Triptych

At Smith's Cove, the team examines the tarpapered wooden wall and cobblestone structure discovered in the bump out area. Geologist Terry Matheson concludes the cobblestones were stacked by human hands, with a timber embedded in the formation confirming it is man made. Steve Guptill notes the structure's northern end lies adjacent to the slipway discovered in Season 6. That evening, historical researcher Corjan Mol presents his theory in the War Room. Mol argues that classical French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin included secret clues to the Oak Island treasure in two of his paintings, both entitled Et in Arcadia Ego, also known as The Shepherds of Arcadia. Mol connects the inscription "Et in Arcadia ego" on the tombs in these paintings with Acadia, the old French colonial name for Nova Scotia and the surrounding Maritime provinces. Mol then shows the team a second Poussin painting, Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus from 1627, which he says forms a pendant painting with the first Shepherds of Arcadia from the same year. Mol points out that the painting depicts King Midas washing away his golden touch in a river, and argues this scene contains a coded reference to treasure and its concealment. He further proposes that Poussin's second rendition of The Shepherds of Arcadia, painted in 1637 or 1638, was modeled on a portion of a pentagram. When this pentagram is superimposed over Nolan's Cross on Oak Island, Mol suggests it forms a treasure map pointing to specific locations. Meanwhile, GPR experts Don Johnston and Steve Watson conduct a floating GPR scan of the swamp using a dingy along gridlines prescribed by Steve Guptill. Gary Drayton discovers tapered wrought iron spikes near the Smith's Cove structure, similar to artifacts found at Isaac's Point.