NARRATOR: As a new day begins, and while the investigation at the eye of the swamp continues, Craig Tester, Alex Lagina, and Oak Island Historian Charles Barkhaus have traveled some 50 miles northeast of Oak Island to St. Mary’s University in the city of Halifax.

MAN: Knock, knock. Hey. How are you doing? Good to see you again. Dr. Brosseau.

NARRATOR: They have arranged for Dr. Christa Brosseau, an associate professor of chemistry, to scientifically analyze the possible 18th century iron spikes that were found in the uplands earlier this week.

If these spikes can be dated to a time before the Money Pit’s discovery in 1795, they could not only offer important evidence that the team is close to locating the main flood tunnel connected to the fabled treasure shaft, they could also offer evidence of who built the elaborate Money Pit treasure vault and when.

Hi, Xiang.

NARRATOR: Working with her colleague, Dr. Xiang Yang, Dr. Brosseau will examine the spikes using a high-powered scanning electron microscope, capable of magnifying objects up to 200,000 times their actual size.

In addition, it can also help identify their chemical composition.

DR. BROSSEAU: We see a bit of phosphorus here. I think this is the first time we’ve seen phosphorus in an iron object though.

DR. YANG: Oh, well. So it’s typically called phosphoric iron. Early methods for making cast iron were not very good at removing phosphorus. And so you would see it all the time.

DR. BROSSEAU: It’s a good indication that it’s more likely pre-1840s.

CRAIG: That’s really cool.

NARRATOR: Commonly found in minerals, such as iron ore, phosphorus has a great effect on the durability of metal.

Because high concentrations of it will cause iron and steel to become extremely brittle, the practice of extracting it for manufacturing purposes became common beginning in the mid-19th century.

ALEX: We found a lot of searcher stuff. This is different, so maybe this is original.

DR. YANG: Yeah. So right. More modern manufacture of a spike wouldn’t have used an iron ore rich in phosphorus.

CRAIG: That’s very interesting.

DR. BROSSEAU: Yeah, very much so.

DR. YANG: Yeah, it’s really interesting. But this is a second spike. Basically, the identical compositions.

CRAIG: OK.

DR. YANG: So likely, these two originated from the same batch of manufacture.

CRAIG: Right. That’s good news.

DR. YANG: And so that may help you trace area of manufacture. Some places in the world where we have iron ore rich in phosphorus includes Britain and northern Europe.

ALEX: Oh, wow. I get excited every time there’s a new item, a new science that can advance our search. Is it French? Is it British? We don’t know for sure.

And we’ve got the potential to be original. And that would be huge.

CRAIG: Well, we thank you for the information. It’s great news. And we’re pushing it back—as always old as it is—but it’s science, and it’s the truth. So we’ll pursue that.

DR. BROSSEAU: Yeah. It’s a little bit more new information.

CRAIG: Thank you.

ALEX: Thank you again.

NARRATOR: Metal detection expert Gary Drayton joins archaeologist Dr. Aaron Taylor, Liz Michels, and Miriam Amirault on Lot 15, where they are continuing to investigate a recently discovered 130-foot-long earth-and-stone feature that has been dubbed the “serpent mound” due to its curious snake-like shape.

GARY: Morning guys.

LIZ: Hey, Gary!

MIRIAM: Hi!

GARY: Hi-ya. I’m looking forward to getting stuck in here.

NARRATOR: Two weeks ago—

DR. TAYLOR: Ooh, I got charcoal.

NARRATOR: —Dr. Taylor discovered burned charcoal, offering evidence of significant human activity within the mound.

But when Rick, Marty, and Craig had it carbon dated, the results were nothing short of astonishing.

RICK: That one had a date of 1320 to 1440.

MIRIAM: Period?

GARY: What?

CRAIG: Wow.

RICK: It might be the Knights Templar.

LIZ: Do you want to give it a little—

GARY: Yeah, of course.

[sensor beeping]

[silence]

MIRIAM: Not detecting anything.

DR. TAYLOR: It might be in that last bucket.

GARY: All right.

[slight beeping]

LIZ: There’s something around here.

[sensor sounding]

GARY: You’ve definitely got something substantial there.

MIRIAM: Oh, yeah, that one’s definitely there still.

GARY: In my hand. Ooh! That’s interesting.

DR. TAYLOR: I know it’s away from the feature, but it is another one of those old-looking spikes.

MIRIAM: Wow. That’s a square one. It looks quite old. And it had a specific use.

LIZ: We don’t find many that come down to a point like this. That served a purpose.

DR. TAYLOR: Do you think that end might be broken?

GARY: It’s hard to say? It was made that way, mate. It’s hand forged, though.

LIZ: But it could fall into that time frame of the other artifacts we’ve recovered in this area.

GARY: I’d say easily 1700s.

DR. TAYLOR: And you can just look at the size of the nail and figure that maybe there was some kind of decking around here because that looks like a deck nail to me.

NARRATOR: A hand-forged spike discovered within the mysterious serpent-shaped mound and potentially dating back to before the discovery of the Money Pit?

Could it be another important clue that could help explain this feature’s purpose and origin?

CRAIG: That’s a great find, Gary. And the more work we do on this feature, the more finds we’re going to recover.

GARY: I think you’re right.

DR. TAYLOR: All right, well, I’m gonna get back at it.

GARY: OK, guys. I’m gonna let you do your jobs. But see you guys soon.

LIZ: All right.

GARY: Cheers.

GARY: Hey, Terry. It looks like we’ve got some wood here.

TERRY: Oh, yes.

BRENNAN: Is it something substantial?

TERRY: Well, it looks like it has all the appearance of a shaft in an area where we have no real records. So it’s an unknown shaft.

TERRY: Okay.

TERRY: We got something pretty new and interesting here. We’ve got a solid section of shaft wall.

CRAIG: Which shaft?

TERRY: This is unusual.

BRENNAN: A lot of wood there.

CRAIG: Hey, guys.

TERRY: Hey, guys. How you doing?

ALL: Wood, wood, wood.

TERRY: It looks like this is a shaped piece. We’ve got a good section of shaft wall.

(continued…)