About This Artifact
An iron chain link and a fragment of bone were recovered on consecutive days from the spoils of borehole S-6, drilled into the Shaft Six tunnel in the Money Pit area during Season 6. The chain link was found by Jack Begley at the wash table. Gary Drayton examined it and identified it as handforged and oval-shaped, consistent with considerable age, and suggested it may have been part of a pulley system used during the original depositing of material in the Money Pit.
The following day, Doug Crowell spotted the bone fragment in the same S-6 spoils. It displayed visible capillary holes characteristic of bone tissue. The team noted that if confirmed as human, it could be related to the two fragments of human bone recovered from nearby borehole H-8 the previous season, which DNA sequencing had identified as belonging to two individuals, one European and one Middle Eastern, both carbon dated to the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. The bone's presence in the S-6 debris field would support the theory that material from the original Money Pit scattered across the connecting Shaft Six tunnel during the catastrophic collapse of 1861, when workers attempting to tunnel beneath the treasure chamber triggered a flood that destroyed the underground workings.
The chain link and bone were found alongside hand-hewn oak timbers, leather, and pottery at depths consistent with the Shaft Six tunnel, which historical records place at approximately 101 feet. The S-6 borehole had been positioned using surveyor Steve Guptill's master map, which overlaid roughly a dozen historical survey plans to pinpoint the tunnel's most likely location. The finds from S-6 corroborated the H-8 results and extended the artefact trail from the Money Pit into its connecting tunnel system.
Historical Context
Lagina team
Where It Was Found
Found at Borehole S-6 (Shaft Six tunnel), Money Pit area, ~101 ft — the original 1795 excavation shaft on Oak Island, Nova Scotia.
