09x06 - The Root Cause

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island

We have winkled
that signal out, mate.

Fingers crossed.

- Yes!
- Look at that roundness.

Zinc, lead, iron.

- Gold, Jack.
- No way.

There's a large piece of wood

that lines up with the road.

This is almost exactly
what we were looking for.

It's more than we expected.

Okay, look at this.

Bingo. This is Christmas.

That would apply to a chamber,
wouldn't it?

It could apply to a chamber.

Holy smokes.

There is an
island in the North Atlantic

where people
have been looking for

an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found
a stone slab

with strange symbols
carved into it...

man-made workings
that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross
whose origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have d*ed

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend,
one more will have to die

before the treasure
can be found.

All right, guys, the
rigs moved off the last location.

Um, I think we're ready
to pin D-1.5.

Sounds good.

- Yep.
- I got a good feeling.

With the dawn
of a new day on Oak Island,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

and their team
are more hopeful than ever

that it could be the one
in which they discover

what people have sought
for 226 years:

a vast and potentially
priceless treasure

buried deep
in the fabled Money Pit.

As we know,
that's a very successful...

We've been very successful
in that area, at least.

- Yeah.
- So, based on the evidence

and the data we've collected,
I mean,

this is gonna be
a successful hole.

- Every sh*t counts.
- Oh, yeah.

Today, they
are drilling Borehole D-1.5,

one of nearly 20 laid out
across a strategic grid.

It is within this zone that
they have already discovered

possible wooden tunnels
between 75 and 90 feet deep

that could date back
as far as the 15th century,

as well as mysterious metal
objects and water samples

containing both silver and gold.

The drill program,
to date, has been very exciting.

We've found at least two
separate pieces of iron

had gold flakes on them.

And the drill program brought
up several pieces of wood

that dated well before
any searcher

could possibly have been
around the Money Pit.

Up till now it's been
an information hunt this year.

Uh, now we're looking
for treasure.

Now, there's a whole batch
of evidence

that's going
in the right direction for us.

- That's great news.
- Absolutely.

So we've got to
hope that this is the year.

This is the hole.

This could be the hole.

We got a core coming.

- Right here.
- Oh, yeah.

This could be
an interesting one.

What'd you get, Adam?

- 84.
- 84.

We're kind
of on a roll this year,

more than any other year.

We have a lot of different signs

pointing in the same direction
for where do we put the caisson.

- Let's hope it's wood.
- We have actual hard evidence,

artifacts that we brought up
that says,

"Yeah, we need to put
a caisson down in this area."

But we also know
from long experience

that we could miss it
just by the smallest of margins.

And if you miss by an inch,
you miss by a mile down there.

How's it looking so far?

We're at 84,

so we're right
in the key areas, so...

Well, it could be
something good.

Yeah.

- Well, we have wood.
- All right.

- Good sign.
- Yeah, that is a good sign.

That is a good sign.

Is that a fairly substantial...

It looks like it just grazed it.

Yeah, it doesn't look like

- we hit it dead-on, does it?
- No.

I say we grazed
whatever structure that is.

- Just an edge of something?
- Yeah.

That starts to give
good indications

of tunnel, potentially, and
that's what we're looking for:

a tunnel or a chamber
right at about our sweet spot.

More evidence of a tunnel

some 84 feet deep
in Borehole D-1.5?

If so, could it be connected
to the possible tunnel

encountered just
two and a half feet away

at nearly the same depth
one month ago in Borehole D-2?

Which not only contained
evidence of gold

but was also carbon-dated
to as early as 1488?

What were the depths
of the previous targets?

Th-the wood samples that were,
uh, 1488 to 1650...

- Yeah. Mm-hmm.
- Which were within feet of this,

they were down to 88 to 91.

So this is shallow
to anything we found

in the immediate area,
that I recall.

- Yeah.
- Now, it could be

that this is part
of the tunnel system and this

is not collapsed here,
where everything else

- has been collapsed...
- Oh, yes. - Exactly.

- That's an option.
- So we're seeing it down at the bottom.

Yep.

Because of more
than two centuries of digging

by previous searchers
and devastating cave-ins

caused by one or more believed
man-made flood tunnels,

unfortunately,
the Oak Island team

can't be sure at this stage
just what they are encountering

while drilling within
their current grid system.

Well, let's hope
the next five feet

- gives us more.
- Yeah.

Let's keep digging.
See what else is there.

While the drilling
operation continues in the Money Pit area,

later that afternoon...

- Here's good.
- Yeah, this is where we want to be.

Steve Guptill joins
archaeologist Laird Niven,

metal detection expert
Gary Drayton, Jack Begley

and Doug Crowell on Lot 4,

located on the western side
of the island.

- Gentlemen.
- So, what are the plans?

Steve's got a map
of, uh, the magnetometer hits.

Okay.

So, Doug and I put
a possible 11 targets together.

Okay.

So, for the hatch itself,

there's four that
we really want to key in on.

The first map that, uh,
we're gonna present

is the total field
magnetic intensity.

Then you can really focus in on

what we like
to call "anomalies."

One week ago,

representatives
from CSR GeoSurveys Limited

conducted a magnetometer scan
of this area

and identified a number
of buried iron objects.

This is a decent-size anomaly.

I mean, it's right
next to the road.

That's near where the hatch

from Zena's map could be.

Curiously, these
targets lie in the same area on Lot 4

where a possible tunnel
entrance, or hatch,

was labeled on a reported
14th century French map

of Oak Island that the late
researcher Zena Halpern believed

to have been made by members
of the Knights Templar.

- Let's go, navigator.
- Lead on.

Now the team is hoping Gary

can uncover compelling clues
that might help them obtain

a special permit to conduct
a much deeper dig

in search of
the so-called hatch.

All right, the center
of this location...

This is a large anomaly... is
about another ten feet in here,

but since this is open,
we should start here.

- What do you think?
- Yeah.

I should be able
to winkle my way around there.

- I know it's overgrown, but...
- You sure?

Yeah. I can get in there, mate.

No snipping of any trees.

- Okay.
- Okay.

- I'll get out of your way.
- Okay, mate.

I want to
know what the hatch is.

Is it a back entrance
to the Money Pit,

or is it a possible vault

full of treasure?

But one thing for sure, if
we can find the hatch location,

it would validate Zena Halpern's
research and the French map.

Yep, good signal.

- Is it a hit?
- That's a screamer.

That does sound great.

Yep, just here, mate.

Don't know what that is.

Good digging, mate.

You got it out.

Come on. Fingers crossed.

It's in my hand, whatever it is.

Ooh.

- Interesting piece of metal.
- What is that?

Wow. What could that be?

On Lot 4,

located on the western side
of Oak Island...

I have no idea,
but it's definitely interesting.

Gary Drayton has made

a potentially
important discovery

while searching
for evidence of a hatch

or possible tunnel entrance.

I was thinking
an old coin at first

that was just cut weird,
but, yeah.

- It was awful deep.
- Yeah, that was deep.

Any idea for the type of metal?

Can you see the patina on it?

- Or is that iron?
- Let's see.

It sounds like a-a copper alloy,

so this could be
very interesting

when it's cleaned up.

There might be some kind
of decoration on there.

I have no idea what it is,
but we should call Laird over.

Maybe Laird's seen
something like this before.

Hey, Laird, mate.

- Yeah.
- Can you come over here

and check this target out,
please?

Sure thing.

What do you have?

- Uh, we got a-a deep target here, mate.
- Okay.

I mean, you can see how deep
we had to dig for that.

It's not iron.

It's some type of copper alloy,
but unusual shape.

Maybe it's got some kind
of decoration on it.

This is a very
interesting artifact.

I don't know what it is.

It's potentially copper.

And this looks like
it's got a design on it.

This is the type of find,
uh, that tells a lot,

that someone else
was out in this same area

possibly looking for the hatch.

- Well, it's too thin for a pot, like a cooking pot.
- Yeah.

It definitely curves up.

- But definitely an interesting piece of metal.
- Mm-hmm.

It could tell a story still
when it's cleaned up.

It could.

All right, mate,
let's tag it and bag it.

Fingers crossed that's old.

Later that afternoon...

Fresh core on the table?

Fresh core on the table.

As the drilling operation
continues in the Money Pit...

- Hey, everybody.
- Hi.

- Hey, Alex.
- You've been busy.

Alex Lagina arrives

at the southeastern corner
of the Oak Island swamp

to check in
with archaeologists Laird Niven,

Helen Sheldon, Miriam Amirault

and Liz Michels
as they continue investigating

the possibly 16th century
stone road or ship's wharf.

We've done a lot of work.
That's for sure.

- It looks like a ton of work, honestly.
- Yeah.

And you've found some scraps
of pottery but not here?

- Not here yet.
- Mm-hmm.

What you got?

I have a piece of pottery,

but I think
it's really delicate.

- Okay.
- This is definitely Mi'kmaq.

Three weeks ago, while searching

near the recently unearthed
stone pathway,

just adjacent
to the believed stone wharf,

Laird discovered pieces
of indigenous Mi'kmaq pottery

that he believes
could be anywhere

between 500 and 2,500 years old.

Although how and when

these artifacts came
to Oak Island is unknown,

their discovery resulted
in the provincial Department

of Community,
Culture and Heritage

imposing new regulations

on how the team
is allowed to proceed

in their efforts to solve
the Oak Island mystery.

So, this is for drilling.

We have free range
inside of the green.

Any activity inside the green,
we're allowed to pursue.

I see. And the red?

Anything that
falls outside of the green,

we need special permission
to be inside of the red.

While the new regulations
do not apply to the Money Pit area,

they do require the team
to seek special permission

to conduct
any archaeological work

or large digging operations
across the rest of the island.

But even more concerning is
that they strictly prohibit

further investigation
of the recently unearthed

stone pathway,
which the team believes

may not only be connected
to the stone wharf,

but is also heading
directly toward the Money Pit.

Today, although
they must stay away

from the restricted
"buffer zone,"

Laird and the team
have obtained permission

to search for clues
on the far-west section

of the stone road, or wharf,
to try and confirm

its possible date
of construction.

What have you found out?

What can you tell me?

So, this unit,
we put in to try and see

what was happening
with the stone road,

because it seemed
to disappear here.

So, then, just before lunch,

we came down on a fairly level
layer of stone,

- as you can see...
- Mm-hmm.

And there's a large piece
of wood on the edge...

- Oh, yeah, right there.
- That lines up

with the edge of the road

- going towards the north.
- Wow.

- This is almost exactly what we were looking for.
- Yeah.

Is it not? I mean, a large
piece of wood can be both carbon-dated

and dendrochronology,
and it's part of the structure.

- Yes.
- Definitely.

It's actually

almost more than we expected.

- It is more than we expected.
- Yeah.

All along that we've
been working on the stone road,

the real question was,
where is it going?

And it definitely continues
out towards the beach.

And I think
that's important, um,

in terms of kind of just
understanding its purpose.

Anything on the other side,
or...?

- Uh, we've only gone this far.
- Okay.

If you look at
our-our permit application,

that's what we're looking for.

- Right.
- You know, artifacts or samples that we can date, so...

We kind of have to take it,

find out what it is,
and just cross our fingers

that it's not gonna
shut us down.

Yeah, pretty much.

The archaeologists have
been a big part of our search

these last few years,
and they're finding a lot,

but the elephant in the swamp

is, if we find
First Nations stuff,

what are the rules gonna be?

And until we figure out
a path forward

with this archaeological work,
um, it's a little hazy

as to how much more
gets done on this island.

So, we did a
trench in the center,

and we got a nice large root
under the stone road...

- Mm-hmm.
- So that's gone off for C-14.

- Mm-hmm.
- That's gonna be the priority, I think.

Right. You know, this is
kind of the biggest thing

from last year that we found.

- Yes.
- And I really hope that that comes back...

- Yeah.
- Dating to kind of our zone of interest,

- which is anything pre-1795.
- Fingers crossed.

- Yeah.
- Well, I'll leave you to it.

- All right. Thanks, Alex.
- Thanks again.

- Thanks, Alex.
- Okay, see you later.

While the
investigation continues in the swamp...

Oh, yeah.

All right, guys,
that's gonna be the one.

Alex Lagina
returns to the Money Pit

to join Craig Tester
and members of the team

as they continue
the core-drilling operation

in Borehole D-1.5.

All right.

So this could be it, gentlemen.

- What you got, Adam?
- 88.5.

- 88.5.
- Thank you.

Open her up, gentlemen.

This is Christmas.

I don't want to be holding off.
Open up the presents.

D-1.5 i-is very close to D-2,

and D-2 is our go-to well
at this point in time.

You know, to me,
this is a big-can area.

I mean, what is down there?

We don't know, you know?
Is there coins there?

Is there gold nuggets
or whatever?

So, if we can-can bring up
exactly what's there

and aid us in putting the big
can down, uh, it'll be great.

Yeah, we got wood
at the bottom again.

- Yep.
- And here.

I'm no pro,

but I'd say we're scraping down
the side of something.

Interestingly, we have wood
close to the bottom again.

It scrapes along
the side of something.

Yeah, wh-what you said, Steve,
you've got to start thinking,

maybe you're, uh,
close to a vertical structure

and you're bumping down
along the side of it.

- A lot of chips.
- STEVE G. Yeah.

A lot of chips, yeah.

- That's almost round, isn't it?
- Yeah.

- Could be just a knot or...
- A round piece?

It-it has the appearance
of being round.

Yeah, I think it's a*-cut.

So, out of the core,
we find a wood chip.

And this wood chip has
kind of angled edges to it,

which indicates a*-cut.

An a*-cut,

to me, indicates the greater
potential that it's very old.

It's pretty amazing.

Yeah, that's very interesting.

Any hit of wood below
in situ material,

that generally says chamber

- or tunnel to me.
- Yeah.

It's possibly veered over
into a chamber

with stacked timbers
on the perimeter.

Oh, wow.

- We should call my dad.
- Yeah.

- Here they are.
- After being alerted

to a potentially important
discovery in Borehole D-1.5...

What in the hell
is going on here?

Hey, Marty.

Rick and Marty Lagina arrive

at the Money Pit
for a more in-depth report.

- Here we go.
- What happened?

- We hit some interesting things.
- Yes?

We went into some wood
at about 83 feet below grade.

We might have found a dowel.

At the bottom of, uh,
our interesting intersection

at 92 to 93 feet,

we hit a beam about
six inches', I'd say, thickness.

But we hit about ten feet
intersection of materials.

The till above was pretty dense.

It wasn't loose.
And then suddenly

we hit wood,
then this stuff, and then

we hit wood and we're out of it
and it's dense again.

What if the ten-foot
sort of thing means

it's coming up
to a great big chamber?

That could be
your offset chamber.

That's your offset chamber.

That's what
we were thinking, too.

My leading
theory about the Money Pit

is that there's
an offset chamber.

If the Money Pit
was designed to go down

and distract somebody
from a chamber

that was actually
tunneled off to one side,

which is what this
is kind of suggesting,

then what you have is the
perfect hiding spot because,

in the thinking
of 100 or 200 years ago,

no one else could
possibly ever find that.

There would be no way.

There'd be no surface
disturbance,

there would be,
there would be nothing.

Well, there's this rectangle
where we hit wood.

It's about 18 by...

by 12 feet.

That would apply to a chamber,
too, wouldn't it?

- It could apply to a chamber.
- Yeah.

Here is a piece of wood
that, uh, Charles found.

And it looks like
it might be rounded.

Like it's the outer edge,

which would give us a good date
of when the tree was cut down.

Perhaps if this dates to be old,
maybe the-the original workings

were constructed with dowels

- instead of, like, spikes to put stuff together.
- Oh, yeah.

- You know?
- Yeah.

So that could be
part of a dowel.

If this wood tests,

you know, to that same
1488, whatever,

- to 1650...
- That was at 90.5 feet,

- so we're right in that area.
- Right there, right?

- Yeah.
- The sweet spot.

- Maybe you're coming up on something.
- Yes.

Okay, the next step,
I think what we need to do

is we'll take this
to 150, 150-ish.

Unless you find confirmation
of something on this hole,

we'll probably do
another in this area.

All right, we have a plan.

Hear, hear.

As the archaeological
work on the possible stone wharf

in the swamp continues...

I love this rainy weather.

Jack Begley and metal
detection expert Gary Drayton

have returned to Lot 4.

They are hoping to find evidence
of the so-called hatch,

or possible tunnel entrance.

Okay, mate. That's another
section of the transect.

So, we'll just continue
this one through, mate.

Mm-hmm.

That's a heck of a
good start to this section.

I'm getting iron grunts,
but you never know, mate.

That's gonna be tough digging.
It's right on top of the stump.

Pit bull on a T-bone
whenever I get a signal, mate,

- aren't you?
- No, that was a lot easier

digging than
what I thought it was.

I think it might be out.

It's an old stump.

A little scratchy signal.

My guess is iron.

Is it in the stump or under it?

Because it could be
really old, then.

I think it was under the stump.

- What have we got here? Ooh, an old buckle.
- What the heck is that?

A buckle on a leather strap,
by the look of it.

- It still has the leather attached to it.
- Yeah.

So, that will be interesting.

We don't find that much leather
on the island, do we?

No, and that buckle
does look kind of old.

Yeah, it does look old, mate.

A leather
strap and metal buckle?

Might they have belonged
to someone who lived and farmed

on the island after the
Money Pit's discovery in 1795?

Or could they prove
to be much older

and provide important clues

connected
to the treasure mystery?

What type of thing would
a-a strap like this be used for,

based upon the size?

Normally, like a sling,

like a belt that goes over,
and you would have had the pouch

if you... say, if you was
out here hunting...

- For musket balls.
- Yeah, might have had musket balls

or flint for a flintlock.

But, also, uh, back in the day,
they used to keep coins

in little money pouches,
uh, kind of like, um, satchels.

I like to think it is,

because if their coin purse
strap broke,

- maybe they dropped some coins around here.
- Exactly.

I like the way you think, Jack.

Hopefully, there are
some other finds around here

that help pin down the date,
maybe a button or a coin.

Oh, that would be
fantastic, mate.

We've recovered some really,

really interesting artifacts
on this lot.

If we could find the hatch
location, that would be huge.

Is it a back entrance
to the Money Pit

or is it a possible vault
full of treasure?

We will keep going.

So, it's gonna be
interesting to see

what went on in this area.

That. We have winkled
that signal out, mate.

That is interesting.

That stands out.
Just there, mate.

Dig that sucker up.

We're overdue a coin, Jack.

I'd love to find
a coin right now.

All right,
let's see if I got it out.

Good. Ah, mate, pinpointer time.

Oh, it's down there.

- It's in my hand.
- Yeah.

Come on, baby.

It is in my hand.

Give me a coin or a button.

- Yes!
- Look at that roundness.

It's a button.

I mean, look at that, mate.

That is a bobby-dazzler
of a button.

Look at the patina on it.

It's an old button, for sure,

because, look, it's a single
loop, by the look of it.

- Yeah?
- It might have the manufacturer

or the maker's name on it.

- We might be able to pull a date or some info off this?
- Yeah.

And that is an old
jacket button.

Oh...

Over the last several years,

Gary has discovered numerous
buttons across the island

that have dated back
to the 18th century

and prior to the discovery
of the Money Pit.

However, could this button,
found in the area

where a reported
14th century map of Oak Island

depicts a so-called hatch
or possible tunnel entrance,

help verify that human activity
took place here

much earlier than the 1700s?

That's gonna
clean up really, really nice.

Could be copper alloy.

- Could be pewter. Could be silver.
- Oh, yeah.

This is in such good condition.

I know Kelly is gonna do
a really good job

- cleaning this up.
- Yeah. Yeah.

Especially if we get
some designs

off this and we can date it.

This is the type
of thing we were hoping

- to find out here, Gary.
- Yeah.

- Human activity.
- Yep.

- All right.
- Okay, let's bag it and tag it, mate.

I love saying that, bag it... Oh.

See you later, little beauty.

That is so fantastic.

So, gentlemen and ladies,

there are several reasons
for assembling the crew here.

One day after
the discovery of a wooden beam

and a tree root,
which might help identify

when the massive
stone ship's wharf

in the swamp was constructed...

We're just here to kind of
have an archaeology update.

Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with their partner
Craig Tester,

have gathered in the w*r room
for an important meeting

with archaeologists Laird Niven,
Helen Sheldon,

Miriam Amirault,
and other members of the team.

You know,
we're a little confused

about what we can
and can't do on the island.

- Yeah.
- We felt like,

to date,
we've done everything right.

- Yep.
- But if you get back and look down at the island,

you know, there are these spots
where, to me,

it's getting bigger and bigger
and what we can do

becomes less and less.

Yep.

So, we have internally

made a decision...

to back down
on archaeological methods

for the time being...

Mm-hmm.

And let the dust settle on this.

With the regulations
being unclear,

and what's gonna happen to us
being unclear

when we discover things, we have
a very large disincentive

to find any more artifacts
that might cause us

to lose the right
to explore on our island.

We have to think twice before
we send the archaeologists

into another area,
because if they find something

that could lead that area
to become off-limits,

it's a scary thought to us.

This is a treasure hunt.

It's trying
to unravel a mystery.

It is not solely dedicated

to an archaeological
understanding

of what has transpired
on Oak Island over centuries.

And there are
other methodologies

that can be applied
that are much less restrictive.

We think it's best
to not do archaeological work

at this point, to shut it down,

because until
we understand the rules

and what we might be giving up,

uh, that seems to be
most prudent.

There's absolute recognition of
the skill set that you brought.

I mean, there are all kinds
of things discovered

that we wouldn't
have discovered.

- Yeah, sorry about that.
- No, no.

Well, if-if... You know what?

If the unintended consequences
weren't there,

we'd be delighted about that.

- You know? I mean...
- Absolutely. Yes, and we should be.

Yes. Yeah,
that's the weird thing.

- Yeah.
- In the meantime,

we're gonna stay
with the search,

but we don't want to do...

We don't want
to sh**t ourselves in the foot.

Yeah. I think you're doing
the right thing.

For sure.

When I came on five years ago,

to make sure that someone was
here, uh, to protect, uh, sites

and to identify artifacts.

And every year we've been
improving that process.

And through that, we're
discovering more and more.

And the problem
in the owners' minds

is that it seems like
the more we do to comply,

the stricter things get
and the more things change

and more control they have
over their resources, uh,

is being lost.

Although Laird Niven
will remain full-time on the island

to aid and advise the team
as they continue their quest

to solve the mystery,
archaeologists Helen Sheldon,

Miriam Amirault and Liz Michels

will be departing the island
at the end of the week.

For all of the archaeologists,

I think we're
a little disappointed

that we can't get
a lot more done,

but I completely understand

Marty and Rick
and Craig's decision

to kind of focus more
on the treasure story

and less so about just
the general archaeology

of the island.

So, I think they need to do
what's best for them,

um, for their goals.

You know, h-here's
my thoughts: number one,

we have, uh, gratitude
for all of your hard work,

your efforts, your commitment,
and it's only through discourse

and dialogue
that you problem-solve,

and my hope is that we can
continue on that agenda.

- Mm-hmm. Absolutely.
- Okay.

- I think we're all on the same page.
- Yep. We are.

Uh, much appreciation
all around the table.

Um, I-I say we get back at it.

- I say yes.
- Okay. - All right.

Let's get after it.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Later that afternoon...

- Hey, Kelly.
- Hi, guys.

Looks like you're working
on our finds, mate.

Yeah, I've got, uh, an ox shoe
I'm just finishing off here.

Jack Begley
and Gary Drayton arrive

at the archaeology trailer

to meet with professional
conservator Kelly Bourassa

regarding one of the discoveries
they made one day ago.

Well, we're really interested
in that button

that we recovered on Lot 4.

Have you had a chance to look
at that yet?

I haven't had a chance yet.

It's right here,
but let's have a look at it.

Sweet.

- It's an interesting button.
- Yeah.

- Look at the condition of that. That's nice.
- Yeah, that's not bad.

- Hmm.
- Yeah.

The most interesting thing
about this find

is it comes from Lot 4, where
potentially the hatch could be.

It's an area that,
historically, we really don't

have any recorded work
over there.

Sure. Well under
those conditions, Gary,

I think probably
what we should do

is do an XRF test on it first...

Before we clean it...
Because if there's any,

you know, precious metals
in the soil itself,

then that's when
you want to test it.

- You never know, mate.
- You never know.

So let's give it a try. Okay?

Okay, mate.
Looking forward to this.

In order to conduct

preliminary elemental analysis
on the button,

Kelly is utilizing the X-ray
fluorescence, or XRF, device.

By emitting
nondestructive radiation,

the machine will identify
the types of metals and elements

on and within the artifact.

I'm just gonna plug in
some information here.

A whole lot of copper, tin,

zinc, lead, iron, bismuth.

Au. We got some gold.

What?

- Yep.
- No way. Yeah.

Definitely. And silver, Gary.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

The button discovered
on Lot 4 near the believed hatch feature

containing traces
of both silver and gold?

You know, how does that happen?

If it's a gold-plated
button, for instance,

that would be the gold,
perhaps, on it.

Or it comes from the soil

or part of the composition
of the, of the metal itself.

This is, to me, is pretty
unique, what we see here.

And you've seen a lot
of things on the island.

For you to say it's unique,
that's fantastic.

This is different.

This is quite different, yeah.

What type of person would wear
a gold and silver gilded button?

It's an officer, perhaps.

- If it's a m*llitary button.
- Yeah, uh, British m*llitary,

for instance. Sure.

So, what's an officer doing
all the way over on Lot 4?

Probably looking
for the same thing

that we're looking for,
the hatch.

You're gonna find some more.

- Oh, we will.
- Find some more.

- We're not done yet.
- No.

No, we will find more, mate.

Well, this is
brilliant news, Kelly.

But Jack and I, we've got
to get back out there.

- Thanks again, Kelly.
- Go for it.

We'll bring you some more
gold and silver, Kelly.

I hope so.

Before another productive day

comes to an end on Oak Island...

- Hi.
- The whole g*ng's here.

Sort of a bittersweet day,
isn't it?

- Yeah, it is.
- It is.

Marty Lagina,
along with his son Alex,

Jack Begley and Gary Drayton

meet with archaeologists
Miriam Amirault,

Liz Michels and Helen Sheldon
one final time

before they end
their investigation

of the stone wharf
in the triangle-shaped swamp.

We've been doing
a lot of work, you know?

Despite a couple
of stumbling blocks,

I think we made
a lot of progress.

Yeah, quite a bit of progress,

and were able to give you guys
some of the answers

you may have wanted.

Well, we appreciate
what you did.

I mean, when I stand here
and I look at that...

I mean, look at that.

Not only is that really cool

and possibly
incredibly significant

to what we're doing,
it was a lot of hard work.

And today, to top it off,
like an hour before lunch,

we actually came down
on the stone road.

So, it is coming this way.

- Really? Wow.
- Yeah.

And you're leaving today.

Yes, it always happens that way.

It's always the last day.

Hey, you know what?
It is always the last day.

It leaves you hanging,
doesn't it?

Communities,
Culture and Heritage

have weighed in
and they have asked

that all activities
in the perimeter,

the eastern perimeter
of the swamp, cease.

And now, as far
as the archaeological process,

we are at complete stand-down.

So it's frustrating for me,
personally,

because any type
of archaeologically-driven work

across the island could have
a negative impact on the search.

And many of the discoveries
that we have made

were driven by
the archaeological process

and would not have been found

had we done
a different approach.

But you take what the island
gives you, and you move forward.

I mean, I've learned a lot

from you over the past year
and change, and, um,

I think everybody is
a little frustrated

that the process
that got us to this point

is the same thing that basically
precluded us from continuing.

We got some answers,

not all of the answers,
but we appreciate the work

that you put in and the answers
that we do have.

And I saw the
look in your guys' faces

when you was
pulling artifacts up...

The love that you guys have got.

It's a treasure hunt
even for archaeologists, too.

Well, what does Rick say?
The treasure

- Yeah.
- There you go.

Exactly.

I've been on Oak Island
for two years now,

and I guess just my knowledge

of the island
has progressed so much,

and as well as kind of
my appreciation

for everything
that's happened here has grown.

Getting to be a part

of something
really meaningful meant a lot.

Please, if you have those

sort of late-night
"aha" thoughts,

- would you please let us know?
- "Oh, I know

where the treasure is!"
That? Yeah. I'll let you know.

Well, that would do.
Yeah, that would do.

Yes. Yeah.

Many thanks. Um, we really
appreciate all the work.

- Absolutely. Perfect.
- Yup.

- And safe travels.
- Yup. We'll see you, then.

- Thank you guys so much.
- Bye, guys.

See ya.

Three days after ending

all archaeological
search activities

on the eastern side
of the swamp...

Okay. Today, we will get Craig,

uh, up on the screen because he
has the C-14 results for this.

- All right.
- In the w*r room,

Rick and Marty Lagina gather

with archaeologist Laird Niven

and other members
of the Oak Island team

for a video conference
with Craig Tester.

Hey, guys.

Craig has just received

a carbon 14 report
on a tree root

that was recently discovered

by Laird
and his fellow archaeologists

outside of the restricted zone

beneath the stone wharf
in the swamp.

I'm gonna turn it over to Laird,
who will put in context

the results
you're about to give us.

So, one of our projects

this year was
to have a crosscut,

bisecting the stone road.

And the aim of the crosscut was

to get, preferably,
datable artifacts

or datable samples that we could

- either do dendro on or C-14 on.
- Right.

And luckily, we found
a nice root, a large root

growing directly
under the stone road,

and so that's what this is.

We sent, uh, carbon 14 samples,

and that's the data that, uh,
Craig's gonna present.

Okay. Let's see what we got.
Go ahead, Craig.

Okay. We tested
both the outside of the root

and the inner portion of it.

They came back the same...
One time period.

1474 to 1638.

Wow.

We tested both the outside of

the root
and the inner portion of it.

They came back the same...
One time period.

1474 to 1638.

Wow.

In the Oak Island w*r room,

Craig Tester has just
presented the team

with an astonishing
scientific report

regarding a tree root

discovered below
the believed stone wharf.

That lines up
almost perfectly with the wood

we just had tested
in D-2 and CD-2.5:

- the 1488 to 1650.
- Yup.

Okay, but what does
that mean to the road?

To us, it meant
that the root was there

when the road was built
on top of it.

The root wasn't intrusive.

- Is that your interpretation?
- Yeah, yeah, I-I agree.

It-it was there beforehand

but probably fairly,
uh, shortly beforehand.

Could I say
contemporaneous almost

with original construction?

Add a few...
40 or 50 years maybe.

It actually fits in very,
very well with the dates

that we got for some of the
stakes along the cobble path.

The bulk of the
evidence supports quite a ways

prior to conventional discovery
of the Money Pit.

Right.

Is it possible
that with the discovery

of this tree root beneath
the stone wharf in the swamp,

that the team has now
found hard evidence

that this feature, along
with the cobblestone path

leading out of the swamp
and the Money Pit itself,

were all constructed
at the same time?

There is a narrative here
of people depositing things,

and we have the threads

that tie, you know, a massive
undertaking at the Money Pit

and the stone road construction,
so, to me, that's...

that's a big deal.

Yeah.

We have lots of dates

that seem to be focusing
on mid-1600s,

going back to the 1400s.

You know, timbers used
back in the day were probably

hundred-year-old trees anyway.

That brings us
to maybe 1750 as a maximum.

That's good stuff.

This road seems to be...
have intrigued everybody.

- Yup.
- I'd like to hope that

the powers that be,
the regulatory powers,

will accede to our wishes,

and we can perhaps do
a little more investigation.

There's a lot of hope
to figuring this one out.

I've always believed

that what happened here
was long ago.

And by long ago,
I mean 1400s, 1500s.

So my thought is
that the swamp work,

with similar dates
as in the Money Pit...

It's hard to say that they're
not connected in some way.

Based on the data
presented today,

this road looks to be quite old
indeed, and that is exciting.

So, upon that, I think
we disperse back to our jobs

and, uh, see what other data
we can bring to the table.

And we got a whole Money Pit
to dig. Right, Billy?

- Mm-hmm.
- Let's go.

Rick,
Marty, Craig and their team

sempre avanti.

"Always forward."

Even though valuable clues
may lie hidden

where they are currently
not allowed to search,

their will to keep scanning,

digging and drilling
across the island

suggests that the answers
to a 226-year-old mystery

are still within their reach.

And as they continue working
toward a potential discovery

that has eluded determined
men and women since 1795,

one thing is for sure.

Nothing can break their will.

Next time on
The Curse of Oak Island...

Look
at that! That's really something.

That excavator looks really big.

If there is a ship there,
then I want to see the evidence.

That piece of bell metal
might be associated

- with Portuguese.
- The tin...

It's been used
in the production of cannons.

Ooh! Look at that.
That is bloody cool, mate.

You would use a tool like this
for smoothing timbers.

To sync a shaft.

Wow! Seems to me,
it's a shaft wall.

I can't explain it.