Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
A metal detectorist in Belgium has unearthed a fragment of a mysterious bronze artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron that is thought to be more than 1,600 years old.
More than a hundred of the puzzling objects — hollow, 12-sided geometric shells of cast metal about the size of baseballs, with large holes in each face and studs at each corner — have been discovered in Northern Europe over the past 200 years. But no one knows why or how they were used...
Here is the link.
What do you think it is?
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DJ has been researching buttons since recently finding an older one on the beach. He located a great research paper on dating buttons - Buttoning Down the Past: A Look at Buttons as Indicators of Chronology and Material Culture by Sarah Elizabeth Marcel of the University of Tennessee (Fall 12-1994 ).
Here is the link.
And here is a brief excerpt of a table on metal buttons.
The paper also covers buttons of various materials such as ceramic, bone, pearl, etc. There is a lot more to the paper than what I posted here.
This is a great resource.
Thanks to DJ for sharing.
Check out the paper for yourself.
Telling the age of a find can provide important information that will help you determine how to continue searching an area.
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I'm planning a series of metal detector tests on a variety of coins, including gold, silver and clad coins. It will take me a number of days to complete the tests and I'll post the results as I proceed through the series.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com. |
We'll be having one of those little cold fronts coming through. As is often the case, the wind will switch around quickly. And is also often the case, you see the wind is expected to be from the north as the front comes through, but only for a short time before shifting again. That is a pretty typical pattern that you should recognize.
Looks like the peak surf will be five to eight feet. I don't expect the peak to last long and by that time the wind will have switched too.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net