About This Artifact
A lead bag seal bearing the city seal of Leeds, England, recovered from Lot 8 during Season 13 near a massive boulder surrounded by a ring of deliberately placed stones. The seal consists of two lead circles stamped together with a distinctive sheepskin symbol, a reference to the fleece that defined Leeds as a center of wool manufacturing dating back to the 1300s. Emma Culligan and archaeologist Laird Niven identified the design and noted the seal would have fastened a bale of finished fabric roughly the size of a hay bale, far more cloth than any single household on the island would have required.
It is the third bag seal recovered on Oak Island, following one found on Lot 5 and another on Lot 32 near the stone road in the swamp. The Lot 32 seal was scientifically matched through laser ablation testing to the 14th-century lead cross believed to be connected to the Knights Templar, recovered from Smith's Cove in 2017. The proximity of the new seal to the Lot 8 boulder feature, beneath which the team discovered voids, cut wood, and a piece of wool fabric dyed red with no detectable modern chemicals, strengthens the connection between the boulder and organized European activity on the island.
Laird connected the wool fabric to the bag seal, observing that a Leeds cloth packer's seal and a piece of English wool found together beneath the same ancient feature could indicate the transport of bulk trade goods through the island. The seal was estimated to be roughly 700 years old, placing it in the same medieval period as the lead cross and the barter token from Lot 5.
Where It Was Found
Found at Lot 8 — Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
