... During a recent expedition, archaeologists excavated a medieval dwelling in Debnevo that had been badly damaged by fire. The occupants appeared to have abandoned their house following the fire in the 10th century, and the team recovered iron tools, including two sickles and two axes; a belt buckle; ceramic vessels; and three bronze rings — in addition to five gold coins that were around 400 years older than the house...
Here is the link for more about that.1,500-year-old gold coins from Byzantine Empire discovered in medieval dwelling in Bulgaria | Live Science
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While aging might not be kind in some ways, such as losing family members and friends or aches and pains, there is definitely the benefit of additional and experience and perspective that comes with age. That is something a younger person can not appreciate.
One thing that amazes me is that the new latest and greatest thing isn't new at all, except perhaps in detail and public awareness. Advances seldom come as quickly or suddenly as it seems. Covid led to a lot of people working from home, which seemed to be a big-deal new thing for the media, but it wasn't all that new to me. I was working out of my home back in the 1970s after my company, which was a very innovative high-tech company moved me to South Florida to work out of my home. They started exploring that as Project Homework. A few were involved, such as myself, and a lot of others wanted to be involved. I wasn't on the internet then because it wasn't out there like it is today, but I was on an international computer network that provided similar capabilities. My terminal was linked by phone lines into a international mainframe computer network that provided email and forums as well as other forms of telecommunication, such as "monitor mode" that allowed remotely viewing the display screen of others while chatting online. We had flat screen plasma displays with touch panels and high-resolution graphics. That was before personal computers and the internet.
The latest big buzz seems to be around AI, but I have several textbooks on AI that were published back in the 1970s. AI systems and applications are more developed and available now, but it is not such a revolutionary idea even though you hear a lot more about it now.
So where am I going with this? As I said, things just don't suddenly appear from nowhere. There is usually a lengthy development period and then at some point the public becomes aware and interested. Somewhere today, and yesterday, there are people working on the technologies that will suddenly leap into the spotlight as the new big thing of tomorrow.
I don't remember exactly when I first learned about the treasures of the Treasure Coast, but I know I got more into after I got into metal detecting. I began reading. all I could find about treasure and treasure hunting. I still have, and have mentioned in this blog, some of the books I read back then. And I still have boxes of old Xerox photocopies as well as old magazines.
I don't really remember my first time metal detecting on the Treasure Coast, but I do know that I didn't find a cob or anything from a shipwreck for quite a while. I remember that I became discouraged after making the trip a few times and wondered if I'd ever find one of those pieces of shipwreck treasure.
I didn't know much of anything about the Treasure Coast beaches, but I had learned from hunting modern coins and jewelry in South Florida about erosion and reading beaches and quite a few other metal detecting skills that naturally applied to the Treasure Coast. Still, when I made the trip from South Florida, I wasn't aware of the conditions of the Treasure Coast beaches. There weren't all the online resources back then. That is something I had in mind years later when I started the Treasure Beaches Report. I hoped to spare other people some of the wasted trips.
I've told the story of my first Treasure Coast silver find before, and how my wife almost tossed it, and how I took it home and tested it and researched it before knowing for sure what I had. It is interesting how knowledge is accumulated slowly and incrementally and keeps accumulating. I've learned a lot since then. It has been a slow but steady incremental process. You just keep adding pieces to the puzzle and bits fit together to provide greater understanding.
I was recently thinking back about the Treasure Coast beaches and changes that have occurred. They look a lot different today.
I was thinking about John Brooks and remembered the wooden markers or signs hanging in the trees all along the beach. Each plaque was maybe two feet square, or near that, and each one had a big letter painted on it. The salvage crews used those signs to triangulate their position. That was in the days before GPS. Along John Brooks and Frederick Douglass were signs with the letters running from A to maybe or higher. Not only are those signs gone now, as they have been for a good time, but many of the pine trees that held them are now gone also.
The beach accesses are more developed than they were back then. Some were nothing more than a narrow dusty two wheeled path through the weeds and wild vegetation. Now the beach accesses are more like city parks with paved and lined parking spaces.
At brooks, the walkover came, was repaired and changed a few times, and now is gone again. It was futile to try to keep it from becoming covered by drifting sand.
The once well-known landmark referred to as the Christmas Tree disappeared years ago. It was a dead tree that people decorated with found items from the beach. It was usually decorated with rope, old buoys, and whatever else recently washed up. I think it is shown in Kevin Reilly's book but hasn't been on the beach for many years. I think, but don't recall for sure, that it disappeared during the 2004 hurricanes. Maybe it was before that.
What was it, maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, when they removed many of the pine trees from along John Books.
Of course, the beach got wider and narrower many times over the years, occasionally drastically.
There was a time way before the 2004 hurricanes when the beach was cut back to right in front of the condos to the north. A line of old pine stumps was visible at the water line to the north of Brooks at one time too, and a concrete foundation appeared up by the bend there. I've not seen the stumps or foundation again. The beach is much wider there now.
Beaches change. As they say, beaches are dynamic systems, but what is behind the beaches changes too. They keep removing the trees and buildings keep springing up.
The longer I think of it, the more I remember. It seems like an endless well of memories One thing leads to ten more.
I think of days I showed up and saw the beach dramatically changed. I think of many different finds. I think of more than I remembered at first.
One day in particular sticks out. Mo had the Virgalona backed up as close as possible to the beach. Bob Luyendyk waited in his dive suit while they blew the sand up in front of the beach. As you might know, both of those guys are now gone, as are so many others.
I don't know how many of you remember the signs in the trees - I know there are some, but probably most of you do not. And I don't know how many of you remember the Christmas Tree. I know some of you do. But many never saw it.
It won't be long before no one that visits the signs, the Christmas tree, the many pine trees or the open areas, but they'll have their memories that fade into the distant past too.
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The Treasure Coast surf is trending up this week, but only a very little - mostly two or three feet.
The high tides are now trending down from recent highs.
There is only one X on the NHC map right now. It is down by Yucatan. Nothing to bother with.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
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