Tonight there was a new Drilling Down episode of  The Curse of Oak Island. It was interesting to watch them recap some of the significant finds from Season 8 and talk a little bit about what the plans are for Season 9.It was also interesting to see which finds they talked about and which ones they didn’t.

The most interesting information that they shared this week was the carbon dating data for the piece of wood that was found deep in the swamp.

The piece of wood definitely has evidence of being worked and is thought to be a railing of a ship.

Here is where it gets interesting. The dating for the piece of wood shows that it is around 1,300 years old. Who would have been on Oak Island around 700 A.D.?

This would be too early for even the Vikings who were in North America around 1000 A.D.

There are several places where where dating has come back as pre-Columbian, such as a stone road near the eye of the swamp, but this is a big step back in time.

There was also another Drilling Down episode last week where they talked about different theories and of course there was a focus on the Templars and other French groups.

Some of my thoughts based on the different theories.

It seems that perhaps Oak Island has been visited many times over the centuries.

Was the initial deposit of treasure as far back as 700 A.D.?

Were the Templars there depositing treasure, or were they also searching?

Perhaps the Temple treasure slowly made it from Jerusalem through Europe and was finally sent across the ocean in the 600’s. Did the Templars find out about the hiding of the treasure through their extensive network in Europe?

I do have a theory about a group from France that I am working on. They may have had hidden knowledge of the destruction of Jerusalem and what happened to the treasure.

Yet again I was disappointed that they did not provide more information about the lead seal that was found. Did they determine that it did not provide any valuable information?

It is pretty evident that it shows that there was activity on Oak Island in the 1600’s, as a similar seal was found in Jamestown that would date to the early 1600’s, and this particular seal would not have been used after 1705. Definitely pre-searcher.

There is still no official news on whether there will be a Season 9, but they were all talking about what will happen on Oak Island in 2021 on the show tonight.

What will be seen next year?

In the season finale last week they were talking about a possible big dig next year, but tonight they talked about possibly tunneling instead. It will be interesting to see what happens. Of course, with more time to research they may have reconsidered.

Definitely there will be a large dig in the swamp with some method of holding back the water from the dig area. With the earlier dating of the wood found in the swamp, it is even more compelling now.

I am not sure when they begin their work, but they may already be working again on Oak Island. If not, they are surely staging equipment for the season.

I am still working on a theory that pulls together pieces of several existing theories and also ties in some of the most recent discoveries. Of course, theories are just that and I will decide if this one has enough legs to share.

Steven