pyramids. In 2018, astrophysicist Dr. Travis Taylor (of Ancient Aliens and The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch fame) was the first to introduce archaeoastronomy to the Fellowship when he visited Oak Island. In his presentation, he aligned stars of the constellation Taurus with various points on the island. While trekking across the island, the team found large boulders in the same locations Dr. Taylor suggested was a point of astronomical alignment with Taurus. I find it fascinating that celestial bodies can be used to put a date on when a site was constructed. The stars are always in motion, and "rewinding" them allows researchers to determine how long ago they were in direct alignment with archaeological sites. CONCLUSION The history of Oak Island is not just written in the pages of ship logs and Templar maps. It is not just written in the carvings and imagery adorning strongholds and prison cells. It is also written in the stars. By themselves, they only give us a glimpse of history, but like a puzzle, we will see the full picture once we put the pieces together. The Fellowship is closer than anyone has ever been in solving the 229-year-old mystery, utilizing technology and disciplines which the teams who came before them did not have. As Rick Lagina said, and I paraphrase, "It's an Old World treasure wrapped in an Old World mystery." Perhaps Oak Island's questions cannot be answered on the island itself, but rather in Europe. After all, Europe was the heart of the conflict: it's where the Knights Templar were persecuted and it's the home they had to flee. Again paraphrasing Lagina: the Templars were not just running for freedom, they were running to protect something. What they were protecting, as I've noted before, must have been so valuable they went through the trouble of constructing an elaborate tunnel system and features on an island thousands of miles from home. I've mentioned in a previous post that with every question answered, two more questions take its place. The same may even be said of every step made towards the treasure; whenever the team comes closer to advancing underground, something -- a curse perhaps? -- always attempts to thwart their efforts.
RUNDOWN This week's episode, "Straight as an Arrow," begins with further investigations of the northern region of the swamp. Last week, the team uncovered a boulder within the vicinity of where researcher John Edwards theorized to be a Sefirot of the Kabbala Tree of Life (see my previous post for more details). Along with the boulder, Billy Gerhardt uncovered a rock-lined depression, a feature that was certainly man-made. Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner confirmed that the aforementioned boulder was intentionally put there and that the swamp was artificially manipulated. Later in the episode, lead archaeologist Laird Niven also concluded that the swamp is not a naturally made feature. The stones and boulder were put in place at a time when the landscape was not a swamp. The uncovering of more tree stumps is indicative of this since such trees cannot grow in a swampy environment. Surveyor Steve Guptill notes that the elevation of this feature matches that of previously uncovered stone paths which date to the 13th century. Rick Lagina and historian Doug Crowell drive up to Halifax to meet with Eric Wroclawski whose father, Paul Wroclawski, was an Oak Island researcher. Wroclawski presented Lagina and Crowell with an artifact found on Oak Island in the 1960s by treasure hunter Robert Dunfield. Crowell notes that the artifact could be part of a crossbow, suggesting it is medieval. More research will be made on the artifact to identify what it is, where it originated, and how old it is. Last week, there was good news and bad news regarding further excavation of the Garden Shaft and a possible adjacent tunnel. This week, there are still good news and bad news. The bad news is that water continues to flood into the Shaft and poses a danger to its structural integrity. While such an obstacle is new to the Fellowship of the Dig, it is certainly nothing new overall as it was a hurdle no team before could clear. Hopefully, the Fellowship will be able to. The good news is that Dumas Contracting, Ltd. can pump the water low enough to probe for an offset chamber at a depth of 50 feet. Rounding up the episode was a War Room meeting with researchers Corjan Mol, Emiliano Sacchetti, and Judi Rudebusch whose investigations point to new evidence connecting the Old World with Oak Island. Rick and Marty Lagina plan a trip to Italy and the Netherlands to follow up on the researchers' leads and finally answer the who, what, where, when, how, and why of Oak Island. CONCLUSION It is unfortunate that the Garden Shaft has become flooded. The salinity of the water no doubt indicates it is coming in from the ocean which leads to the possibility of the conduit being a flood tunnel, a design of the original Money Pit to protect the treasures buried at the bottom. A nearby void was discovered at a depth of 50 feet, leading Marty Lagina to believe that the treasure is actually located in a hidden offset chamber. This makes a lot of sense to me. Just the fact of someone digging over 100 feet deep and constructing a system of flood tunnels -- all at a time before mechanical equipment, mind you -- tells me that whatever they had hidden away was of great value to them and they did not want anyone else to find it. Why else would they go through such an endeavor? If the treasure was that valuable, would it not make further sense to secure it in an offset area where potential thieves would not think to look and instead continue to follow a labyrinth of shafts and tunnels? Comment and share your thoughts. Thank you for reading! |
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