6/29/23 Report - Discovery of DeSoto Artifacts and Travels. Meteotsunami Data. WWII Canteen.

Written by the Treaureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report

Under a former Native American village in Georgia, deep inside what's now the U. S., archaeologists say they've found 16th-century jewelry and other Spanish artifacts.

The discovery suggests an expedition led by conquistador Hernando de Soto ventured far off its presumed course—which took the men from Florida to Missouri —and engaged in ceremonies in a thatched, pyramid-like temple...

A continent and five centuries away, an excavation organized by Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History found buried glass beads, iron tools, and brass and silver ornaments dating to the mid-1500s. The southern-Georgia location—where they'd been searching for a 17th-century Spanish mission—came to be called the Glass Site...

Blanton called the finding a "stunning surprise." Prior to the discovery, it had been generally accepted that de Soto and his men had crossed a river about 100 miles (160 kilometers) upstream of the site, but archaeologists hadn't suspect that the expedition had ventured so far south and east.

The trove of items—all of which could fit into a shoe box – represents the largest collection of early 16th-century Spanish artifacts ever found in the U.S. interior outside of Florida, according to Blanton, whose work was funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Committe for Research (The Society owns National Geographic News.)

Here is the link for more of that.

Conquistador Was Deep in U.S.: "Stunning" Jewelry Find Redraws Route? (nationalgeographic.com)

That isn't a new article, but I don't recall mentioning it before.

Too bad they didn't show a photo of any of the artifacts.

Below is the beginning of an article tracing DeSoto's travels.

De Soto’s fleet sighted the western coast of Florida near Tampa Bay on May 25, 1539. He landed with about 600 men and about 220 horses, and from there he proceeded northward to present-day Tallahassee, where he and his men spent the winter of 1539-40 in the territory of the chiefdom of Apalachee.

On March 3, 1540, De Soto and his army departed from Apalachee. By day’s end they had reached just inside the southern border of what is now Georgia, a few miles south of present-day Cairo. When they reached the Flint River, they built a crude boat and ferried everyone to the western side of the river. From there they proceeded to the Chickasawhatchee Swamp, where they came to the chiefdom of Capachequi...

Here is the link for much more.

Hernando de Soto in Georgia - New Georgia Encyclopedia

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I previously reported on a meteotsunami that occured on the West Coasst of Florida.  A meteotsunami  is something like a tsunami but caused by meteorological rather than a seismic cause.  The water level increase was around 2.5 feet above normal.

Tom L. sent the following email and data capture that shows what happened.

Since there is a full NOAA weather station on Pier 60, I pulled water levels graph for you to see.  Other data is available, wind speed, direction, temperature.

Thanks for your excellent blog!

Thanks Tom.

Here are some definitions.

Mean Lower Low Water

The average of the lower low water height of each tidal day observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, comparison of simultaneous observations with a control tide station is made in order to derive the equivalent datum of the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

Mean Low Water

The average of all the low water heights of each tidal day observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, comparison of simultaneous observations with a control tide station is made in order to derive the equivalent datum of the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

Mean High Water

The average of all the high water heights of each tidal day observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, comparison of simultaneous observations with a control tide station is made in order to derive the equivalent datum of the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

Mean Higher High Water

The average of the higher high water height of each tidal day observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, comparison of simultaneous observations with a control tide station is made in order to derive the equivalent datum of the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

I read that the rip tides on the west coast of Florida have taken several lives lately.  I think the last I thing I read said that there were eleven drownings over there.

Here is a find that I had with the bottles that I am trying to sort and box.

US VOLLRATH 1943 WWII Canteen

I suppose it came from all the WWII training activity on South Hutchinson Island.  Cleaned up very nicely.  The 1943 date makes me wonder if the fellow that lost it on the Treasure Coast ended up in the D-Day invasion.

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Looks like the wind is now out of the north, but the surf remains one or two feet.  That is not supposed to change for a few days.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.n