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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • 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.

  • We see a bit of phosphorus here.

  • I think this is the first time we've seen phosphorus

  • in an iron object though.

  • 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.

  • It's a good indication that more likely pre-1840s.

  • 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.

  • We found a lot of searcher stuff.

  • This is different, so maybe this is original.

  • Yeah.

  • So right.

  • More modern manufacturer of a spike

  • wouldn't have used an iron ore rich in phosphorus.

  • That's very interesting.

  • Yeah, very much so.

  • Yeah, it's really interesting.

  • But this is a second spike.

  • Basically, the identical compositions.

  • OK.

  • So likely, these two originated from same batch

  • of manufacturer.

  • Right.

  • That's good news.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Well, we thank you for the information.

  • It's great news.

  • And we're pushing it back as always old

  • as it is, but ti's science, and it's the truth.

  • So we'll pursue that.

  • Yeah.

  • It's a little bit of more new information.

  • Yeah.

  • Thank you.

  • Thank you again.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

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