we are here today to feel the heat. And what I mean by that is I requested Steve, working with Emma and Jillian, to prepare a heat map.

[narrator] Rick, Marty and Craig meet with other members of the team in the war room.

[Marty] They were charged with looking at all the artifacts that have been found over the island over the years, and that is, of course, a lot.
-Yeah.
-[Marty] And then… put them on the map of the island by how likely they are old.
Yep.

[Steve] So, we’ve prepared a legend.

So I’m gonna throw a few out so you can take a look so you know what colors you’re looking at. So, you’ll see pink, blue, orange and green. Pink represents possibility of a deposit because it’s 1725 and older. And blue, which is 1800s to now, which means it’s searcher.
-Okay.
-[Steve] Everything else, like the 1730s, ’40s and ’50s, that orange color starts to appear.
-All right.
-[Steve] Okay?

So, right now, the two hot areas where depositors could have been is Lot 5 with the archaeologists…
-[Marty] Yeah.
-[Steve] …and the Money Pit.

We’re obviously still searching those areas, but we have found very old artifacts in other places, as well.

What about the odd pink dots over there on the head of the elephant?
[Steve] That’s Lot 15.
[Craig] Even in the orange colors, you’re going back to the mid-1700s.
-That could be depositor.
-Yep.

When you see those older ones up there on Lot 15…
-[Marty] Mm-hmm.
-[Rick] …I think there’s a lot more work to do there.
-[Marty] Yeah. I agree.
Yeah, we got to get Gary out there.

[narrator] Located some 200 yards northwest of the Money Pit area, Lot 15 has produced some of the team’s most intriguing artifacts, including burned charcoal that could date back to the 14th century, a Chinese coin that could be more than 1,000 years old, and a piece of pre-17th-century cannon stoneshot that originated in the Azores Islands of Portugal. Seeing this cluster of finds grouped on the heat map makes Lot 15 a prime target for fresh investigation.

[Billy] ‘Cause I look at the dots in Lot 15, and, you know, we’ve barely touched the surface, right?
-Yep.
-[Alex] It makes sense to concentrate there.
-Yeah, well… [sighs] you ain’t seen nothing yet. We’re gonna change these colors to gold and silver, mate.
-[laughter]

-[Rick] We are now convinced the mystery is island-wide. You go back to where you have been successful before. So, I think it’s highly appropriate to start on Lot 15.
-Okay. Thank you very much.
-Yep.

[Rick] I say we get back at it.
[Alex] I agree.

[narrator] Following their meeting…

[Gary] I’m gonna metal-detect over the top of this plowed area. And we have a chance of finding some great artifacts on this hillside.
I’m excited to see what you’ll find today.

[narrator] Rick, Gary and Steve begin searching on Lot 15.

-I’m expecting a good day.
-[Rick] Yep.
Having said that, I say we get going.
Yep.
Okay, mate.
-[metal detector chimes]
-Let’s get stuck in.

[Rick] Okey doke.

[narrator] Before their arrival, Billy used a two-and-a-half-ton tractor to pull a three-bottom plow across the surface to help them search for artifacts.

[Gary] This idea of plowing high-value areas on Oak Island comes from my experience metal-detecting on farmland in England. The farmers turn over the fields by plowing, and they bring older artifacts closer to the surface and make them more detectable.

[beeping softly]

Check this out. Here.
Is that coal?
-[Steve] It’s really light, eh?
-[Gary] Yeah. If that’s coal, that would be well out of place.
-Looks like it could be.
-Yeah, one way… one way to tell.
-[Gary] Oh, it is.
-[Steve] I’d say so. Yeah.

Hmm. What the heck is that doing here?
-[Gary] Very out of place.
-Mm-hmm.

It might be that kind of coal that was found on the stone road.
Yep.

[narrator] Because the team found pieces of coal when they uncovered the believed Portuguese stone road in the swamp…

I’m going to put this in the bag…
-[Rick] I would.
-[Gary] …and give it to Emma.

[narrator] …is it possible that this discovery, made where they have also found Portuguese stoneshot, could suggest a connection between the swamp and Lot 15?

-Good find, Gary.
-[Steve] Good find, Gary.
-[Gary] Yep.

Just on the top here.
-Right. Keep trucking in.
-[Rick] Let’s find something.

[beeping softly]
[metal detector warbling]
-[Rick] There you go.
-[Gary] Yep.
-[Steve] That sounds good.
-[Gary] Yep.

It’s right in there. Rick, please.
Now, let me see if I can pinpoint it.
[beeping rapidly]

What do we got here?
Hmm. See those facets?

[narrator] While metal-detecting on Lot 15, the team has just made a curious find.

[Gary] I wonder if that is a rosehead spike.
-Could well be.
-Could be.
They went back all the way to the 1500s.
-[Rick] Wow.
-[Gary] Uh, we did find some in the Money Pit.
-[Steve] Yep.
Mm-hmm.

[narrator] First made during the 16th century in Europe, rosehead spikes are hand-forged iron fasteners with hammered heads resembling the petals of a flower. They were commonly used up through the 18th century before machine-made nails replaced them. And the team has found a number of rosehead spikes both near the surface on Oak Island and more than 150 feet deep in the Money Pit area that have all been dated to before 1750.

-[Gary] That’s brilliant.
-[Rick] There you go.
-We’ll bag it.
-Okay.

And this, I have no doubt will be going on your heat map.
[Steve] It will be. I hope so, anyway.

[Gary] We have seen rosehead spikes many times on Oak Island, especially connected to old features and old areas. These are valuable finds. We could have a connection here between Lot 15 and the Money Pit.

[metal detector warbling]
That’s diggable.
-[Rick] There you go.
-[Steve] You got something?
-Just there, mate.
-Center right there?
Yep.

♪ ♪
-[metal detector warbling]
-Hmm.

Now, let me see if I can pinpoint.
[beeping]
[beeping]

Oh, what do we got here?
-[Rick] That’s cool.
-[Steve] It is.
-[Gary] Yeah.

A pintle was used for… as a gate or a door hanger.
-[Rick] Mm-hmm.
-[Gary] And it could’ve easily been used to hang a lantern or even in the mines when they were digging the shafts for the Money Pit. You need some light. It could be meaningful.

[Gary] I think this is a really cool find that could go way back.
All right. We’ll put it in the bag and put a flag in it.

[Steve] Good find, Gary.