On Lot 8, Rick Lagina and Craig Tester join archaeologist Fiona Steele at the cradle-shaped stone feature beneath the removed 40,000-pound boulder. Fiona reports three distinct bonding materials: a fine powder mortar, a blue-gray clay that Dr. Ian Spooner considers similar to Money Pit puddling clay, and a harder cement-like substance at the north end. Samples have been collected for comparison with mortar from the Lot 5 circular feature and clay from the Money Pit. Rick speculates the feature could mark a tunnel or shaft entrance, and Fiona plans to bisect the left side to study the construction in cross section.
In the Money Pit area, the Top Pocket Find shaft breaks through the bedrock ledge at roughly 175 feet and enters the solution channel. The crew switches from the auger to a hammer grab and dig bucket. At around 186 feet, Gary Drayton, Terry Matheson, and Rick recover a piece of wood that sinks immediately in water, a test Dan Blankenship relied on to distinguish old wood from searcher-era material. A dense iron artifact surfaces at 193 feet, well below any known searcher depth. Billy Gerhardt spots shaped wood at approximately 195 feet, set against dry material adjacent to wet slurry, which Alex Lagina and Craig interpret as evidence of a nearby open void. A button bit from a previous drilling operation turns up near 210 feet, confirming that heavy objects migrate downward through the solution channel. The shaft reaches bottom at roughly 215 feet. No treasure is recovered, but Marty Lagina and the team consider the wood and collapse evidence a technical success. Jack Begley, Adam Embleton, and Quinton assist throughout the operation.
In the War Room, Rick, Marty, Craig, and the team connect by video with Dr. Chris McFarlane of the University of New Brunswick, who has performed laser ablation and isotope analysis on a decorative lead piece found by Gary and Charles Barkhouse in spoils from the Lot 5 round feature. Results show sodium-rich encrustation, high silver content, and a pre-industrial composition typical of central Europe. McFarlane reports the piece is isotopically similar to the scalloped artifact recovered from Lot 5 in 2022, believed to date to the medieval period.
Doug Crowell and Scott Barlow meet blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge in the lab to examine two hand-forged chain sections from the Karma-1 shaft. Carmen identifies elongated end links consistent with basket-style rigging for lowering items, and notes two different blacksmiths made the chains. Emma Culligan dates the iron to the late 1600s to mid-1700s, European in origin; Doug connects the range to the Duc d'Anville expedition of 1746. On Lot 5, archaeologist Laird Niven and the team continue excavating the rounded foundation, where Tansy Rudnicki uncovers a small metal artifact with a patterned edge resembling a button rim, found in the same area that yielded a recycled arsenical bronze button from the medieval period the previous year.
The team reconvenes in the War Room with Professor Adriano Gaspani and interpreter Marzia Sebastiani to review Charlotte Wheatley's finding that three medieval churches near Talmont-sur-Gironde sit on a line pointing to Oak Island. Emiliano presents the data, and Gaspani confirms the axes of all three churches intersect with the island. His stellar alignment analysis reveals the churches share alignments with the rising of Sirius, the Pleiades, and Hamal, the same alignments present at the Lot 5 round feature. Gaspani dates the Lot 5 structure to 1236 AD, consistent with the early 13th century dating of the churches and of Nolan's Cross. Doug and Steve Guptill note the convergence with the Zena Halpern map, the Pitblado coin (latest possible date 1383), and the Lot 8 and December Triangle features, pointing to a multigenerational endeavor on the island.
