NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
We have new information
about the stone pile in Lot 15.
MICHAEL A.: The conclusion is they were made
by the Templars.
This is really cool.
This could be medieval.
That could be a friend of the cross.
Is it a match for other artifacts
-we found on the island? -Yeah.
Whoa.
RICK: Those are big beams.
I've been in a lot of old mines. Never seen this.
GARY: That's Oak Island Money Pit history right here.
(laughs): Yeah, it is.
NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking for
an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found a stone slab
with strange symbols carved into it...
...man-made workings that date to medieval times,
and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
to the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And according to legend, one more will have to die
before the treasure can be found.
♪ ♪
-RICK: That's a strong as a wind as I've ever been in. -ALEX: Yeah.
I wonder how the island did.
RICK: That's what we're gonna figure out, right?
-Mm-hmm. -There's a potential
that it's really quite bad.
NARRATOR: A new morning has dawned
under a cloud of great concern
for Rick Lagina, his nephew Alex
and Jack Begley as they make their way to Oak Island.
ALEX: Well, the Causeway's there.
RICK: Yeah, I know, it looks pretty good.
NARRATOR: 48 hours ago,
a devastating storm known as Hurricane Lee
reached the eastern coastline of Nova Scotia,
causing torrential rains, flooding
and millions of dollars in damage to the province.
ALEX: The swamp is full.
JACK: Yeah.
-That's a lot of water to pump out. -It's a lot of water.
Speaking of that, I think we'll start the pump right now.
ALEX: Oh, wow. Look how deep it is.
RICK: You remember how deep
-t-those digs were. -Yeah.
RICK: There's-there's three, four feet of water in there.
NARRATOR: Finding the swamp, which was drained several weeks ago,
now nearly refilled with rain and seawater
is especially frustrating for the team.
Let's start the pumps.
NARRATOR: It means that they will have to spend
the rest of the week pumping it dry,
and won't be able to explore critical areas
such as the region near the 800-year-old paved area...
-ALEX: It's going. -where just one week ago,
they discovered axe-cut tree stumps
that dated back to as early the 14th century.
Let's go check on the Money Pit.
The storm has been very detrimental
to the search agenda.
ALEX: It looks okay.
RICK: Well, they're working, that's a good thing.
Mother Nature has done what Mother Nature does,
and thus, we have to have patience.
And we will continue to move forward.
-Good morning, Roger. -Hey, how's it going, guys?
So, what happened?
ROGER: It was rough,
uh, with the hurricane, but little to no damage here.
JACK: Are you ready to start
-digging again today? -Oh, yeah, for sure.
We've been, we dug quite a bit yesterday.
Actually, we dug down to 99 feet.
Oh, wow.
NARRATOR: The fact that the hurricane
did not prevent representatives of Dumas Contracting Limited
from continuing to deepen the 18th-century structure
known as the Garden Shaft
means that the team's most important operation of the year
has thankfully not been interrupted.
So, is the tunnel exposed?
ROGER: So, that's what we're...
planning on doing next.
We're gonna get in there and expose
that-that timber that's there.
Okay.
NARRATOR: In the coming days,
Dumas is hopeful that they will be able to fully expose
a seven-foot-tall tunnel nearly 100 feet deep
just below the Garden Shaft.
A tunnel that leads due west into the so-called Baby Blob,
where high-trace evidence of precious metals
has been detected in the groundwater
between 80 and 120 feet underground.
RICK: Nothing detrimental happened to the Garden Shaft.
We should be very grateful for that,
because now they can move seamlessly forward.
That's why we're here.
We're here to treasure hunt. We're here to solve a mystery.
Anyway, Rog, uh, we're glad that you stayed safe,
-your team stayed safe. -Yep.
You get to that wood, give us a call.
We've got a lot of cleanup to do.
-So, we're gonna get after it. -Yeah.
-RICK: Good luck today. -ROGER: Sounds good.
-RICK: All right. Thanks, Roger. -ROGER: Talk to you later, guys.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-DOUG: Hey, gentlemen. -RICK: Hello, gentlemen.
CRAIG: Hey guys.
RICK: Ciao. So, I think
this war room in particular
might reflect what we have long sought to do:
establish some sort of origination story
to the Oak Island mystery.
Sì.
NARRATOR: In the war room,
Rick, along with his brother Marty,
Craig Tester and other members of the team
are meeting via video conference
with archaeoastronomy expert Professor Adriano Gaspani.
RICK: We have Professor Gaspani with us today.
We obviously have Emiliano, and we have Michael Amadio,
who is going to be the interpreter
for Professor Gaspani.
As you know, we met Professor Gaspani
last year outside of Rome.
He quite literally shocked us with his interpretation
of Nolan's Cross and its import here on the island.
ALEX: Boy.
-RICK: Stunning. -Everything is just so well-built.
-RICK (chuckles): Yeah. Really. -CORJAN: Wow.
NARRATOR: In 2022,
Rick and members of the team
visited numerous sites in Italy
that once served as strongholds for the Knights Templar,
the medieval order of warrior monks
who some believe made numerous visits to Oak Island
in order to hide priceless religious treasures
between the 12th and 17th centuries.
ALEX: Hey, Rick.
Check this out.
We have seen this symbol before...
-on Oak Island. -RICK: H+O Stone. -PETER: Yeah.
NARRATOR: During their visit,
they not only saw a number of carved symbols
that have been found over the years
on and near Oak Island
but also met with Professor Gaspani
regarding the megalithic formation of six boulders
that were discovered in 1981 by Fred Nolan,
known as Nolan's Cross.
NARRATOR: According to Professor Gaspani's 40 years of expertise
in the field of archaeoastronomy,
the boulders in Nolan's Cross were positioned on Oak Island
to align with certain stars in the night sky.
And furthermore, by studying the historic positions
of those stars, he was able to determine
the approximate time period that it was created.
Wow.
We have tasked Professor Gaspani
with looking at the research with new information
and new perspective.
DOUG: Yes, some of the additional information
we sent to Professor Gaspani to consider
were the location of the stone piles on Lot 15
and the stone triangle,
to see if there's any astronomical relevance
-to those as well. -Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: Now, after being given the coordinates
of other megalithic stone formations
that have been discovered
during the past two centuries on Oak Island,
including the remains of five stone piles located on Lot 15
that were shaped like pyramids,
and which were first documented by Fred Nolan
back in the 1960s,
and the stone triangle,
which was unfortunately destroyed
by searcher activities in 1965,
Professor Gaspani has prepared a report
on their possible origins as well.
RICK: I turn it over to Professor Gaspani.
I'm quite excited to listen to what he has to tell us.
ADRIANO: Perfetto.
Right.
NARRATOR: Similar to Nolan's Cross,
it is Professor Gaspani's belief that the positions
of the five stone piles on Lot 15
were constructed long ago, according to alignments
with specific stars, including the Sun,
as well as the position of the Moon in the night sky.
And, thus, by calculating how long ago
the positions of the piles perfectly aligned
with those stars in relation to the position of the Moon,
he can approximate when the piles were created.
MICHAEL A.: And so, somebody was on the island
all those years, uh, laying out
those piles of stones,
and the stones of the Nolan's Cross.
MARTY: Wow.
-Amazing. -RICK: That's pretty cool.
It's incredible.
NARRATOR: In the war room,
archaeoastronomy expert Professor Adriano Gaspani
has just presented
the Oak Island team with an astonishing
scientific report.
He believes that Nolan's Cross
and the five stone piles, or cairns, located on Lot 15
were possibly created by the same group of people
nearly 800 years ago.
MICHAEL A.: There is a level of certainty,
a level of coincidence
which is incredible.
Right.
So, can the professor
speculate as to the people
who constructed it?
Wow.
There's intelligent design to this, it seems.
Esatto.
NARRATOR: The Templar order?
Could Professor Gaspani be correct?
If so, would that explain
why the team has seen numerous carvings
in former Templar strongholds across Europe
that have also been found on Oak Island?
Might it explain who created the paved area in the swamp,
in addition to Nolan's Cross, the stone cairns on Lot 15
and the stone triangle?
And, finally, could it also identify who was responsible
for the high-trace evidence of gold,
silver and other metals that have been detected
in the Money Pit area?
I think Dr. Gaspani is correct.
It turns the Oak Island history on its ear.
It may even turn history as it's understood
in terms of European contact on its ear
and in the Maritimes, for sure.
MICHAEL A.: The message is a secret.
It's not for everybody to know.
The conclusion is they were made by the Templars.
ALEX: That's a fact.
(laughing)
RICK: The amazing thing is
that it was constructed by Europeans.
The level of certainty
he has put to it is amazing.
RICK: I've always believed in the importance of Nolan's Cross.
But now we have to come
to a complete understanding of the stone cairns,
what the stone triangle represents.
So we need to get busy.
Yeah.
MARTY: Professori Gaspani, um,
It's an incredible presentation.
And we may have some follow-up questions
after we have time to think about it a little bit.
-ADRIANO: Okay. -RICK: Grazie.
NARRATOR: The following morning,
as restoration efforts continue across the island...
TERRY: We're going deep.
Here we are right here, Charles.
Bedrock is gonna be about
210, 215 feet below grade.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...in the Money Pit area,
Charles Barkhouse joins geologist Terry Matheson
to supervise a new core-drilling operation
in borehole F.25-8.25
located 55 feet southwest of the Garden Shaft.
TERRY: We're very close to RF-1
and that's the reason why we're drilling this hole.
-Yeah. -Because we found
-such interesting artifacts in RF-1. -Yes.
So it's very interesting.
Look at all the wood.
-GARY: That is spectacular. -SCOTT: That's cool.
NARRATOR: In 2019,
the team first excavated an eight-foot-wide steel caisson
in this area, known as RF-1.
Incredibly, below a depth of 100 feet,
they unearthed the handle of a pickax
as well as massive wooden timbers that,
just one week ago, were scientifically proven
to have originated in Europe.
So this is a very interesting area and hopefully,
-now we can find something else. -Yep.
NARRATOR: Now, because recent
water testing in this area
has also yielded high traces of gold and silver
below a depth of 150 feet,
the team is hoping to find more evidence of man-made workings
and ultimately, the source of the precious metals...
Here it comes.
NARRATOR: ...that have been detected
deep underground.
-Thank you, my friend. -Eight.
What've we got? Eight feet below grade.
-Here we go, Charles. -Yep.
-Zero to eight. -I think that's going to be it.
Looks like they've locked onto cobble.
This is all we--
all the recovery we have.
Not so much to write home about here, Charles.
Very early days, yep.
We've got quite a ways to go.
NARRATOR: As the drilling operation continues
in the Money Pit area
some 200 yards to the northwest
on Lot 15...
This is an important area for us, mate.
NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and Jack Begley arrive at the site of the stone cairns.
It's become really important
due to Professor Gaspani's work.
We're looking for anything that could allude
to that 12, 1300s visit.
Yeah. Well, now you're in my wheelhouse, mate.
I'm from England.
I search for medieval treasure.
You ready to get stuck in?
-Let's get started. -Okay.
NARRATOR: When these five stone formations
were first surveyed by Fred Nolan in the 1960s,
they were described as pyramid-shaped
and stood between five and seven feet high.
However, since then, searcher activities caused them
to be partially dismantled.
First flag here.
All right. Right next to these stones.
-(beeping) -Great sounding signal.
Just there, mate.
Dang.
JACK: Is this one of the piles or something?
It's out.
JACK: That's a lot of stones.
Let's see what we've got.
What have we got here? Oh.
Ooh, hoo, hoo, hoo.
Now, this is interesting.
GARY: What have we got here?
-Oh, ho, ho. -Is that a bit of lead?
GARY: Yeah, a bit of lead. It's like a lead strip.
NARRATOR: On Lot 15, located several hundred feet
northwest of the Money Pit area...
-Now, this is interesting. -Yeah, that is.
NARRATOR: ...Gary Drayton
and Jack Begley have just found
a potentially important clue near the believed
750-year-old stone cairns.
GARY: This is fantastic, mate.
It's shaped.
That could be very, very interesting, mate,
'cause it looks decorated.
And it was made like that on purpose.
This has the potential to be medieval.
-You think it's medieval? -Yeah.
-Honestly? -Yeah. I really do, mate.
When I'm working medieval sites in England
with me metal detector,
you find a lot of old iron and a lot of old lead.
And then, if you're lucky,
you find medieval silver and gold.
I think we've just scored
a really great find on Lot 15,
right next to these old stone piles.
This might link back, somehow,
to help prove Professor Gaspani's work.
NARRATOR: The so-called medieval period was an era of European history
that lasted from roughly 500 to 1500 AD.
Could Gary Drayton be correct
that this lead artifact may be more than 600 years old?
If so,
might it offer hard evidence
that Professor Adriano Gaspani's belief
that the stone piles,
or cairns, were created in the 13th century is true?
GARY: This is fantastic, mate.
I can't wait to see the data on this.
I think we should take it straight to the lab.
Yep. I'm with you, mate.
-Sweet find, Gary. -Good digging, mate.
NARRATOR: While Gary and Jack finish their search on Lot 15...
-SCOTT: Hey, Roger. -ROGER: How's it going, Scott?
SCOTT: Good.
You've uncovered some wood down there, now?
Yeah. So Rodney just gave me a call not too long ago
and, yeah,
he's uncovered quite a bit of wood, actually.
NARRATOR: ...Operations Manager Scott Barlow
meets with Roger Fortin in the Money Pit area
after being informed that representatives
from Dumas Contracting Limited
have finally uncovered a large section
of the believed treasure tunnel
located just below the Garden Shaft
at a depth of some 100 feet underground.
This is exciting.
-Oh, yeah, yeah. -This is what we've been
-waiting for. -Absolutely, and that's why
I told Rodney to stop and they know
before we start excavating, I want
to make sure nothing gets damaged,
that we'll go at it nice and easy and-and
preserve every little piece that's in there.
-It's a big day on Oak Island. -Oh, yeah.
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
SCOTT: Very few people have had this opportunity
and we're fortunate enough to be unearthing
a very old tunnel, uh, potentially a depositor tunnel.
-This is exciting. -Oh, yeah.
-Let's go down and have a look. -Sounds good.
Grab's out of the hole.
SCOTT: Working with the guys from Dumas, I mean, it's a privilege.
They're hard-working guys. You know, they're miners.
It's back-breaking work. They're down there.
They're on their hands and their knees. They're chipping.
They're digging. They're doing whatever
it takes to move this material.
But the great this about it is,
they're just as excited as we are for this project.
They want to put their hands and their eyes on this tunnel.
They want to see what we want to see.
-Scotty, do you want to come and take a closer look? -Yeah.
-Yes. -That's impressive structure.
I mean, look at the size of those planks.
-Yes. -The beams.
-Yeah, all logs of different sizes. -ROGER: Yeah.
SCOTT: Oh, wow. Look at the size of those.
I mean, we can get some great information from that.
That's gonna be, you know, 12 or 14 inches across.
ROGER: Yeah.
SCOTT: It's a pretty exciting moment to be down there
and to put eyes on this wood that,
you know, nobody's seen
for potentially upwards of 400 years.
Pretty incredible.
When we see this rounded edge here,
like that looks like it may even have bark on it.
The log, you look at the size of that,
that rounded as an outside edge,
and we can see the center in there
there's a lot of rings in there.
Which is great, that's a good indicator that it's old growth.
NARRATOR: A possibly older, rounded timber,
found nearly 100 feet underground in the Garden Shaft?
In 1804, when treasure hunters
began the first major excavation of the Money Pit,
They reported finding a series of platforms
made of round logs every ten feet,
down to the 90-foot level.
Is it possible that this tunnel may be connected
to the original treasure shaft?
If so, just what might the team find at the end of it?
SCOTT: I can't wait to get this uncovered
and get some of this material out of here.
ROGER: Yeah. You and I both.
We might be able to slide that plank right out of there.
Oh, yeah, you can tell, there's like, say,
you got a piece here, a piece there, a piece here.
I think that tunnel would be probably
no more than five feet wide.
There's kind of, like, wedges,
like, if you can take that wedge off right there.
SCOTT: Let's give it her try, yep.
ROBERT: That piece looks like it's loose, Scott.
You might be able to pry that right up.
SCOTT: Yep.
There we go. Look at that.
Definitely a wedge.
This looks like bark there as well.
ROGER: You don't get more homemade wedge than that.
This is pretty exciting. We should let Rick know
that we're on this and starting to remove some stuff.
ROGER: Oh, for sure he's gonna be excited to put eyes on this.
-SCOTT: Yeah. -I've been in a lot of old mines, never seen this.
-SCOTT: Let's keep digging. -ROGER: Sounds good.
-ROGER: Okay, Rick. -RICK: All set?
ROGER: All set. I'll hold the ladder for you.
RICK: Coming down.
NARRATOR: It is an extraordinary moment for Rick Lagina.
Having been alerted
that a large section of the possible treasure tunnel,
located just beneath the Garden Shaft
at a depth of some 100 feet,
has been exposed.
SCOTT: Look at that. Right there. -RICK: Wow.
-Those are big beams. -SCOTT: They are. -ROGER: Oh, yeah.
SCOTT: And no two are the same.
-RICK: That's impressive. -SCOTT: Yeah.
RICK: To get down there and realize
that there is hard evidence
that the tunnel is not a interpretation, it's real,
you get a little bit of chills.
Now we need to understand
its relevance to the mystery.
Boy, I'd love to get one of those, though.
Well, what we're gonna do is clean some of it off
and then we're gonna try to get the whole length out.
-RICK: And I think it would be nice to get that one. -SCOTT: Yeah.
-And then this one here we know is good and wide. -RICK: Yep.
And this one is definitely rounded here.
This is much thinner here.
-SCOTT: And that could be an upright piece. -RICK: Yep.
It's cool. It's very cool,
especially given the C-14 results.
So, that's why it's imperative that we get samples.
It is.
The whole idea of what happened in the Money Pit,
you know, we have a timeline.
NARRATOR: Earlier this year,
wood samples from this tunnel,
which the team obtained during a core-drilling operation,
were carbon-dated to the 17th century.
RICK: You know, you'd want to get that piece out whole.
ROGER: Yeah. Absolutely.
NARRATOR: But now that much more of the structure has been revealed,
the team will remove some of the massive beams
for additional testing,
in the hopes of confirming
just when this tunnel was created.
It's a year of pivotal moments.
Timber there.
I think the Professor Gaspani's work is pivotal.
This recovery of these timbers
may be a pivotal moment if it represents original work.
This is important.
SCOTT: What I'd like to see happen here
is these three timbers right here,
even the fourth one being the one on top,
get one pulled out so we can see a whole length.
-Absolutely. We can get that done for you. -Great.
If this is original depositor, there's a good chance
that there may be treasure at the end of this tunnel.
-Yep. -But I also want to get Steve Guptill
to come down here and survey this.
-Yes. -RICK: Great.
I wonder, just, you know,
have Gary come down, scan that real quick.
-SCOTT: Yep. -ROGER: Yep. Absolutely.
-So, anyway, we will let you get started. -Yes.
And I will get up and out of your way.
My thought was, you know,
to have Gary come down, I mean, why not?
It is a treasure hunt, after all.
And we have exposed a new area
for him to investigate.
-STEVE: Ready, Gary? -GARY: Yep. Ready, mate.
RICK: And hope that we find a artifact or artifacts
that can be associated with cultural context
as it relates to the construct.
-How freaking awesome is this? -STEVE: It's pretty great.
-We got everything we need, Gary. -GARY: Thanks, mate.
Time to unleash the beast.
You guys ready to find some treasure?
Let's find some treasure.
Let's strike up the magic wand.
-(beeping) -Right.
See if there's any metals in there.
(beeping)
And unfortunately, I can't get too close to this iron.
All right, mate, well, unfortunately, no hits
but we ain't finished yet, mate.
If you can hang on to my detector,
-I'm gonna try pinpointing. -Sure.
(beeping rapidly)
-GARY: Oh. -Oh.
-Oh, you've got it. -GARY: It's in me hand.
Let's see what we got.
-It is this. -STEVE: What is that?
GARY: Tough to tell what it is.
I'm not getting a rapid vibration off it,
which would tell me it's iron.
-So, this is gonna go back to the lab. -STEVE: Yep.
And hopefully, Emma's got some great news about this.
STEVE: All right.
-Good find, Gary. -GARY: Yeah. All right.
Let's see what we got here.
(beeping)
Fingers crossed.
(beeping rapidly)
STEVE: Gary, you've got another hit.
Yep. Now, what have we got here?
Yeah. We have got a piece of metal.
Look, it's shaped.
-See that flat edge on it? -STEVE: Mm-hmm. -RODNEY: Yeah.
It's an interesting shape, for sure.
You seen anything like this from your operation?
-So, it's probably from the tunnel construction. -Yeah.
Even more curious now.
Yeah, it really is.
NARRATOR: Could Gary be correct
that this metal artifact may have been used
in the construction of the tunnel?
It's fantastic news.
NARRATOR: If so, could it be another critical clue
that could help the team determine
just when it was built?
All right, chaps. I'm gonna put this
in the front pocket there and zip it.
Do you want me to help you do some measurements, mate?
I wouldn't mind. For the first time, I can put
survey control points on this tunnel
and this is gonna help me draft
and project this tunnel accurately now
because this is the first time we've stood on it.
GARY: Okay, mate.
I think it's great we're doing this, Steve,
- for good measure. -(Steve chuckles)
NARRATOR: While Steve and Gary complete their survey
of the tunnel beneath the Garden Shaft...
CHARLES: I think we have a core coming up now.
NARRATOR: ...some 50 feet to the southwest...
-What do we got, Adam? -One fifty-one.
CHARLES: One fifty-one.
NARRATOR: ...geologist Terry Matheson
and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse
are continuing to monitor
the core-drilling operation
in borehole F.25-8.25.
Thank you, Adam.
NARRATOR: A borehole where they hope to find
more evidence of another man-made structure
-more than 150 feet deep... -Scalpel.
that, according to recent scientific testing
is of European origin.
Let's slice this open and take a look.
-We've got wood here, Terry. -What?
-We got wood. -Wow.
Yeah. This is all undisturbed here.
So, we must be right at the edge of something.
CHARLES: You know, Terry,
the fact that we're finding wood at this depth--
we could maybe be in the original Money Pit.
-So, all the more important we get a sample. -CHARLES: Oh, absolutely.
-That's what we do, right? -Yeah.
Well, we got another core coming.
And hopefully we'll pull up some of that real treasure.
Yeah.
What have you got, Adam?
-One seventy-one. -One seventy-one.
-Ooh, looks like we're into bedrock. -Yeah.
TERRY: Yep. We're into the side of the bedrock.
CHARLES: Yeah.
TERRY: And here's some more of that punky,
relatively soft material.
M-Much harder gypsum bedrock here.
Yeah.
TERRY: This stuff is just as Mother Nature left it.
NARRATOR: It is an unfortunate revelation for Charles and Terry
that the drilling operation has reached bedrock
at a depth of some 170 feet.
However, since they recovered evidence
of a wooden structure less than 20 feet higher
and have also detected precious metals in this area,
could it be that they just missed direct contact
with something of great importance or value?
We are in and out of old workings.
-Yeah. -Something went on down there.
Let's, uh, clear this table
and hopefully have another target to drill on.
There's still a lot of areas where-where we haven't drilled.
Absolutely.
CHARLES: We'll move on.
TERRY: Mystery abounds on Oak Island.
CHARLES: Certainly does.
NARRATOR: As an exciting new day begins on Oak Island.
ROGER: All right, guys.
If you're ready, we're gonna get this wood up.
-Okey doke. -ROGER: Yep.
-Let's do it. -NARRATOR: Rick Lagina
and other members of the team
arrive in the Money Pit area
as massive timbers from the potential treasure tunnel,
located some 100 feet underground,
are about to be removed from the Garden Shaft.
All right, Jeremy. Let's get her up here.
♪ ♪
We've never had this opportunity before
and we need to make certain we do everything we can
to understand what this represents.
ALEX: Here it comes right here.
RICK: I absolutely hope that this leads us
five steps closer to-to solving the mystery.
(straining): Oh, not quite. Now I do.
RICK: You can see in that piece of wood
a man down there cutting that timber,
creating that tunnel to-to go somewhere,
hopefully, to hide treasure.
Look at that. We got a rounded edge here
-and rounded on this side. -CHARLES: Yep.
And it's adze-cut.
GARY: Yeah, that's adze-cut.
NARRATOR: A timber cut with an adze?
Dating back to the days of ancient Egypt,
an adze was a type of cutting tool
designed for the construction of ships and wooden structures,
until the 18th century, when they were replaced
by mechanized tools.
That's a bit of Oak Island Money Pit history right here.
NARRATOR: So now, the question is
just how long before the 18th century
might this tunnel have been created?
ROGER: Watch your fingers.
RICK: It's real aha moment.
There's no question about it.
After all the struggles and all the setbacks
and all the time and all the effort,
to see it there in front of you...
Well, this is real history,
and I want to hold it in my hand.
This has more going for it than anything else so far.
I mean, this could lead right to the treasure.
We don't know yet.
Let me just test it,
see if it's sturdy enough for a gold dance.
-Yeah. It will be. -(laughter)
RICK: The good news is
we still do have the horizontal drilling.
-Still to come. -Still to come.
NARRATOR: Because the tunnel must be more fully exposed and inspected
before the team can possibly access it,
in the coming days,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
will conduct a probe-drilling operation
from the bottom of the Garden Shaft
into the tunnel's interior
to hopefully pinpoint the source of the precious metals
that have been detected nearby in the Baby Blob.
Kudos to everybody, especially the guys down hole,
you know, 'cause they did the work.
Let's stay the course,
get as much information as we can.
So, it's been a very good day.
NARRATOR: While the operation continues in the Garden Shaft,
later that afternoon...
-LAIRD: Hey, Rick. -RICK: Laird. How are you? Emma?
-Hey. -Hey.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, his nephew Alex
and Doug Crowell join
archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
in the Oak Island laboratory.
RICK: So, I see this artifact that was found on Lot 15.
Was it found close to the, uh, stone cairn piles?
Yes.
NARRATOR: They are eager to hear Emma's scientific analysis
of the decorative lead artifact
that was found just one day ago
near the potentially 750-year-old stone cairns
located on Lot 15.
Is it a match for any of the other lead artifacts
we found on the island?
Um, so, because it's lead,
I can't give 100% confirmation of a match.
But 99%, which is still pretty good.
It matched a lot
with an artifact from 2021.
-Which I do have here in the lab. -Oh.
DOUG: That was the piece Chris McFarlane found a hit
as being possibly from Scandinavian origin.
-GARY: Here we go. -NARRATOR: Two years ago,
while searching Lot 13
between the swamp and the Money Pit...
What the heck?
-That's lead! -Yeah.
...Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti
found a lead artifact with a decorative, spiral design.
This is the data for the twisted rod.
...an artifact that surprised geochemist Dr. Chris McFarlane
after he conducted a form of isotope testing on it
known as laser ablation.
When we run the results through the database,
uh, one source would be
in Eastern Scandinavia.
Here it is, right here.
DOUG: Lot 13-- where this twisted lead was found--
that's just downhill from Lot 15.
-Mm-hmm. -Professor Gaspani posited this idea
that those stone cairns were placed there in the 1200s,
so any and all metal artifacts,
whether they're precious metal or not,
could play a part in identifying who was there,
possibly, in that time period.
-So, yeah. I think it's important. -Correct. Yep.
And given this item being found
in such close proximity to the stone cairns,
I think we have to, uh, follow up on that:
a possible Scandinavian connection to the island.
♪ ♪
DOUG: I think we have to, uh, follow up
on a possible Scandinavian connection to the island.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island laboratory,
Rick Lagina and members of the team
have just found out
that a lead artifact unearthed just one day ago
on Lot 15, near the stone cairns,
is a near compositional match to the lead object
that was found two years ago on Lot 13
and may have come from Scandinavia.
RICK: It's certainly probable if not definitive
that this is not a North American mystery, i.e.,
it wasn't originated here.
It had to have come from the Old World.
In years past, we've investigated the possibility
that the Knights Templar were behind this mystery.
The only people that we know of
for sure that made the voyage pre-Columbian are the Norse.
The historical record and some science
puts the Norse along these shores,
like L'Anse aux Meadows, right?
Where else they were is another question.
And we also know that the Templars
were at the height of their power
in the same time period.
So, did they know each other?
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: It is well documented
that the Scandinavian warrior civilization
known as the Norse, or Vikings,
explored and established settlements
on the North American continent
including Iceland, Greenland
and New Brunswick
as much as 1,000 years ago.
But could Doug's idea that the Vikings may have
possibly been connected to the Knights Templar
as well as the Oak Island mystery
have any basis in reality?
I think it's imperative to follow up on that research.
NARRATOR: If so,
could that explain how structures
like the paved area in the swamp,
the stone cairns on Lot 15
and these lead artifacts came to be on Oak Island?
Could that also explain the man-made workings
that were recovered from deep in the RF-1 caisson
and which are potentially of Scandinavian origin,
as well as the traces of gold and silver
that have been detected in the Money Pit area?
I've always said it's a wonderful mystery,
and that's why it's complex.
And that's why it's interesting.
And that's why it continues to puzzle.
So, when you take items like this,
you have to find the context.
You know, you have to find the one thing.
-And we only need one. -One.
One that connects the Norse,
perhaps Norse-Templar connection,
to those constructs up on that hill.
Now, with what we're finding
and with what Professor Gaspani is-is suggesting,
your one thing might be found outside the Money Pit.
RICK: We just have to find it.
♪ ♪
Emma, Laird, again, thank you both very much.
I think we've got some homework to do.
-Let's get after it. -All right. -Take care, guys.
-RICK: Thank you. -ALEX: Thanks.
NARRATOR: Another historic week on Oak Island has come to an end.
And like many others in recent years,
it may have revealed another chapter in a mystery
that now appears to stretch back further in time
and to further regions of the globe
than anyone ever dreamed possible.
As Rick, Marty and the team continue to dig,
just what will they find?
And where might it lead them
on their quest for the ultimate answers?
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
GARY: We found these in the Garden Shaft.
CARMEN: It's very old.
It definitely wasn't used to put together structures.
It could be off boxes on a treasure.
There's a wall in the swamp.
It could be related to the stone road.
That red stuff is what's underneath the stone road--
that will place that wood structure
further back in time.
Vikings had knowledge of North America
with contacts to early Templars.
They could have had knowledge of this area.
That's correct.
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