About This Artifact
Fragments of wooden barrel staves recovered from the southeast corner and southern edge of the triangle-shaped swamp across several seasons. The staves were identified as remnants of cargo barrels of the type used to store and transport provisions, gunpowder, and goods aboard sailing vessels from the medieval period onward. Barrel construction remained largely unchanged for centuries: coopers assembled curved staves around a hollow core, binding them with iron hoops.
During Season 9, the team found ancient cargo barrels and possible ship components in the southeast corner of the swamp near the stone road. In the same season, numerous pieces resembling parts of a ship and barrel staves were recovered from the swamp's southern edge. A piece of shaped wood found within thirty feet of the ship's railing (carbon-dated to 660 to 770 CE) returned a date of 224 to 376 AD, though the barrel fragments themselves were not individually dated. During Season 11, Billy Gerhardt uncovered a barrel stave near the southern border while excavating a wooden structure with dowel construction and no metal fasteners, and the team sent it for carbon-14 testing.
The barrel fragments formed part of a broader pattern of nautical artifacts recovered from the swamp, including the ship's railing, ship spikes, marlinespikes, and shaped hull timbers. Their distribution across the swamp, concentrated at the southern edge and near the stone road, was consistent with the theory that a large vessel had been brought into the inlet before the swamp was created, and that its cargo had been offloaded onto the paved area for transport inland along the stone road and pathway.
Historical Context
Rick Lagina
Where It Was Found
Found at Swamp, near stone wharf — the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island's southeastern quadrant.
