About This Artifact
A perfectly square wooden object recovered by Gary Drayton from excavated spoils along the stone pathway near the eastern edge of the swamp during Season 8. Dr. Aaron Taylor and Dr. Ian Spooner examined the piece on site and suggested it may be an architectural tool. Doug Crowell's subsequent research identified it as closely resembling a stonemason's T-square, a tool used for marking right angles on stone surfaces during construction.
In the research center, Marty Lagina, Doug Crowell, and Gary Drayton inspected the artifact and discussed its potential Masonic significance. The T-square is one of the principal symbols of Freemasonry, representing morality and the craft of building, and its recovery on Oak Island carried weight given the longstanding connections between the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the island's mystery. Marty ordered carbon-14 dating to determine the object's age.
Craig Tester presented the carbon-14 results in the War Room: the wood dated to between 1632 and 1668, more than 160 years before the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795. Dr. Aaron Taylor admitted the date was far older than he had expected. The result aligned with a theory presented weeks earlier by author James McQuiston, who proposed that 17th-century Scottish Knights Baronets with ties to both Freemasonry and the Knights Templar took shelter in Mahone Bay after being ousted by the French in the spring of 1632 and may have buried treasure on Oak Island. The T-square was found in close proximity to the cobblestone road, which Dr. Spooner had dated to the 1200s, and the iron ringbolt that Carmen Legge dated to between the 1600s and 1760, placing it within the same period of pre-1795 activity that multiple lines of evidence on the island continue to confirm.
Historical Context
Rick Lagina & Gary Drayton
Where It Was Found
Found at Swamp.
