About This Material
A concentration of sticks and organic matter recovered from the Eye of the Swamp, a circular formation of stones with embedded iron located at the center of the triangle-shaped swamp. The Eye was first identified during Season 7 as a priority investigation target after researchers Corjan Mol and Chris Morford demonstrated that a pentagram derived from Nicolas Poussin's painting The Shepherds of Arcadia, when projected onto a map of Oak Island using Nolan's Cross as a framework, fell precisely on this location.
Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner and three graduate students from Acadia University, Lauren Ruff, Chelsea Renaud, and Julia Crews, collected vibra-core samples from the Eye during Season 7. Spooner's analysis revealed glacial till at the bottom, then a disturbed zone with interlayered organic matter and till that could not be explained by natural processes, followed by swamp sediment above. A sample from the disturbed zone dated to 1600 to 1700, while a twig from another layer returned a date consistent with the same period. Spooner concluded the Eye was manmade and that someone had deliberately excavated into the glacial till and refilled it with a mixture of organic material and soil.
Excavation of the Eye during Season 7 revealed blue clay packed onto a large stone at the base of the formation, recalling the blue clay layers found at 40 feet in the Money Pit in 1804. Core samples also showed elevated levels of lead and mercury at the base, an anomalous finding that Spooner connected to significant human activity. The mercury was of particular interest: 17th-century philosopher Sir Francis Bacon had detailed a method for preserving documents by sealing them in mercury within glass containers.
Historical Context
Ian Spooner analysis
Where It Was Found
Found at Eye of the Swamp — the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island's southeastern quadrant.
