Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Historic House of Treasures Source: See msn.com link below. |
The new owners of this historic house have been making numerous finds, which they document on their Facebook pate.
They said, We bought a 9,000-square-foot mansion in Kansas that dates to 1885 and have found antique jewelry, silver coins, and Civil War memorabilia. We still have so much more to explore.Here is the link for more about that.
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Voltammetry.
There aren't many techniques for figuring out the age of archaeological relics made of copper, iron, tin, gold or lead. Now researchers have developed a method to date lead-containing artifacts based on a technique called voltammetry (Anal. Chem., DOI: 20:2032/ac200731a). The technique could have widespread use because many metal artifacts from antiquity, such as fishing nets, anchors, water pipes, jewelry, and cult figures, contain lead, the researchers say...Here is the link for the rest of that article.
Lead-Artifacts-Reveal-Age (acs.org)
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Lead Mining in the Early United States.
Native Americans along eastern Iowa and western Wisconsin had been using unrefined lead (or ore) for years without knowing how to cast it. By grinding up the iron ore into powder and mixing it with water, they would create a black paint used for body and face decoration. During the 1700s, French explorers found out about the plentiful veins of lead ore. They taught the Native Americans how to melt the ore and shape it into things like crosses, fish net sinkers, cooking utensils, tools and statues of animals.
The Native Americans were secretive about the location of their mines. The Meskwaki (Fox) did well for themselves by trading chunks of lead ore to the French and English traders for things the Indians needed, such as guns and knives. The traders would take the ore, smelt it (melt it to remove impurities) and produce lead shot. (The small round pellets were used as ammunition for rifles.) Lead shot were then traded back to the Indians.
The Native Americans knew how important lead was to the Europeans and guarded their treasure. Julien Dubuque, a French trader, was the exception. He was a French-Canadian who came to the area in the 1780s to work the fur trade. He traded with the Meskwaki (Fox), but he also learned from them and became friends with them. He even married the great Chief Peosta's daughter...
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Early Mining History in the United States.
The hope of finding mineral treasure was one of the incentives that led the early colonists to America, who were quite diligent in searching for metals. All along the Atlantic Coast, almost immediately after the first settlements, discoveries were made of silver, lead, copper, iron, tin, antimony, coal, and other valuable minerals, but they were found generally in small quantities; and, in competition with foreign production, the working of mines was frequently found unprofitable. Then, too, the presence and hostility of Indians made such enterprises dangerous.Iron ore was sent to England from near Jamestown in 1608, the year after Virginia was first permanently settled. In 1620, 150 skilled workmen were sent to the colony to erect and operate ironworks. However, an Indian massacre two years later put a discouraging end to the proceedings. Another discouragement grew out of such blunders as the supposed discovery of gold in Virginia by Captain John Smith. A shipload of the glittering dust was sent to England, and there, pronounced to be nothing but iron pyrites.
However, the plucky colonists persevered despite all depressions and obstacles and made very creditable beginnings. It was resumed permanently in 1715. The metal was found in Massachusetts in 1628, and later, a company was formed to work it in 1643. Rhode Island, Connecticut and Pennsylvania followed suit...
Here is that link.
Mining History in the United States – Legends of America
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Lead Isotope Analysis Studies.
Lead isotope analysis is a useful research technique. This link will take you to an extensive list of studies in the Journal of Arachaeological Science.
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The room was illuminated by only the laptop screen as I typed in the early morning hours, but I could see in my mind's eye the disordered audience of unseen objects that surrounded me. A flip of a light switch and a look around made clear the odd and varied assemblage of objects perched on shelves, tables, chairs and even the floor around me. Each object echoed the past, including the process carried out by a series of people who imagined, mined or gathered the materials, then shaped them, sometimes very intricately into, something then used to some benefit before being discarded or lost, only to be discovered and recovered, inspected and studied and once again appreciated in its recently worn, corroded, broken, or cleaned restored or preserved state. Each object contains a thousand books - chemistry, physics, history, geology, sociology, politics, economics, and most of all, the life of an individual, family or other group.
Take for example the old glass fly trap looking down at me from the shelf to the right and above my head. There were people who realized a need, then someone who imagined a solution, people who gathered the materials and formed it into a useful obect, transported it, sold it, bought it, used it and lost it, then the person who found it, wondered about it, researched it and finally realized what it was, then photographed it and wrote about it, and those who looked at it, maybe wrote to the author about it, and had a new bit of information to carry around, share or guide their own actions. Each object connects somehow with all objects. Each person, somehow with all people. The world and the various clumps, shapes and forms within it, referred to by a name defined in dictionaries put together by "word" people, published by publishers, agreed on by most of the people of a language group and translated into other words in other languages, all agreed upon and used, misused, taught and forgot.
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Nothing new in the weather. Check the tide charts.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net