10x09 - A Damming Clue

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island

- Oh!
- Whoa!

- We got wood.
- It looks like it might be a new shaft.

- It changes the whole story.
- Yeah.

We could be looking
at the Money Pit.

There's significant

anomalies in this area.

Wow! That is huge.
We need to dig.

- Oh, yeah.
- Look at that.

- That is sweet.
- Whoa!

This is Roman.

- Roman?
- No way.

Definitely from 300 BC.

Roman, baby!

It's remarkable.

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.

Gentlemen.

What's going on
out in the field?

So I want to get you up-to-date

and try to figure
out where to go next

- in the Money Pit area.
- Okay.

Got different ideas of
where the Money Pit might be

- based on different records.
- That's right.

As a new day
begins on Oak Island,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

along with their
partner Craig Tester

have gathered for
an important meeting

with members of their
team in the research center.

We have to take
advantage of the fact

that the Garden Shaft project
is on hold because it presents

unique opportunities

to conduct more drilling
in the Money Pit area.

All right. Good.

Unfortunately, due
to permitting issues,

The team's reconstruction
of the Garden Shaft

in the Money Pit area,
which began one month ago,

is currently on hold.

It is in this


that Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team

have not only
collected wood samples

that have been dated
to the early 18th century

but also conducted water tests

that yielded high
trace evidence of gold.

So let's just summarize what's
going on in the Money Pit.

- Yeah.
- Yes.

Now, as they await permission

for the project to proceed,

the team must decide how
best to continue their pursuit

of the fabled Money
Pit treasure vault,

and the ultimate answers
to a 228-year-old mystery.

One thing we can discuss
while we're right in this area...

You know, you can see
what we drilled around there.

We have five holes all
along there defining a tunnel.

Right.

So we started out with K-15.5.

- K-15.5?
- Yeah.

So we drilled there
and we hit a direct hit.

We hit wood around 103 feet.

I mean, it was the
first time that we felt

That we had ever drilled into
a tunnel that was still open.

Yeah.

Whoa, what's that?
Whoa, whoa, what's that?

That's a view down the tunnel.

- Oh, wow.
- It's awesome.

One recent discovery
that the team

is considering for
further investigation

is a five-foot-high
wood-cribbed tunnel

which they have encountered
at five separate drilling locations

at a depth of 103 feet.

This structure has not only been

carbon-dated to as
early as the 17th century

but may also be leading

in the direction of
the Garden Shaft.

Here we have a man-made
structure underground

at a consistent elevation.

So of course, your mind
runs to the possibility

that this tunnel,
if it is confirmed,

runs towards the Garden Shaft.

And there might be
"X marks the spot"

at the end of that tunnel.

You know, then the question is,

do we continue
pursuing this tunnel?

Or is there a want
to move to D-17.5?

This one is right offset
to the Garden Shaft,

where we could intercept
this 70-foot tunnel,

which was first found in D-17.

Five weeks ago,

the team drilled into another
tunnel in Borehole D-17,

at a depth of just 70 feet

that they've speculated

could be leading to an
offset treasure chamber

extending away from
the original Money Pit.

It's odd that it's
at that depth.

It almost has to be
an offset chamber.

There's no point having an
upward facing tunnel, is there?

What makes this
an ideal location

for the team to investigate now,

is that it sets just 20 feet
south of the Garden Shaft.

Because when they and the team
from Dumas Contracting Limited

are given permission to continue
with the operation to clear out

and reconstruct a
new, waterproof shaft

down to at least
the 80-foot depth,

if any evidence of
man-made voids or structures

are detected nearby,

Lateral tunnels can be
constructed off the main shaft

In order to allow the team to
search for potential valuables.

Finding the wood in D-17
is important simply because

it suggests strongly
that this is original work.

We've never encountered
wood at that elevation before.

So everything that we
find, everything we uncover,

will be new to us and
thus will be exciting.

So we're actually
looking for two things...

the 70-foot and
the 100-foot tunnel?

- Yep.
- Okay.

So, where are we
going next, then?

We should talk about it.

- Yeah.
- To me, I guess,

do we want to
look for this tunnel

up towards the
Garden Shaft at D-17?

We have no
records of this tunnel.

Is it a tunnel leading
to an offset chamber?

Yeah. Possibly.

So we could drill a well to
try to define this D-17 tunnel

- at D-17.5.
- Yeah, yeah.

As long as we're
getting the gold data,

I guess I'm okay with it.

For me, that's
the objective there.

Really get an idea of the
orientation of the tunnel.

- Yeah.
- So those are my thoughts.

Yeah, okay.

So we're gonna
move down to D-17.5.

Good.

I'd like to know
more about that thing.

And I would like a water sample,
maybe a couple as you go down.

Yes.

So let the data speak.

Let the science speak.

- Let's see where this goes.
- Yes.

All right, guys. Let's go.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

Later that morning...

D-17.5.

- This could be it.
- All right.

Look, you've got
nothing north of you.

So that's why I want
you to cover that ground.

- Sweet.
- Okay. Go for it.

That's good.

As geologist Terry Matheson

and Oak Island historian
Charles Barkhouse

supervise the drilling
of Borehole D-17.5

in the Money Pit area...

There we go.

- This is a nice little area of Lot 5.
- Okay.

Rick Lagina

and metal detection
expert Gary Drayton

Arrive on Lot 5,

located on the western
side of Oak Island.

I've already been in here, mate,

and I've put a
lot of flags down.

There's a lot of
good-sounding targets.

So as far as I'm concerned,

It's raining with a
chance of artifacts.

So first flag's over here, mate.

- Okay.
- Let's get stuck in.

One week ago, after
purchasing this four-acre property

from the estate of Robert Young,

who passed away in 2020...

This is the in past now, mate.

To the future.

- Let's get started.
- Okay.

Rick and Gary quickly unearthed

several potentially
important clues.

Look at that.

These include two
possible iron chisels

and a cut, hammered coin
which metallurgy analysis

suggests could date back
to the 16th century or earlier.

All right.

That sounds good.

Now, after flagging a number

of additional metal
targets in the area,

Gary and Rick have
received permission

from archaeologist Laird Niven

to find out what other potential
answers Lot 5 may reveal

about the Oak Island mystery.

The ground is so rocky.

Come on, little artifacts.

Yep, that's it.

What do we got here, mate?

What the heck... is that?

If you don't know, I don't know.

- I mean, what...?
- It's a metal acorn.

Yeah, that's what I
was thinking as well.

This really is nuts.

Yeah, I don't know what that is.

It's heavy, it's crude.

It's not perfect.

You can see it's
not factory-made.

I mean, feel how
heavy that is, mate.

Huh, it's heavy.

- Yeah.
- It's very dense.

And the interesting
thing about this is

we're like maybe


found that piece of bell metal.

One year ago,

while searching on
the adjacent Lot 4,

Gary and Jack Begley
found a piece of bell metal,

which chemist Dr. Christa
Brosseau believed

may have been a fragment
of an ancient cannon

and possibly
Portuguese in origin.

Okay, mate, we're bagging it

- 'cause it looks old.
- Yep.

Is it possible that
Rick and Gary

have found another clue on Lot 5

that could help identify just
who may have been behind

the 228-year-old
treasure mystery?

So next flag...

Somewhere in here.

Not bad.

- Yep. Not bad sounding.
- Just there.

I'm going to take me jacket
off cause I mean business now.

Things are hotting up.

Okay, let's see if you moved it.

And you've moved it
'cause it sounds better.

- Oh, what's that?
- It's singing.

Wow! Look at that.

It's singing.

Oh, I love these
little finds, mate.

It's a musket ball. Yeah.

On Lot 5, located on the
western side of Oak Island,

Rick Lagina and Gary
Drayton have just found

what could be a
very important clue.

Might not have been fired but...

- Doesn't look fired.
- Yeah.

But I love it when we
find stuff like this, I mean,

you're going back to
black powder weapons.

So you know you're going back.

Maybe you're talking late 1500s.

Yeah.

A musket ball?

Potentially dating back
to the 16th century?

Could it be related
to the ancient tools

and the hammered
coin that were also

recently found on Lot 5?

If so, who brought them here?

And just what were
they doing on Oak Island?

And there is a way
to date this, mate.

We can measure the diameter

and see what caliber it is

because this does
seem on the small side.

- Well, that is baggable.
- Yeah, definitely.

That is a bona fide artifact.

This is just the beginning
of the story, mate.

The following day...

- Good morning, gentlemen.
- Hi, fellas.

- Hey, guys.
- Hi.

- Morning.
- Stephan,

I know that you
post-processed the grid

on the north end of the
swamp and I personally am

- very interested in it.
- Rick Lagina

gathers in the w*r room
with members of the team

to meet via video conference

with ground penetrating
radar expert, Stephan Grund.

We all know that
prior to his passing,

Fred was kind
enough to inform us

of a possibility
of a log structure

in the north end of the swamp.

So I very much
look forward to this

because if there's a log
wall there, that is huge.

That-That's original work.

If it's there.

- Okay, I'm good to go.
- Yep.

One week ago,

following a preliminary
geophysical scan of the swamp

which identified a curious

underground anomaly
near the northern border,

Stephan conducted a follow-up
ground penetrating radar scan

of the area with Rick and
Marty's nephew Peter Fornetti

- and landowner Tom Nolan.
- Thank you.

It was in this same area

on Lot 10 where Tom's
late father Fred Nolan

found evidence
of what he believed

could be a man-made dam.

A dam that may have been
constructed centuries ago

to create the
triangle-shaped swamp

in order to hide
something of great value.

I'm gonna let you tell
us what you learned.

Yes, definitely.

Now, having fully processed

his GPR data,

Stephan is prepared to review
his findings with the team.

So let me start with the scans
with the OKM Geppard GPR.

We do see significant
anomalies in this area.

Coming from
the left to the right

at around three feet depth.

I quickly want to
open another scan.

This is very interesting

because we do see here again

anomalies cut in
the middle of the grid

from the left to the right

and those are between
two and eight feet depth.

So it's a duplication
more or less.

Wow.

Numerous anomalies

running in a linear pattern

between three
and eight feet deep

just north of the swamp?

Could it be evidence to
support Fred Nolan's theory

regarding a potential
man-made dam?

The information that
Stephan relayed to us,

I found it
incredibly intriguing.

His interpretation
of the data suggests

a linear anomaly is in an area
that Fred thought was certainly

worthy of further investigation.

I believe that Fred was
truthful about probing

such a structure or
finding such a structure.

And I think if you
come to a point

where you think
a target is legit,

then you need to dig.

Well, thank you for that
because it's very curious.

Craig, do you have any thoughts?

Just, uh, I mean, get Tom
involved, um, obviously.

So it'll be interesting to see

what he thinks
about this location.

Yeah, 100%.

The next steps would be
obviously to inform Tom.

And then it would be up to
Tom to decide how to proceed.

My hope is, after hearing
there is an anomaly there,

that Tom will
acquiesce to, to dig.

Anyways, Stephan,
I hate to say it,

but... you're gonna be
getting a lot more data.

I'm looking forward to it.

- Fair enough.
- Careful what you wish for.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

As Rick and members of the team

finish their meeting
in the w*r room,

in the Money Pit area...

- Looks like we got a core coming.
- Yep.

Terry Matheson and
Charles Barkhouse continue

supervising the drilling
operation in Borehole D-17.5...

Thank you.

Where they hope to once again

penetrate a mysterious tunnel

at a depth of some 70 feet.



- Thank you.
- Got some wood at the bottom of that.

That's the bottom. What?

We got some wood
at the bottom of this.

- 39?
- Well, 39. How about that?

We've got wood.

- That's odd.
- Okay.

At 39 feet.

That's an interesting outcome,
don't you think, Charles?

- Scalpel, please.
- Scalpel.

Thank you. Wow!

Charles, what we got is wood.

We got a lot of wood here, too.

A large quantity of wood?

At a depth of just 39
feet in Borehole D-17.5?

And less than 20 feet
south of the Garden Shaft?

This is really
interesting, Charles.

It's just...

A tunnel at 39 feet

- does not make sense.
- No, it doesn't.

I'm wondering if we
caught an edge of a shaft.

If the team has in fact

encountered a wooden
shaft, who built it?

Was it simply previous
treasure hunters

during the 19th
or 20th centuries?

Or might it have been
someone who visited the island

much earlier to hide
something of great value?

I'm going to let Craig know,

but let's just leave
everything on the table.

Absolutely.

You know, there's so much

that we don't know
about the Money Pit area.

There's a number of tunnels.

There's a number of shafts
that we know nothing about.

A piece right there.

You look at the history.

This is 220-some
years of searches.

If this was easy,

this would have been
solved a long time ago.

Charles!

I want answers,
not more questions.

Yeah.

Ta-da.

So there's a nice little
chunk of wood right there,

a split beam or
something, we're not sure.

- But...
- But it's upright.

- Yeah, it seems to be somewhat.
- Yeah.

Seems to be an upright, yeah.

Now we have the possibility

of some kind of shaft
rather than a tunnel.

- Right.
- At that unusual depth.

It's got to be a
shaft. But which one?

It's got to be between
the spot we're drilling

- and the Garden Shaft.
- Yeah. - Yeah.

I was really hoping that D-17.5

was a tunnel at 70 feet

and led to the vault
or a side chamber.

The big surprise
was, down 39 feet,

we start hitting wood, and
it was telling us right away,

"You are in a shaft."

What shaft?

We don't have a clue,
uh, but a big, big surprise.

We were going, looking
for a tunnel, found a shaft.

I think we have to
kind of chase this

and figure out what this is.

Yeah, it's a major,
major change.

Yes.

- It changes the whole story.
- Yep.

We need to get Rick out here.

- Hey, guys.
- Gentlemen.

- What do we got?
- We got a shaft, Marty.

In the Money Pit area...

- A new shaft.
- Yep.

Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with Billy Gerhardt,

have joined members of the team

where they have just made

a surprising discovery
in Borehole D-17.5.

At 38 to 39, intersected

a nice little chunk of
beam or something,

more or less vertically.

And then we've got
a ton of wood here.

So we're starting to think maybe
the 70-foot was not a tunnel.

A piece of a shaft.

- Yeah.
- So it's yet another unknown shaft.

- Yeah.
- Exactly.

This happens a
lot on Oak Island.

We're drilling to
try and identify

what we were sure
was a tunnel at 70 feet,

and we're drilling to confirm
which way this tunnel goes.

Well, lo and behold,

what we find out is,
it's not a tunnel at all.

Totally unknown to us,

a shaft that is not on any maps

or referred to as I know it

by anybody.

What's that?

So that to me
looks like a pit saw,

where you have somebody
below and somebody above.

Yeah, all right.
That's-that's an ancient,

- ancient way of cutting.
- For sure. - Yeah.

That's how they
made milled lumber

before the age of sawmills.

Wood?

Potentially cut with a pit saw?

Dating back to the
time of ancient Rome,

this process of sawing lumber

was widely adopted by
Europeans in the 15th century

and utilized until
the Industrial Age

when it was replaced
by mechanical sawmills.

I don't think that was
cut with a circular saw.

Is it possible

that this structure
predates the discovery

of the Money Pit in 1795?

If so,

might it be the breakthrough
the team needs in order to solve

the 228-year-old mystery?

You can see that that
has the touch of man there.

It's relatively
irregular and uneven.

So a pit saw would give an
indication that it was older.

So, do you think there's
any way this is pre-searcher?

I don't know.

I-I-I don't know.

There shouldn't be a shaft
there if that's Shaft Two.

The shafts that you don't
know should be a lot older.

Yeah. It's more
likely to be older.

- You can't dispute that.
- No.

We're not sure what
the Garden Shaft is.

We're not sure
what number two is.

We're not sure
what this one is, so...

- Yes.
- Yeah.

That's it.

Here we go.

- Hey, Mike.
- What's the word?

You think we're
probably going inside

of a shaft at this
point in time?

I'd say so, yeah.

To me, at this point in time,

we just want to
get to the bottom

- of this shaft, so...
- Yeah.

We've got to chase the
wood as far as it goes.

We need to know the bottom.

Yeah.

Well, let's see what's below.

- Keep going.
- Right on.

Thanks, Mike.

All right. Good.

- Carry on.
- Good luck.

Later that afternoon...

- Steve, you have all the data, right?
- Yep.

Rick Lagina, along with
fellow Oak Island landowner

Tom Nolan

and other members of the team,

arrive on Lot 10, just north

of the mysterious
triangle-shaped swamp.

Based on the data
that Peter gave me,

I calculated where the
center of the anomaly is.

This is the center location.

So the anomaly itself
is 12 feet by 15 feet,

and this is the center point.

Having reviewed the GPR
data collected on his property,

Tom has given Rick

and the rest of the
team his blessing

to excavate in search of
a potential man-made dam

that may lie
buried in this area.

So that's kind of the anomaly.

All the way across our grid.

Tom, I don't, I don't know

if you've noticed this
on Zena's map before.

But...

You see where it says

- "the basin..."
- Yeah.

And "the dam."

It shows right here.

Tucked right in, right,
right where we are.

- This anomaly could be that dam.
- Interesting.

In 2016,

the late author and
researcher Zena Halpern

presented Rick,
Marty and the team

with a reported 14th
century map of Oak Island

that she believed had been made

by members of the
Knights Templar.

It featured a number
of marked locations,

including what appeared
to be the original Money Pit,

the swamp, and the dam.

A dam which appears
to be in the same location

as the GPR anomaly that
the team is about to dig.

We've been trying to judge
this map on its merits, right?

Because we don't know
its provenance, so...

it'd be really interesting
if there is a wall.

Oh, if there was
something here, it'd be huge.

On a number of levels.

Let's bring in a
machine and dig it.

- Let's go get it.
- Okay.

- I say we don't dig past the stakes.
- Yeah.

There's no question that
my anticipation of a dig

on the Lot 10 anomaly

is high for me, the
interest is high...

Right here's the
center location, Billy.

Okay.

For two reasons...

Fred certainly believed
that it was there,

and the fact that Zena's map
indicates a dam at the basin.

I'd love nothing
better than for us

to ground truth something

regarding the designation
on Zena's map.

As Billy Gerhardt carefully

excavates the possible
man-made anomaly...

I'd say we're about

- three feet down right now.
- Yep.

Gary Drayton will
search the spoils

with his metal detector

for any potentially
important clues

or valuables.

Oh, Gary's got a hit.

- Yeah, we've gotten a hit, Pete.
- That's a good sign.

Let's see if I can pinpoint it
for you before we start digging.

It might be close
to the surface.

On it.

Wow.

Wow! Look at this.

Got like a piece of iron here.

While searching for
evidence of a man-made dam

just north of the
Oak Island swamp...

Right there.

I'm hoping this is an old find.

Members of the
team have just made

a potentially
significant discovery.

Fairly chunky.

It could be like
an old iron pin.

I'd say it is.

Which you'd expect
in an old wooden wall.

To me, it looks
like wrought iron.

That's a perfect
candidate for the XRF.

We've found over the years

that the higher the purity,

the interpretation
is that it's older.

Yeah, it'd be interesting

- if we could get an idea how old it is.
- Yeah.

It's a spike.

Might have been
used when a log wall,

as Fred suggested, might
have been constructed.

But what we need to do is

some scientific analysis,
some metallurgy on it.

If it's pre-1795,
before the discovery

of the Money Pit, well, that
would be very interesting.

That didn't float in.

It didn't float in. No.

Somebody put this here.

- Gary?
- Yep.

See the piece of wood
that's, that's out of the bucket?

Just ahead of your foot.

- This?
- Yeah.

It seems to have
some kind of oil on it.

- Yeah.
- That's been shaped.

Let's see what you think.
There's a lot of that there.

Is that oil or creosote?

No, that's not creosote.

No, that's not.

You know they put oil on wood
for a lot longer than creosote.

Wood? Covered in oil?

Dating back to as
early as 400 BC,

oil was widely used in Asia

for the purpose of
protecting sailing vessels

and structures from
long-term exposure to water.

Beginning in the


this manufacturing technique
was also used in Europe

until a tar-based substance
known as creosote

replaced it in the 1800s.

That's not creosote,
that's for sure.

Is it possible that
the team has found

another clue supporting
Fred Nolan's belief

that an artificial dam

lies buried just
north of the swamp,

and also corroborate

Zena Halpern's reported


which indicates a dam feature
in this area on Oak Island?

How deep do you
think we are, Billy?

Eight feet.

- Eight feet?
- Yep.

We need to go at
least three more.

Okay.

A big old log on there?

- There we go.
- We got a log

and we got a plank here as well.

Like a board.

There's a piece of board.

And that's definitely a
piece of shaped board.

Oh, that's deep.

Here you go, mate.

That's interesting.
That's been shaped.

It's an interesting find.

It's possibly associated with

a construct in an area where
there should be something.

Which may imply original work

prior to when the
Money Pit was discovered

because there has been
no historical narrative about

any of the searchers doing
that type of work in the swamp.

If you come around this side,

you probably can
see the different layers,

three or four feet down.

Down there.

You can see the
layers going down.

Then you've got peat.

And then you've got this clay.

So...

Yeah, you would think
anything below that

is original ground.

So, how much deeper
do you want to go?

I think this is a bigger dig.

Mm-hmm.

What you'd have to do
is get a proper permit.

It's the only way
you'd know for sure.

- That you didn't miss it.
- Yeah.

The whole point of
this exercise is to prove

that what Tom's father
Fred found... a dam... exists.

The way to address that is
by getting the proper permits.

Okay, we'll reassess.

This is not an area that
we put an "X" through.

As Rick and members of the
team finish their work on Lot 10...

What do you think, Mike?

Back in the Money Pit area...

I think it's the
bottom of the shaft.

All right, excellent. Thank you.

Craig Tester, Charles Barkhouse,

and Terry Matheson
continue to oversee

the core-drilling operation
in Borehole D-17.5.

- What you got, Brandon?
- 109.

- 109.
- 109, here it comes.

It is here, just 18 feet
south of the Garden Shaft,

where they are drilling down

through a mysterious
wooden shaft in order to find out

just where or
what it may lead to.

Oh, yeah, there we go.

Very big chunk.

What do you think, guys?

I think it's wood.

I dare say, eh. That's great.

- I got some more right here.
- Yep.

You got one here, boys.

Check that out.

And that's a solid chunk.

That is a solid chunk
of beam right there.

Oh, my God, I can't believe
it. Look at that, gentlemen.

Wow.

- Check that out.
- Yeah.

- See where the axe fell in there?
- Yeah.

You can almost see the
arc of the leading edge

of the axe, I would say.

- Which makes it very old.
- Yes.

In Borehole D-17.5,

Craig Tester and members
of the Oak Island team

have just found more evidence
more than 100 feet deep

that the mysterious shaft
they have encountered

was cut by hand,

meaning that it could predate

the discovery of the
original Money Pit in 1795.

That might have
enough tree rings

and body to it that we can
get a good dendro date.

- Absolutely. Excellent.
- Yeah.

It would be fantastic if it
was pre-searcher, but...

- but who knows at this point in time?
- Yeah.

It's interesting that we found

a shaft in this location.

Charles, did you think there
was a shaft in this location?

No, I did not.

If the area of the
Garden Shaft turns out

to be the Money
Pit, then, you know,

we could be looking at a shaft

that was connected
into the Money Pit.

- Good point.
- So...

This could be the keys
to the kingdom right here.

From our historical records,

there shouldn't be
any shafts in the area.

This is completely new.

Is it a shaft that
the original people,

uh, had put in leading
to the treasure?

Is it a searcher shaft
that was not documented?

We run into that problem
every once in a while.

So we got to do our homework
and, uh, figure out what it is.

I'm gonna run back
to the research center,

try to look up historical
records on the different shafts.

Then we'll get
another location picked

- following this shaft.
- Yeah.

Okay, guys, I will
talk to you soon.

We'll finish up here.

Later that afternoon...

- Thanks, Jack.
- Yeah.

- Laird. Helen. Emma.
- Looks good. - How are you?

- Hello.
- Sandy.

- So, we'll set up here.
- Alex Lagina,

Jack Begley,

and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan

welcome numismatist
Sandy Campbell

to the Oak Island
Interpretive Centre.

Sandy has come to
examine the cut copper coin

that was found one
week ago by Rick Lagina

and Gary Drayton on Lot 5.

A coin which X-ray
fluorescence scanning

has indicated may
predate the 16th century.

Okay, so the thing that
we'd like to show you is

- a find on Lot 5, which we've recently gained access to.
- Okay. Yeah.

- So this is kind of a new area on the island for us.
- Okay.

- Okay.
- We only recently got access to the lot,

so we haven't been over it
with a metal detector ourselves.

And that's what Rick and Gary
were doing when they found this.

It's very interesting.

We're not totally
sure what it is.

- Okay.
- Uh, but we have some... ideas.

- Well, let's have a look.
- I'll go grab the coin.

Great. Perfect.

Here you go.

Thank you, Emma.

Here, I'll hand it
to you in the bag.

All right.

- I'll let you take it out.
- I'll have a look.

Part of a coin.

Hopefully.

Let's have a look.

So you've done an
XRF and a CT and...

Yeah, we have. Emma, are
you able to pull that up for us,

- by any chance?
- Sure can.

- Thank you.
- It's just loading right now.

While that loads,
here's a picture.

Let's flip it to the other.

Looks like there's
some sort of...

characters or
something inscribed on it.

Yeah. What about, uh,

XRF?

Yes. So, I do have
an XRF... result.

And it shows high content
in copper, lead and tin

but also, um,
about .51% arsenic.

- Yeah.
- Um, and it also has 1.05% silver

in it as well.

Which, yeah, I mean,

you can get silver

- naturally occurring with copper, obviously, and...
- Mm-hmm.

You know, if it has arsenic,

this is pre-1500.

For sure.

You know, if we weigh this...

Let-Let's weigh it.

This is gonna tell
us something. Okay?

This coin looks like
there's probably...

- a third of it left?
- Mm-hmm.

This is probably somewhere

in the gram range, but let's...

S-So, it weighs exactly a gram,

which, you know, sort of
unusual that it would be

bang-on a gram, but...

- Wow.
- You know, it-it's not unusual

to see coins cut up
and used as money

in a partial payment.

Again, y-you know, you
get a coin that's this big,

and, you know,
the deal of the day

- required a third of that copper.
- Mm-hmm.

- So you're just snipping off a third of the coin, right?
- Right.

And that's really how
barter worked then.

Right.

Just see here.

I think this is probably...

Uh, I'm guessing
it's either Roman...

It could even be
Byzantine, but...

I'm thinking it's-it's Roman.

- Roman?
- No way.

In the Oak Island
Interpretive Centre,

numismatist Sandy Campbell

has just shared an
incredible assessment

of the half-coin found
one week ago on Lot 5.

What on earth would
that be doing here?

Based on what I'm
seeing on the coin,

I mean, I-I see
Roman-style characters.

The style is definitely from


- No way.
- Yeah.

A Roman coin

possibly dating back
over 2,000 years?

But if so, who could have
brought it to Oak Island?

All right, so I'm gonna have
to call Rick. I want to see...

- Yeah.
- I want to see Rick's reaction to this.

This is unbelievable.

- Hello.
- Hey, Rick.

Hey, Alex. How are you?

Good. Hey, you, uh...

you and Gary might want
to come down to the lab.

Uh, we got

some pretty interesting
information here for you.

- We'll be down A.S.A.P.
- Okay.

- See you soon. Bye.
- All right, see you. Yeah, bye.

This is just an incredible
moment because,

you know... we got...

we have a Roman
coin on Oak Island.

And here we sit trying
to draw conclusions,

a-and it's, like, wide open
at this point, you know?

Who brought it here?
How did it get here?

Why is it on Lot


It's just a total
mystery right now.

Hey, Laird?

- Hey.
- Can you, uh, join us on this?

- Sure.
- We'd love to get your take.

Th-This is,

like, a typical-looking Roman...

all the way into
Byzantine period... design.

Laird, is there a precedent
in Nova Scotia of, you know,

- coins like this?
- Not in Nova Scotia.

There are precedents in the East
Coast of the Uni-United States.

- Okay, so...
- From-from archaeological sites.

Hey, guys!

- Hey, chaps.
- Hey, guys.

- We heard excitement in your voices.
- Brace yourselves.

- Oh, man.
- And we came running.

- Brace yourselves.
- Ooh.

So, this is, uh, what you guys
found on Lot 5 the other day.

And we just showed it to Sandy.

My-my thoughts...
and I think I'm,

you know, pretty confident...

that this is Roman.

Most likely Roman.

Roman, baby!

Oh!

Have I waited for this.

Put it in probably Roman.

- That's my gut.
- Mm.

So...

What do you make of that?

That is incredible, mate.

Incredible!

Run it by me again.

Why is it possibly Roman?

Well, it-it... the design
is definitely Roman.

This is definitely
a person here,

and this is a tree here.

Oh, yeah.

This style is Roman.

Does the elemental analysis

confirm what you
suspect about the coin?

- Yeah, when I...
- when I see arsenic

and I see silver in
there, y-you know,

it's a very unrefined copper,

which shows that...

again, really confirms with me

that it's probably,
most likely Roman.

A Roman coin on Oak Island?

- Mm-hmm.
- What's it doing here?

So, when we were in
Portugal, we were investigating

the road that we found
in the swamp, right?

And we saw an example of a
Roman road over in Portugal.

Oh. Morning.

- Welcome to Portugal.
- Thank you.

One year ago,

Rick, Alex and
members of the team

visited a number of
locations in Portugal

where the Knights Templar
established strongholds

between the 12th
and 16th centuries.

Okay, let's see
what we can find.

There, they were shown

a number of carvings
in Templar churches

matching symbols that have been
found in the past on Oak Island.

This symbol is definitely
on the 90 Foot Stone.

- Right there.
- That's perfect.

Yep.

The stone path
looks exactly like this.

But one of the most
compelling features they saw

was a cobblestone road
dating back nearly 2,000 years

to a time when the area was
once part of the Roman Empire.

Incredibly, the road
was an exact match

to the one unearthed in the
swamp by the team in 2020,

which is believed to date
back at least 500 years

and be of Portuguese origin.

So maybe the coin and
the road in the swamp

- are connected.
- Yeah.

Is it possible that
this Roman coin

may have been
brought to Oak Island

by members of the
Knights Templar?

If so, could it also explain

the possible dam feature at
the north end of the swamp,

the medieval lead cross
found in 2017 at Smith's Cove,

or even perhaps the
high traces of gold

that have been detected
in the Money Pit area?

A Roman-era coin
on Oak Island...

it's astounding.

It's undeniable that
there is a certain

geographic connection.

But is it Templar-related?
I don't know.

We have to put it through
more rigorous scientific analysis.

This story is
incredibly complex.

I know one thing for sure...

Lot 5 is now on the Oak
Island treasure map for sure.

Yeah.

Sandy, y-you know,

we-we welcome your expertise.

- And if you can continue to look into this, uh, we would...
- I will.

We would love whatever
information comes of that.

And we need to
get back out to Lot 5.

We do, mate. "Boots
on the ground,"

- as you would say.
- Yeah.

- Thank you very much.
- Let's go find more.

- Yep.
- All right, let's go.

With each new discovery

that Rick, Marty
and their team make,

the confounding puzzle

that is the 228-year-old
Oak Island mystery

is one piece closer to
finally being completed.

But as they continue to
dig all across the island,

could it lead to a discovery

that will merely
change their lives?

Or will what they
ultimately find rewrite

North American history?

Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...

- We've never seen that before.
- No.

Oh, wow, look at this.

It's looking like some sort

of fairly large feature.

This could be important
for the whole story.

This object is from
medieval Europe.

Wow. This adds
validity to Zena's map.

We're trying to track the
gold back to its source.

The area in pink there
would be exactly where

- the gold is.
- Wow. That is astounding.

- Yeah.
- Let's go!