Original subtitles

[narrator] Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

[Steve] It's a brand-new area we haven't explored

on the western side.

-Oh. What have we got here? -[Rick] Whoa!

-Look what I'm getting here. Oh! -[Tansy] Oh!

So I've done a CT scan. You can see it faintly right here.

[others gasping]

-Well, I'll be damned. -Yeah. -That might tell a story.

[Terry] Whoa! Whoa!

We're probably into the void. If there's

the one thing, he could have it in that core barrel right now.

-Yeah. -There you go.

[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.

♪ ♪

Okay, team. This is the part of this whole venture

I like, honestly, the most.

[narrator] Another bright morning

has dawned on Oak Island.

And in the laboratory, Rick and Marty Lagina

and members of their team are gathered to learn more

about a recent discovery.

Katya and I found something

that we thought was really, really cool.

It's a coin, for sure.

And we're about to find out what exactly this is.

-[rapid beeping] -Ooh.

Wowzer.

[narrator] One week ago, Marty and Katya Drayton

discovered a coin with a curious design on Lot 5

and in the same area

where the team previously found five Roman coins

that could be as much as 2,000 years old.

[Emma] So, yeah. So I've done an XRF.

So, compositionally,

it's copper-based.

There is iron, there is calcium,

but you see there's a silver content also.

And that's a good sign. That usually indicates

an older alloy.

That's amazing.

Emma says the composition of the coin has silver.

And so I think it could be very valuable.

Everything about this, once again,

makes you feel like, geez, I'm not wasting

my time and money here.

Uh, this is-- this is for real.

I popped it into the CT scan to get a better look at it.

[others gasping]

-[Gary] That's ancient. -[Katya] Oh, my God.

[laughter]

-[Tom] Wow. -[Emma] So you have the figure

standing left.

And we do have the lettering,

officina,

which is "N" for "novem," so "ninth."

So it's "ninth workshop."

Can't tell which region,

'cause the-the mint mark is gone.

That would be, like, in the Roman vicinity.

And if we take a look at the other side.

So, you have the head bust facing right.

You can see it faintly right here.

Looks like a crown.

And a really distinctive, pointed,

like, a really sharp nose, sharp chin.

And these features,

you only see them with Claudius II.

So, you have the workshops,

you have the composition,

and then you have Claudius II,

and that puts it more towards, like, 250, 270 AD.

-So this is a Roman coin? -Yes.

[English accent] Roman, baby!

[laughter]

-Without a doubt? -Without a doubt.

[narrator] Marcus Aurelius Claudius,

also known as Claudius II,

reigned as the emperor of Rome from 268

to 270 AD.

The team has never found evidence of habitation

on Oak Island dating back to that era.

So how did the six Roman coins get here?

-Well, I'll be damned. We have very few... -Yeah.

...certainties on this island. Well, there's one.

That is a Roman coin.

I mean, we used to say it with a little bit of hesitation,

like, you know, we have a hard time believing it ourselves.

But we-we can't discard it anymore.

[Emma] It does have a high

surrounding silicon layer.

Does that imply it's been there a long time?

-Yeah. -How about that?

-[chuckling] -[Emma] What were the other metals that, uh,

Dr. Spooner was finding in the water

-in the Money Pit? -[Rick] Lead, tin,

copper, and zinc.

So those are all elements that are found in this coin.

The silver Pitblado coin is 1367 to 1383

and has similar elements, too.

[narrator] The fact that the composition

of the so-called Portuguese Pitblado coin

and the Roman coins

match the traces of precious metals

that were detected deep in the Money Pit area

raises an important question.

Could they all be related?

I have always believed that what happened here on Oak Island

happened long ago.

And so it's not out of the bounds

to suggest that this might be part of the treasure.

-Right? -[Marty] Yeah. -[Emma] Mm-hmm.

[Tom] The interesting thing now is,

-when was it deposited? -[Marty] Yeah. Exactly.

That is what would be interesting to know.

[Rick] I think Sandy Campbell

can certainly tell us something about that coin.

We should have him look into this further.

Well, as you often tell me, Marty,

that's a great find, but you guys need to go back out

to Lot 5 and find some more.

-Yeah. Let's do it. -Exactly! Let's go. -[Laird] All right.

-See you later. Take care. -[Marty] Good job.

[narrator] Later that morning,

as the team prepares their next drill location

in the Money Pit area...

[Rick] So, as we know, it's a very

aggressive search agenda this year.

We have a lot of things going on.

I know you've done your homework.

You have the permits.

...Rick meets with Steve Guptill,

Scott Barlow, and Billy Gerhardt

in the Oak Island Research Center

to plan another major investigation,

a large-scale dig in the triangle-shaped swamp.

The swamp has been incredibly generous to us

in terms of finding things.

-Mm-hmm. -Think about

the timelines that have been associated with the swamp.

1200s, 1300s,

1400s.

We've always thought that the bog held secrets,

and those secrets might have something to do

-with the Money Pit, right? -Yeah. -Mm-hmm.

[narrator] During the past decade,

Rick, Marty, and the team

have uncovered numerous stone structures in the swamp.

These include a massive paved area

near the center of the bog,

which has been scientifically dated to the 13th century;

a stone road in the southeast corner,

which may be more than 500 years old

and is believed to be of Portuguese origin;

and a cobblestone pathway in the northern region,

which led the team to an empty vault-like feature

that has been dated to as early as the 17th century.

[Rick] We've found some incredibly unique things

in the swamp.

Things we haven't been able to explain as of yet

but suggest numerous groups

may have deposited things here on the island.

Once you understand the totality of the work in the bog,

then you can apply maybe a possible connection

to the Money Pit

and who was behind this mystery.

So, Steve, where are your areas of interest?

So, I have an area I'd like to start us at.

Um, it's just west of the paved area. You can see it here.

It's a brand-new area we haven't explored on the western side.

[Billy] That end of the swamp is kind of like

the area around the vault, right? You know, we traveled

across it a hundred times and didn't know the vault was there.

So, you know, I think that the same types of finds

-can exist in that corner. -Hopefully there's another one,

-and hopefully it's not empty. -Yeah.

[Rick] We drained the swamp.

And I think all that really remains is, you know,

-get-get the excavators in place and-and start digging. -Yeah.

Let's get to work.

[narrator] Later that day...

[Steve] All right, guys. Western side of the swamp.

Brand-new area for us.

...Rick meets with members of the team to begin

their new investigation in the western region of the swamp.

And we're only 180 feet off the paved area.

That's just straight east of us.

Yeah. And I love those dates from the paved area.

1200s.

And we've seen a certain coin this year,

a Portuguese coin from the 1300s.

-We might be in for a bit of pork and cheese. -[laughter]

[Rick] Every year the swamp surprises us.

And the bar every year, it keeps raising, right?

[Gary] Yeah. Let's get

diggy with it, Billy.

[Gary] I'm really excited

to be back in the swamp. It's been good to us

in the past. We found a lot

of really nice artifacts in the area.

And hopefully we are gonna find some artifacts today.

No. It's clean at the moment.

Oh.

Wow. Look at that.

[Gary] What have we got here?

-Stake. Did you see that, Billy? You just moved a stake. -Yeah.

[narrator] While digging near the western edge

of the Oak Island swamp,

Rick Lagina and members of the team

have just discovered an interesting clue.

[Gary] Is that one of the sharpened

old wooden stake posts, Rick?

[Rick] It looks like it.

-What do you think? -It does look

like one of those older style ones,

the way it's...

it's cut like that.

That ain't saw.

-That... -[Rick] No.

-That's a-- Yeah. -That's axe-cut.

[narrator] A hand-cut wooden stake?

Curiously, the team discovered a number of similar stakes

one year ago in the center of the swamp,

lining the cobble path.

These stakes were carbon-dated to as early as the 17th century

and led them to the vault-like feature.

So that would be your first connection that this

-potentially at one point in time was a path. -So that could

be a really old wood stake.

[narrator] Is it possible that the team has uncovered evidence

of another pathway?

If so, just what might it lead to?

What have we got here?

Whew.

Look at that.

-That's definitely a stake there. -[Steve/Gary] Yeah.

[Rick] There's one right there.

-[Steve] Yeah. -[Gary] Oh. Yeah.

Good eye, Rick.

Oh. That's a little mini work of art, isn't it?

[Steve] Like the ones we've seen on the north side of the swamp.

-Mm-hmm. -And the dating on those

came back from 1630s all the way to mid-1700s.

[Rick] Question is, what do all these stakes mean?

This stake is strikingly similar

to the stakes that we found in the north end.

The stakes might be referencing some work

that is yet undiscovered in the bog.

It is incredibly exciting.

It's odd to have so many stakes in one area.

-Right? -Yeah. -[Rick] We need to date these

to-to really understand their importance here

-in a-- in a very tight area. -Yeah.

But you still need to find

-artifacts. -Oh, yeah. The metals will tell the story

-of this place. -Yeah.

Okey doke.

[Gary] I'm hoping for coins.

[Rick] Cross our fingers.

[narrator] As Rick and the team

proceed with their excavation in the swamp...

...several hundred yards to the west on Lot 5...

[Fiona] This almost feels like this is that top layer soil,

'cause it's soft, but...

I noticed it's more gravelly when you get over there,

-but that could be from that pile. -It's from the pile,

-I think. -Yeah.

...archaeologist Fiona Steele

and other members of the team

continue their investigation

of a mysterious rounded feature near the shoreline.

Okay, your turn for the coolest find ever.

[Tansy] Okay. Ever.

[narrator] In recent years,

the team has uncovered evidence suggesting

that several different groups

conducted secret activities here at different times

while possibly hiding valuables on the island.

These include a number of buttons and Venetian trade beads

that may be connected to the Knights of Malta,

a religious military order

that descended from the Knights Templar.

[Marty] Lot 5 is an example of the extraordinary complexity

of this island and what happened here.

The multigenerational theory

fits with a lot of the dates we found.

I want to keep going, 'cause I want to figure this out.

Oh, my God. Look at this.

Might be a pipe stem.

[Tansy gasps]

[Fiona] Hey, pipe stem!

Oh, that's great. That's got a really small borehole.

Like, really s-small.

You can actually get an idea of the date range

from the size of the boreholes.

So if you get a smaller borehole,

it's more likely a more recent pipe stem.

But if you get a really big borehole, um,

it-it can age it quite a bit.

I always have stuff with me that we can use for this.

This is what we use to-to check the boreholes with.

All right, so this one is a 4/64th,

which is what I'm expecting.

Let's see. And look at that-- that fits perfectly.

So that's saying that this pipe stem was made

sometime between 1753 and 1800,

which actually fits in exactly with what--

the mean date range

of all the artifacts that we're finding here.

-Nice. -I think that's pretty cool.

[Laird] The artifacts we have, in general, from Lot 5,

these artifacts still predate 1795,

so they predate the discovery of the Money Pit.

To me, that's what makes our work on Lot 5 so significant.

[Fiona] Wow, I'm glad we found that. That's great.

Tansy. Look what I'm getting here.

Check this out.

-Pottery. -Oh, wow.

That's a big boy.

So we can take it out in two pieces.

There's one.

-[Tansy] So shiny. -Isn't that great?

See what magic...

-Oh! -[gasps]

-[laughs] -That's gorgeous.

[Tansy] That's really pretty.

[Fiona] Wow. You hold that one.

-Let's get the other piece out. -Yeah.

-[Fiona] There we go! -Ooh! So pretty!

[Fiona] Wow. Those will go together.

Look how big that bowl would've been.

It had to have been a big utilitarian type of bowl.

It was probably used for food purposes,

preparation of some sort,

whether it was breads or preserved fruits.

I find with these coarse earthenwares,

could be anywhere from 1600 to 1800.

But this little design on it will help date it.

Good job.

[narrator] Fragments of an ornate earthenware bowl

that may have been used to contain food?

There are no records that any settlers ever lived on Lot 5.

So if Fiona is correct

that this pottery may date back to the 17th century,

it's a potential clue that could help identify who was here.

[Fiona] The things that we've been finding on Lot 5

have been giving us more of an indication

of multi-occupational use of the lot itself.

That's pretty blatant and evident.

So it's, uh... it's getting more and more curious as we're going.

Every piece adds to the puzzle and tells us more and more.

-[Tansy] Yeah. -That's great.

Beautiful find.

[narrator] The next day...

[Rick] The find is quite remarkable.

Laird, I would think you would have to agree-- finding that

is incredibly impressive.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

...Rick and members of the team

meet once again in the lab

regarding another find

made two weeks ago on Lot 5.

Tansy, we thank you for that.

-[laughs] -It's-it's stunningly beautiful. -It is.

[narrator] An ornate glass bead

that Tansy Rudnicki uncovered in the rounded feature.

Laird, Emma, tell us what this is and what it may mean.

[Emma] So I do have an XRF...

result.

So, the composition,

we have a whole bunch of elements in it.

The color is due to the copper content that you see right here.

So that's what makes it a lovely, lovely blue.

But here's the compositional averages

and the comparison with other artifacts found on Oak Island.

Our bead is the one in blue.

The composition of the glass itself,

the closest match that it lines up with

are the Venetian beads that we've collected over the years.

It would be interesting to know if any of these

are associated with the activity

that was going on with the Knights of Malta.

[Doug] It would be interesting to know if any of these

are associated with the activity that was going on

with the Knights of Malta. So I'd just be curious

to see if maybe they brought some beads with them.

They would've 100% brought beads with them

to trade with the Indigenous people in the area.

[narrator] In the Oak Island lab,

Emma Culligan and Laird have just informed the team

that it's possible that the glass Venetian bead

found on Lot 5

could be connected to the Knights of Malta.

So, it's what we call a seed bead,

for obvious reasons.

It's the size of a large seed.

They were introduced

-in the second half of the 1600s. -[Emma] Mm.

It would be interesting to know if any of these

have ever been found at Fort Point, because,

as we all know, Isaac de Razilly came over and made

-his capital on the LaHave River. -Mm-hmm.

[narrator] In 1632,

a French naval captain

and prominent member of the Knights of Malta

named Isaac de Razilly

helped establish the French colony of Acadia,

which is now known today as Nova Scotia.

Curiously, de Razilly established his headquarters

at Fort Point on the LaHave River,

just 15 miles south of Oak Island.

If Venetian beads have been discovered at Fort Point,

could that offer more evidence of a connection

between the Knights of Malta and the Oak Island mystery?

We can check with the archaeologists at Fort Point,

see what they may have for beads

that were recovered from their archaeology.

That'd be great.

As strange as it sounds, that little simple bead

might tell a story. So,

thank you, Emma. Thank you, Laird.

-Having said that, we better get out back to it. -[Peter] Mm-hmm.

-[Doug/Rick] Thank you. -[Laird] See you later.

[Emma] See ya.

[narrator] Later that day,

as the investigations in both the swamp

and on Lot 5 continue...

[Terry] J.5-8.5, guys.

-[Peter] All right. -We're still

about...

12 feet above what we would conventionally think

of the top of the solution channel.

...over at the Money Pit area,

the core-drilling operation reaches a depth

of nearly 140 feet

in a new borehole known as J.5-8.5.

Here, the team hopes to penetrate the natural cavity

known as the solution channel

and recover evidence of treasure.

Previous holes have shown us

how convoluted it is. We've run into

actual ledges within it

and soft spot below 190.

Hopefully, this one we'll get into an even looser area

-and some kind of a chest. -Yeah.

One full of silver coins.

That's what it's all about. We live in hope.

[Rick] Did a treasure fall down to the depths

of the solution channel? We don't know.

You don't want to be driven by possibilities.

You want to be driven by facts.

And the fact is, right now, we are nowhere near done

exploring the extremities of this void.

And we need to continue to be very disciplined

in our approach.

But we mustn't relent. We mustn't give up.

We're not there yet. I want the one thing.

[Terry] Whoa! Whoa!

-That was interesting. -[Charles] What happened?

He just lost his rods.

That means we're probably into the void.

I'll ask him how far they seem to have dropped.

-Adam! -Hey.

-How far did they drop? -About eight feet.

Okay.

-And that's into a loose area? -I'm assuming.

-Yeah. That's what we're looking for. -Okay.

-Go get 'er. -Well, we'll see here. Yeah.

Thanks.

[Adam] That's weird.

-Hey, Terry. -What did he, what did he say?

So, that was interesting. So, we're into a loose area.

148 to 158 or so.

The rods just dropped right out.

Now we go deeper to see what they find.

I mean, I've got my fingers crossed here, gentlemen.

We are in a really interesting point.

Let's hope.

[Terry] I mean, this is exactly what we're looking for.

We're dropping down into an open space

in the solution channel below 150 feet.

If we trace this to the bottom,

we could find a lot of amazing things before bedrock.

Whoa.

That is an extraordinary washed-out...

-Yeah. -...void of material.

168.

-Wow. -Yeah. Here you go.

Uh, the rods were 15 feet down.

-15 feet? -15 feet.

So, is that the solution channel, you think?

-Huh. -Exactly so.

[Terry] That's the kind of a void and open space

that you could lose a whole lot of treasure.

[Brayden] So, out of the 20 feet, that's all you got.

-[Charles] Wow. -[Peter] Wow. -[Terry] Yeah.

[Terry] So, that bodes well, gentlemen.

I think this is, uh, this is getting very interesting.

[Charles] It's not over yet.

I'm gonna run the pinpointer over this.

[Terry] So, when we pull a 20-foot run

and we only have a few feet of material in it,

that says we've passed into a relative void

where only a small amount of the solid material

has been encountered,

and if we hit that kind of a situation,

we know we're into the void in the solution channel.

Clear.

[Terry] That tells us we could encounter

an artifact anywhere between there and the bedrock.

[Adam] Terry!

[Terry] Adam, how we doing?

I'm, uh, I'm at 188.

-Wow. -And I haven't hit anything hard.

-All we got is loose void. -That's it.

Thanks.

What do ya got?

So, he has dropped another 20 feet.

He went from 168 to 188,

and he's still got nothing solid.

So, he's gonna push forward from 188 to 198

to see if he can hit something solid.

-Yeah. -[Peter] Given what we know,

there's a 30-foot void, give or take.

That's exciting.

I think objective number one is to find the bottom

-of the solution channel. -Absolutely.

[Peter] We're excited,

because what is below us

right here has not been searched by anyone ever,

and we're gonna be the first people to look at that.

[Charles] Hopefully, we'll find something at the bottom,

because treasure is very dense,

and it will drop through the m-material

in the solution channel and settle at the bottom.

We have a core, gentlemen.

[Terry] The sample that we have in that core barrel

is very important.

We've just passed down through a huge amount of loose area.

If there's a debris field,

if there's a broken-up treasure chest,

if there's the one thing,

he could have it in that core barrel right now.

[Charles] Let's hope.

[Terry] 168 to 198 right in front of us, gentlemen.

We're looking for aspects of the debris field

-that-that have... of the fallen treasure, yes? -Exactly.

-[Peter] There he is. -[Charles] Hey, Rick. -Hey.

-Hi, Rick. How you doing? -Hello.

[Terry] A very loose area here, Rick.

168 to 198 in J.5-8.5.

-Okay. Let's see. -All right.

[narrator] In the Money Pit area,

Rick has joined the team to inspect fresh drilling cores

recovered from the solution channel.

[Terry] So, this material is relatively watery

void-like material,

and from 198,

we should go to about 218 or 215 before we hit bedrock, Rick.

-[Rick] Yep. -[Terry] So, it should be another swath

of interesting material at the bottom

of the solution channel.

[Charles] Unfortunately...

-Nothing. -No hits with the pinpointer.

-Well, let's see what the next one looks like. -[Peter] Yeah.

I think this next run's the most important.

That would be the hope.

This hole in particular,

it's soft enough for something very heavy

to have migrated downward to the point where it would fall

to the lowest possible point,

i.e., the bottom of the solution channel.

We just have to find it.

[Adam] This is getting ridiculous.

Like, I'm at 228 right now.

[Brayden] That's so weird, man.

[Terry] Adam, how we doing?

[Adam] 228.

-228? -228.

Wow. That's one for the record books.

-And loose all the way down? -Yeah.

Nothing?

Well, it's loose, but it's... I can feel it.

Do you think you're gonna be able to retrieve that?

It's going in the rods right now.

-Okay, thank you. -Yeah.

Well, you don't see that every day.

-228 and no bedrock. -What?

What are they going through, just water?

Well, it's loose material as well.

It looks like he's gonna be able to get a sample,

so it looks like we're gonna have 30 feet more

of core coming up.

I agree, it's highly unusual.

And the fact that you're not at bedrock at 228,

-it's incredibly interesting. -Yeah.

[narrator] Previously drilled boreholes that have reached

the bottom of the solution channel

have suggested that the mysterious natural cavity

has a maximum depth of some 220 feet.

However, has the team now discovered evidence

that it could be deeper in some areas,

presenting a whole new challenge

to finding the believed treasure?

[Rick] The solution channel is wide,

it's expansive, it's deep.

I think it's a little bit larger and certainly deeper

than we had thought.

Generally, the bottom is 218, 214.

Well, we're 14 feet past that.

I think what it tells us is we have a lot more work to do

to truly understand the solution channel.

It certainly presents some unique challenges.

Will there be issues that arise that we haven't anticipated?

Sure, there will be problems, but we're not gonna give up,

and it's that simple.

Jump in and I'll guide you in.

If there were something of some significance,

it would easily fall through what we just had on the table.

-Exactly. -Yes.

[Charles] Here we go. Let's hope it's a good one.

We can be very hopeful. Look,

if Peter thinks it's hopeful, I'm on board.

I'm cautiously optimistic.

-There you go. -[Terry] That was the words. There you go.

[Rick] The drill bar has basically fallen

almost 100 feet with no hindrance.

Your immediate thought is, "Well, here, absolutely,

is the collapse zone."

What other explanation is there?

And if there's a collapse zone,

then we may be close to something.

[Terry] So, 198

all the way down to 228, and no bedrock yet.

But a lot of loose material.

So, you've got a lot of work to do here

-with your pinpointer, I think, Charles. -[Charles] Oh, yeah.

Okay, so, for 30 feet of drilling,

we got about 12 feet of loose material.

-[Charles] Clear. -Unfortunately,

in this section, we didn't hit it.

Let's see where he hits bottom

and we'll see what he brings back up.

If he's pounding, that's bedrock.

[Terry] And it's a nice white powder.

That's bedrock.

Let's see what we got up above the bedrock.

[Charles] Here we go.

What do we got?

It's 228 to 233.

The rock was at 229.

[Terry] So, yeah, it looks like you got about a foot

of loose material.

That's a good four feet of bedrock.

Yeah, it's clear.

So, J.5-8.5

seems to have come to an end here at 233 below grade.

We hit bedrock at 229 below grade.

-It gave us information. -Exactly.

[Peter] What do you think about this, Adam?

[Adam] It's been the most interesting one to me,

-to date. -[Rick] The bottom line is,

I'm an eyes and boots guy. When a driller of record says

this is something different, you can put your nickel on that.

It's different. Absolutely.

Based on what we're seeing, the theory that the treasure

would fall deep down in the solution channel

still is alive and well.

[Rick] One of the reasons for doing

the sonic drill program was,

"Okay, where's an area where we might put a caisson down?"

Incremental information is incredibly important

to help us determine that.

-Yeah. -We need to make a decision where we go next.

-Right on. -Yeah? -Yep.

-[Terry] Absolutely. -[narrator] As the team plots

their next borehole location in the Money Pit area...

[Rick] So, Sandy, thank you for coming down once again.

Appreciate it, Rick.

[narrator] ...Rick and Doug meet with coin expert

Sandy Campbell in the research center

to get his analysis of the Roman coin

that was recently found on Lot 5.

[Sandy] You know, as soon as I picked the coin up,

it's quite obvious what it is.

This is clearly Roman Empire period.

It's in remarkable condition for a coin

that's been buried for quite a while.

I think we'll need a CT

to get a more definitive portrait.

[Doug] Laird and Emma have actually provided us

-with a couple of images from the CT scanner. -Okay.

Let's have a look.

Yeah. The CT is pretty clear.

You know, the reverse is quite spectacular.

A very definitive legend,

and somebody's standing, holding an oak leaf.

Uh, the obverse here is probably Claudius,

which makes it third century AD.

[Rick] That's what Laird and Emma said.

Yeah.

No question in your mind, it's a Roman coin?

No. No question.

It's a pretty obvious design and-and period of Roman Empire.

But of all the Roman this is, you know, perhaps,

the most remarkable piece that's been found to date.

What do you make of Roman coins

being found on this island, though?

Like, how many Roman coins have been found elsewhere

in Nova Scotia?

I-I would say...

nothing that I'm aware of.

I'm puzzled how so many Roman coins

could land on this island.

The question that would be on my mind is

-"Who brought it?" -Right.

You know, Roman coins traded as currency

into the 1500s quite regularly.

They were monetarily used,

and that's what possibly brought them to this island,

in my opinion.

Who brought them is a different story.

[Doug] Here's a scenario that starts to paint itself

in my mind, though.

The people that were carrying out the work

to create the Money Pit may have been carrying this

as currency in their pockets.

[Sandy] I think that is

a distinct possibility.

[Rick] Incredible.

If you have people on the island

building habitations for the work,

perhaps, in the Money Pit and they're losing

their personal possessions along the way,

these coins might have been, actually, the pocket change

of the workers working to deposit a treasure

in the Money Pit.

So, this, to me, may not be the actual treasure

they were depositing, but it's evidence.

-Yes. -Yeah. It could be.

[narrator] In the Oak Island Research Center,

Sandy Campbell has just validated the possibility

that the Roman coins found on Lot 5

may have been dropped by those who buried a treasure

in the Money Pit.

I wouldn't discount it.

You know, 1300s, 1400s,

this stuff was in use all through Europe.

If you walked into any merchant anywhere in the world,

you know, whether it's a new world or the old world,

that had monetary value.

It's mind-numbing

that this stuff continues

-to get unearthed. -Mm-hmm.

[Doug] One of the interesting things about Roman coins is

they've often been found in places we've investigated

the activities of the Templars,

-right? -[Rick] Mm-hmm.

Another twist.

[Armann] So, here we have the coins.

The Roman coins that have been found in Iceland.

[narrator] During their numerous trips to European sites

where the Templar order was believed

to have operated between the 12th and 14th centuries,

the team has been shown Roman coins

from the same eras that they have found on Oak Island.

This is fourth century.

-Fourth century? -Yeah.

[Doug] We were told ours were from fifth century AD.

If those coins were in active use

right up through the 1200s,

then they could be associated with activity with the Templars.

[Rick] This, sitting here on this table,

might be representative of that cultural context.

-Hmm. -Perhaps with Nolan's Cross

and then the so-called Pitblado coin.

Right.

[narrator] Is it possible

that the ancient Roman coins

could actually represent another Templar connection

to the Oak Island mystery?

And could they be related

to other possible Templar structures,

such as Nolan's Cross,

as well as reported discoveries

like the silver Portuguese coin?

The wealth associated with the possible treasure

in the Money Pit might have been gathered

from all over the world.

And Templars, as we have learned,

assimilated power,

influence, wealth and, specifically, knowledge.

So, it may be that this coin is Roman,

but you have to take

the clues and the data as presented to you,

but you have to analyze that data with a very open mind,

because they could all be connected.

We need to rededicate ourselves

to continue to look intensively,

uh, a-at Lot 5 and the adjacent lots

and the Money Pit, for irrefutable proof.

-Right. -So, Sandy,

thank you for coming down. Really appreciate it as always.

Well, I appreciate the invite and, again, just...

it's always interesting to see something new and different.

It just deepens the mystery, in my opinion.

-It does do that. -Yeah.

[Rick] It's incredibly interesting,

Roman coins were found on Oak Island.

[Sandy] It's just more bizarre.

[laughter]

[narrator] Later that day...

[Gary] It's a good place to start, Charles.

-[Charles] Yeah. -Back on the trail

of artifacts, mate, on Lot 4.

I love it.

[narrator] ...Charles joins Gary on Lot 4.

Encouraged by the new discoveries

of the glass bead and the Roman coin...

-You ready to get stuck in, mate? -Let's do it.

-Okay. Let's start here. -You find 'em, I'll dig 'em.

[narrator] ...Rick has instructed them

to search an area on nearby Lot 4,

where excavated spoils from the round feature on Lot 5

have been deposited.

It's a bit of a jumpy signal, Charles.

It's more than likely gonna be a piece of elongated iron.

[Charles] You never know.

Let's get stuck back in, you've diggled some dirt around.

[device beeping]

-I think it's out. -Yeah. I believe so.

[high-pitched beeping]

Yeah, just a little nail. Look.

[tongue clicks] Darn it.

-Well, keep going. -Yep.

[device beeping]

Ooh. We got a nice bangin' signal here, Charles.

Oh, I like the sound of that, Charles.

-Nice one? -Yeah, a real good one.

-This could be a coin or a button. -Well, let's hope.

This has got potential, mate.

-Just there, please. -Right there? Okay.

[Charles] That's a lot of roots.

Yep.

X marks the spot.

[laughs]

[Charles] Yep.

Take a look-see.

All right.

-Let's see what we got. -[high-pitched beeping]

It's here.

It's in me hand, mate, and I can feel it...

This is the fun part, mate.

Let's see what we've got.

Ooh.

[Gary laughs] Oh! What have we found, Charles?

Look at that, mate.

It's some kind of lead strip.

That's interesting.

[narrator] While searching for clues on Lot 4,

Charles and Gary have just made a curious discovery.

-[Gary] Look at the beveled edges. -[Charles] I see that.

-You know what this reminds me of? -What's that?

It reminds me of a-an arm of a lead cross.

-Really? -It looks like there's a hole

-at the top. -Yeah.

[Gary] If you are making a cross out of lead

and you want to tack it onto something...

-Right. -...it would need holes.

-So, we could be in Templar country. -Yeah.

[narrator] A lead artifact with similar features

to the 14th-century lead cross

that was found at Smith's Cove in 2017?

Members of the Oak Island team

have seen this exact cross design

at 12th and 14th-century Templar-related sites

in Domme, France;

in Camerano, Italy;

and near Reykjavik, Iceland.

And perhaps even more incredible

is the fact that in 2022,

while investigating the mysterious round feature

just a few yards away on Lot 5,

Gary and Jack Begley unearthed a lead barter token

that was scientifically matched to the lead cross.

You see that?

-This looks really old. -Yeah.

[narrator] Is it possible that Gary and Charles have found

another key clue that could help prove a Templar connection

to the Oak Island mystery?

Let's put this in the bag where it belongs.

Even a little piece of lead like this

could tell a really big story.

It's one of those metals you can have tested and you never know.

Imagine if this piece of lead is a match

to a certain medieval artifact we recovered in Smith's Cove?

Medieval lead cross, baby.

I'm sure there's more artifacts waiting for us,

but we need to get to the lab.

I can't wait to see what this is.

-Let's go, man. -All right, mate. Good digging.

-[Charles] Excellent. -[Gary] Absolutely brilliant.

[narrator] Generations of treasure hunters

have believed that something of immense value

lies buried in the Money Pit.

Now, Rick, Marty and their team

may have not only touched a piece

of those fabled riches

but have found incredible new clues

that could help identify

just who was behind this mystery.

So, despite the murky questions

that remain in the solution channel,

this team will keep searching for the truth

no matter how deep they have to dig.

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

[Rick] Hold it. WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!

[Gary] Another feature in the swamp.

What in the world is happening?

[Marty] This feature could help us unwrap the whole mystery.

[Rick] Something this small has fallen

to the bottom of the solution channel.

[Charles] There it is, right there.

-It could be a chunk of a coin. -[Peter] It's got some

sort of design on it. If it's a silver coin,

that's treasure.

-[Rick] It's what we're looking for. -Yeah.

Be prepared to be gobstruck.

-[laughter] -This is gonna be special.

-This is quite pure? -Yes, absolutely.

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