The Curse of Oak Island: Ancient Ceramic Treasures Unearthed (Season 11)

-[Rick] Morning.
-[Billy] Morning.
You should say,
“Good morning”.
We’ll find something
today, right?
Well, I’m pretty excited
on this area.
Closer we get
to the stone road,
the more exciting
it’s gonna get.

[narrator] As a new morning
dawns on Oak Island,
for brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina
and their team…
the quest for answers
to a 229-year-old
treasure mystery
continues in one
of the most intriguing
and inhospitable locations
on these 140 acres:
the triangle-shaped swamp.

Gary, you’re up.
All right, mate,
ready to get stuck in.
Hopefully, it’s not literally.
[laughs]
This looks old.
-That does, yeah.
-Yeah.

[narrator] One week ago,
while excavating
the potentially 500-year-old
stone road, or ship’s wharf
that was first uncovered
in the southeast corner
of the brackish bog
back in 2020,
the team found a large
handwrought chain and hook,
which, according
to blacksmithing expert,
Carmen Legge,
was not only used
to lift heavy cargo,
but may also date back
to the 16th century.

I’ll start down
near the bottom
-and work my way back.
-Okay.

[narrator] Now the team
is digging further
into the southern shore
that borders the swamp,
in the hopes of uncovering more
of the stone road.
And also clues that could prove
whether or not the swamp
was artificially created
in order to hide something
of great value on Oak Island.

Is that a stick there, mate?
In the side of the old?
-Yeah.
-[Rick] There…
-Is that a stud?
-[Billy] Oh, yeah.
That’s worth bagging.
Okay, I’ll put it in the bag.
[Rick] Okay.

-This is almost peaty though.
-Yeah.
-[Rick] Here.
-[Billy] A bit of peat
and then it goes to a mud.
And it’s the only layer in here
that’s kinda like that.
[Rick] What it tells me is,
we need to know
-what’s under this dirt.
-[Billy] Right.
We should have Dr. Spooner
come down.
Yeah.
-I’ll send him a text.
-Yeah.

[Rick] The x-cut wood
is interesting,
because it represents
older type of wood construct.
And this material’s
coming up in the peat,
that’s quite layered there,
there’s…
sand, peat, sand, peat.
I would say
that it’s not natural.
So, what is going on here?

-Hey, Billy.
-Hey.
We don’t know what to make
of the possible connection
between here and the stone road.
What do you make of peat…
gray sand and brown sand?
Yeah, the peat
shouldn’t be over the sand.
If this beach is moving
landward, with time,
then the sand
should be over the peat.

[Ian] I mean, this is,
to me, really important,
because it tells us
this feature extended…
out this way.
So why doesn’t that feature
the way it exists there
in front of our eyes,
why doesn’t that…
extend here?
I think this beach…
they pulled the boat up
on the beach,
but you just can’t have
a big 26-foot boat…
sitting on a beach.
-You’re trying to unload it.
-Mm.
And they needed a platform
to haul it on.
So I think they placed peat
over the sand,
and that’s
what it looks like to me.

[narrator] Could Dr. Spooner
be correct
that the swamp
and surrounding area
was artificially manipulated
in order to construct
the stone road
for the purpose of moving
something of great value
from a ship onto Oak Island?

I think you need to go
three, four feet.
Oh, yeah.
So I think
we should go back out.
-Yeah, okay.
-Good.
I think so. Thank you.

[machinery whirring]
I think that’s the end
of the road right there.

[Billy] ‘Cause there’s
stack rocks, right?
[Rick] That’s what I would say.

[Gary] Whoa!
See that, Rick? Whoa!
What’s that he’s dragging?
[all] Whoa!
-Whoa, whoa!
-Got a nice piece of pottery.
Oh, that’s gorgeous.
Look at that.
Hopefully, it’s got
some decoration, mate,
if it’s gonna be anywhere
beyond that base.
[Rick] Here’s another one.
Ooh, that’s a big chunk
of pottery, innit?
Mm-hm.

[Gary] Some kind of bowl
or dish.
There’s so much of it.
[Rick] Maybe more.
We should hand-dig this now.
Talk about
finding something in situ,
as the archaeologists say.
Gorgeous. You see any marks
on any pieces?

[Rick] Not yet. Oops.
-Ooh, look at that.
-[Gary] What you got?
[Rick] A handle.
-Look at that.
-That’s nice.
[Gary] Yeah, that’s gorgeous.
Look at that.
Someone would have had money.
I tell you, mate, wherever
there’s muck, there’s money.
This is great.
But date, the archaeologist
can put that together
and clean it up.
-Maybe there’s a maker’s mark.
-Yeah.
There’s pottery there, Gary.
[Gary] Oh, yeah.
No mistaking that.
What is it, Rick?
It’s thin stuff, I think.
Yeah, it’s a thin stuff.
And this looks like
it’s a plate.
That’s a plate rim
by the look of it.
There’s got to be
some maker’s marks
on some of this stuff.
Good eye, mate.

-Check this out.
-Oh.
It’s coming up. Look at that.
That’s a beautiful piece
of pottery.
That could be old.
Yeah, this could be old, mate.
That is really, really fancy.
Almost like a leaf design on it.
I haven’t seen that before,
so that makes it interesting.

[Rick] Here you go. Another one.
-Excellent.
-One more.
[Gary] Oh, man.
That’s sweet, innit?
[Rick] Mm-hm.
[Gary] Yeah, glazed on one side.
-[Rick] Look.
-[Gary] What you got?
This is lovely, mate.
Good eye.
That’s some sweet pottery.
And I believe that this pottery
is older than that dish,
-or a bowl we found.
-[Rick] Yep.
I really do.
[Gary] I think the pottery
is getting older,
the deeper we’re goin’.
[Rick] Yep.
We found a number
of different types of pottery.
One or two vessels,
where they can possibly
be reconstructed.
And it was quite localized.
[Gary] Nice finds, Rick.