In today’s Artifact Alley, we will be looking at “The Lead Disc” that was discovered on Oak Island. Marty Lagina mentioned, “We’ve had a lot of people look at this thing.” It has created a lot of intrigue in the Oak Island Community, and these are the events of its official discovery and preliminary analysis.
The Curse of Oak Island - History Channel
In season 10, episode 20, called “A Barrel Full of Clues” on “The Curse of Oak Island”, we were shown an item that was referred to as a possible trade token. The item was found by Gary Drayton and Jack Begley while metal detecting on lot 5. The item was brought to the Interpretive Centre and was submitted for various tests including an X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) scans. Emma Culligan, the team’s Archeometallugrist, broke down her analysis and explained that the item was composed of two different layers, being 99.6% lead with light traces of copper and iron. Emma concluded that the leads from both layers were naturally occurring. She found a match with a sample from Iran, but she explained that the lead could come from a mine “that lies on the same geographical belt”, which included Italy, Sardinia, France, and Spain. Further investigation was suggested.
The Curse of Oak Island - History Channel
In episode 21, called “Roman Around” the team spoke to Sandy Campbell, a numismatist and the team’s coin expert that is brought in for consultations. Sandy says he’s convinced that the item is a Roman barter-token, which he identifies as seeing previously in a collection of ancient and historical money that he handled 10 to 12 years ago, which looked identical to this piece. Sandy also cites as evidence for his opinion a printout from the British Museum of a piece that looks identical to the Oak Island find that was discovered in Cambridgeshire/Stonea Grange in the UK on a lot backing up to a Roman Fort. Sandy says he’s 100% sure of this information. It appears the piece is Roman, but it should be noted that later in the episode while in Rome, the Lead Disc is not one of the pieces that was inspected by a Roman numismatist, Umberto Moruzzi, that they consulted.
The Curse of Oak Island - History Channel
In episode 24, called “Down the Hatch” the team held a meeting with Dr. Chris McFarlane of the University of New Brunswick . McFarlane suggested that the isotopic values for this Lead Disc were close to that of the Lead Cross found in season 5. He added that their values were essentially identical. To be able to truly understand both Culligan’s and McFarlane’s respective conclusions we believe that the Lead Disc should be examined by Tobias Skowronek, the geochemist at the German Mining Museum, who analyzed the lead from the cross and suggested a provenance. This will verify the opinion of Dr. McFarlane. If this is verified as being the exact same lead from the same mine, it presents some very important ramifications.
The Curse of Oak Island - History Channel
Considering that we’ve previously discussed that the Lead Cross found in Smith’s Cove and the Decorative Lead Piece found on Lot 21, were tested by Tobias Skowronek, and found to have the exact same lead content, from the exact same mine in southern France. Now, we have the Lead Disc, found on lot 5, that indicates it may also be from the same source. Three different pieces, found in three different parts of the island, potentially coming from the same source. What does this suggest? It suggests to us that a thorough examination of the Lead Disc be completed and an investigation of possible reasons for a lead source being kept on Oak Island. A new Compendium Investigation will be coming soon.
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