Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
Florida archaeologists have confirmed a stunning find hidden in plain sight: the site of Hernando de Soto’s winter encampment of 1539–1540 — and the location of the first Christmas ever celebrated on land that would become the United States...
"It was really astonishing that it’s here in Tallahassee," said Florida archaeologist Nicholas Yarbrough, who has helped analyze thousands of artifacts from the site. "It was kind of in plain sight but just underground."
The discovery traces back to 1987, when archaeologist Calvin Jones noticed construction equipment had churned up pieces of unusually old pottery. He stopped to investigate and spotted fragments of Spanish olive jars from the early 1500s. Soon, excavators uncovered armor pieces, crossbow bolts, and coins dating to the era of the De Soto expedition....
But the Spaniards were devout Catholics. Dr. Arbesú says they almost certainly held at least one Christmas Mass, likely in Latin, possibly at midnight and again in the morning.
"There would’ve been a celebration with food," Arbesú said, "but nothing like we would see today."
Dr. Noll notes the meal likely combined pork from the expedition’s pigs with traditional Apalachee staples such as corn...
The archaeological site, once nearly bulldozed,is now recognized as one of the most significant early-colonial sites in the United States.
Archaeologists uncover site of America’s first Christmas near Florida capitol | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Here is another example of discovery by accident. You might remember the post in which I presented the results of a survey on how most discoveries are made, and one of them was earth being moved for construction.
Thanks to Dj for that link.
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| Old Treasures for Sale at Local Shop Including a Jug, Bottle, and Mounted Porcelain Shards and More. |
While waiting for my wife while she did some Christmas shopping last week I was in one store on Midway Road, which like a lot of shops around the Treasure Coast had quite a variety of old shipwreck treasures for sale. This was only one of several Treasure Coast stores that have a large inventory. I will probably never buy anything like this, but I like to look at examples. You might occasionally see something interesting or informative that way, and there really are a lot of examples to examine, such as the artifacts shown above as well as many coins - mostly reales.
Below are some spikes, porcelain and some coins.
Many of the coins I saw at this location were from the West Bay Trading Company of Vero.
Below are some gold coins and a gold bar (which I'm not sure was real).
This location did not generally display prices on the coins. They also had some meg teeth, and a meteorite and much more.
What I am suggesting is that stores like these provide materials for inspection much like little museums. Make use of the opportunity to browse and inspect what is available.
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The Treasure Coast surf is running about two to three feet and will decrease farther in a couple days.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net