In the War Room, Craig Tester says he wants to find an artifact in the swamp that can tell the team who was there and when. Steve Guptill shows the group a new search area west of where they have been working. Marty Lagina notes that roughly 80 percent of the swamp remains unexplored.
On Lot 5, Ethan uncovers a large piece of pottery with a slipware-style decoration that Helen dates to the late 1700s. He then finds several pieces of creamware from the late 18th century, followed by a button with a shank and a flower-like design that will be sent to the lab for scanning. In the swamp, Billy Gerhardt exposes timber and notched logs that appear to be part of a structure, which Marty inspects upon arrival.
In Malta, Rick Lagina, Alex Lagina, Peter Fornetti, Corjan Mol, and other team members visit Fort St. Elmo in Valletta, constructed in the 16th century by the Knights of Malta. Archaeologist Matthew Balzan, a specialist in Hospitaller studies, explains that the knights arrived on Malta in 1530 and transformed the island into a fortress. Doug Crowell shows Matthew a pickaxe recovered six years earlier from below 145 feet in RF1. Matthew identifies it as a baqqun, a tool used in the quarrying process for centuries, and confirms it would have been the standard instrument for cutting through both hard and soft rock. When Alex asks about the role of clay in fortifications, Matthew describes deffun, a waterproofing compound made from broken pottery and limestone. The following day, journalist Jean Paul Mifsud takes the group into underground passages beneath the city, tunnels dug into limestone bedrock by the Knights of Malta following the attempted Ottoman invasion of 1565. Beyond providing protection and storage, the tunnels included cisterns for collecting water. The team observes a blue-gray clay lining the walls that Jean Paul identifies as a sealant; Scott notes that blue clay was similarly used for waterproofing inside the Money Pit.
On the island of Gozo, the team visits the Citadel of Victoria and meets Maltese historian Denis Darmanin, an expert on military artifacts and buttons. Denis examines the starburst button and identifies the pattern as probably Spanish. He locates a comparable design in his reference material and dates the button to 1650 to 1675, adding that buttons of this type were fashionable among the aristocratic class. Doug shows a photograph of a Knight of Malta uniform bearing a similar button, and Denis agrees it matches.
