Search This Blog

Saturday, January 27, 2024

1/27/23 Report - Arrowheads of Metal and Other Types of Materials From The Treasure Coast and Other Locations. HMS Ereubus and Terror Artifacts.


Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.


An ancient iron arrowhead found near Lake Biel in Switzerland, dating back to the Bronze Ages, was likely made of iron that originated from a meteorite, researchers participating in a study by the Natural History Museum Bern have determined.

Researchers, in a study published in the Journal of ARchaeological Science said the arrowhead is 39 millimeters long and weighs 2.9 grams...

While iron is a widely used metal today, it was considered to be extremely rare and precious and was only known from meteorites, prior to the Iron Age (800 BC). In fact, only 55 such objects, discovered from 22 different sites, are known in the whole of Eurasia and Africa; 19 objects alone come from the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt...

Here is that link for more about that.


Arrowhead found near Lake Biel, Switzerland, had iron from meteorite (usatoday.com)

You probably remember the mystery object of iron that I showed a few days ago.  The finder thought it looked like an arrowhead.

Of the arrowheads found on the Treasure Coast that I know of, most are lithic. One was agatized coral.  Excluding those that were obviously very modern, there was one made of metal, which I think is probably a modern reproduction item.  

My now deceased friend (Larry P) found a copper point that "the Carnegie Museum and the Smithsonian both believed were from the Late Hopewell period.  They concluded the point was probably ceremonial and associated with a cremation burial.  The point and beads were also noteworthy because they were found in an area where copper artifacts of that culture are very unusual.




All sorts of materials have been used for making arrowheads, including glass or porcelain.  I think I posted the following illustration from Arrows Guns and Buffalo - Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) before.


You can see the metal points on the bottom row.  The one on the left shows corrosion, as you would expect of an old iron point.

A team of archaeologists digging at the Stark Farms Native American site in east central Mississippi have found more than 80 metal artifacts that were not manufactured by the Chickasaw people who once lived there.

As they explain in a study published in the April 2021 edition of American Antiquities, the archaeologists believe these items were left behind by 16 th century Spanish explorers who’d been in contact with the Chickasaws. Specifically, they think these anomalous artifacts had originally belonged to the 400 men who accompanied Hernando de Soto on his doomed 1539-1543 expedition across what is now the southeastern United States.

It is known that de Soto’s expedition passed through this part of the country, spending the winter of 1540-41 in an abandoned village near a large Chickasaw settlement. Tensions between the two groups ultimately flared into violence, and when the Spanish fled their Chickasaw attackers they likely left a lot of their possessions behind...

Here is that link.


And here is a link to a web site on medieval arrowheads and armour.

GREX LUPORUM: MEDIEVAL ARROWHEADS DATABASE


---

In 1845, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror set sail from England on a mission to chart a passage around the top of North America. Led by Captain Sir John Franklin, the voyage ended in tragedy three years later when both ships were lost in the frigid waters off Canada's coast.

None of the 129 men on board the ships survived. The so-called Franklin Expedition marked the worst disaster in the history of British polar exploration, according to the Royal Museums Greenwhich, in London.

Nearly two centuries after the ships sank, divers exploring the HMS Erebus wreck have discovered an array of "fascinating artifacts," including pistols, coins and even an intact thermometer, officials announced this week...

Here is that link.

 Guns, coins found in wrecks of ships that vanished with 129 on board (msn.com)

---

The Treasure Coast is supposed to have a couple negative tides today.

In about a week a four-to-five-foot surf is predicted.

Good hunting

Treasureguide@comcast/net