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OT - but this is still amazing and awe-inspiring - bridge to Sanibel

@Rickd ....Busted out the Crown immediately after. I've sold some stuff the last 20yrs, mostly at Artifact Shows throughout the State...but never $50,000 at one time. This guy don't play around.
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@Rickd ...This frame is exclusively from the Lake George area close to the St John's River. The bad boy in the middle is 10" long and SUPER rare. It was found excavating about 2' down in Sugar white sand in 2004. I was offered $5,000 for it, but turned it down. Odds are I'll never find another one. It's called an Alapaha...and about 6,000 yrs old.
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@Rickd .....this is without question, the Greatest Archaeological find in the History of Florida. The entire cache was found by a Super close friend in 1992, 100 yards from the Santa Fe River in 2 days by him and his brother. They found half of them late in the day about 3ft deep...and came back the next morning and found the rest (including 2 broken ones not pictured). All were made from the same material...and all were made by the same Indian (all have the same flaking) The 2nd Pic was taken at a show several yrs ago (that's his Son in the Pic) he was offered $250,000 several times, and turned the offers down. I was Blessed to have handled some of them out of the case, at his home in Branford Fl about 10yrs ago. Everyone of them are Grade 10s....Easily the Crown Jewel of finds in Florida's History...
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SWFLHurricane said:
@Rickd .....this is without question, the Greatest Archaeological find in the History of Florida. The entire cache was found by a Super close friend in 1992, 100 yards from the Santa Fe River in 2 days by him and his brother. They found half of them late in the day about 3ft deep...and came back the next morning and found the rest (including 2 broken ones not pictured). All were made from the same material...and all were made by the same Indian (all have the same flaking) The 2nd Pic was taken at a show several yrs ago (that's his Son in the Pic) he was offered $250,000 several times, and turned the offers down. I was Blessed to have handled some of them out of the case, at his home in Branford Fl about 10yrs ago. Everyone of them are Grade 10s....Easily the Crown Jewel of finds in Florida's History...View attachment 212479View attachment 212480
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Wow ... what show was this taken at? What was the "clue" to dig where he dug? A shell mound nearby, some sort of archeological clue? I would like to find ONE simple arrowhead.
 
Rickd said:
Wow ... what show was this taken at? What was the "clue" to dig where he dug? A shell mound nearby, some sort of archeological clue? I would like to find ONE simple arrowhead.
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It was taken at the Tampa Bay Rocks and Fossil show. All areas around the Santa Fe River are Chock full of Artifacts...as in all the rivers in Northern Central Fl...Branford (where he lives) is where the Santa Fe and Suwannee rivers meet.
 
@Rickd ...here I am in 1998 hunting a washout in the Choctawhatchee River in between Destin and Sandestin. I found a horde of stuff at this washout from 95-99. On the higher ground above me, The University of Florida had several Archaeological digs throughout the yrs.
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@Rickd ....about 12yrs ago I was hunting a particular shoreline on Lake Jessup that had a Large natural spring nearby. I found these unglazed ceramic oil lamps from the 1600's (24 in all) eroding out of the shoreline. Most likely wares brought over with the Spanish invasion in the 1500s-1600s. You can even see the burn marks near the spouts from where the wick layed. I took a few to UCFs Archaeological Dept...and blew them away. One archeologist said they were without a doubt from Europe, due to flecks of Mica in the ceramics. A few even have some fingerprints that are atleast 600yrs old...
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SWFLHurricane said:
@Rickd ....about 12yrs ago I was hunting a particular shoreline on Lake Jessup that had a Large natural spring nearby. I found these unglazed ceramic oil lamps from the 1600's (24 in all) eroding out of the shoreline. Most likely wares brought over with the Spanish invasion in the 1500s-1600s. You can even see the burn marks near the spouts from where the wick layed. I took a few to UCFs Archaeological Dept...and blew them away. One archeologist said they were without a doubt from Europe, due to flecks of Mica in the ceramics. A few even have some fingerprints that are atleast 600yrs old...View attachment 212486View attachment 212487
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If you are going to be in the Central Florida area some day ... let me know ... would like to buy you a beer / snacks and chat. Amazing finds. Well done!!
I was in Peru in 1989 canvassing a 12,000 acre tract of land that the company I was working with had received in form of a land grant to develop agricultural programs ... from the Peruvian Government .. came across open Inca tombs and stumbled into the mummified remains of a woman ... torso and head ... wearing a shirt and black hair. Lot of crazy stuff was out in the open back then.
 
Rickd said:
If you are going to be in the Central Florida area some day ... let me know ... would like to buy you a beer / snacks and chat. Amazing finds. Well done!!
I was in Peru in 1989 canvassing a 12,000 acre tract of land that the company I was working with had received in form of a land grant to develop agricultural programs ... from the Peruvian Government .. came across open Inca tombs and stumbled into the mummified remains of a woman ... torso and head ... wearing a shirt and black hair. Lot of crazy stuff was out in the open back then.
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That would be crazy....I've always wanted to go to Egypt, and walk around the Valley of the Kings...always has fascinated me.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
Those people on Sanibel and Captiva are Super Rich...Even when I lived on Captiva it was Mega Rich....Nothing will stop them unfortunately...I live 17-18miles from Sanibel now. I personally wouldn't live on either Island, but I can't speak for them.
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I know what you're talking about. Years ago when super storm Sandy hit the NJ coast virtually all the little homes on the beach were destroyed. Most, if not all of the people who owned them sold the land to wealthy people. Last year I drove past the area destroyed by Sandy and those lots are filled with multi-million dollar homes.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
@Rickd ....about 12yrs ago I was hunting a particular shoreline on Lake Jessup that had a Large natural spring nearby. I found these unglazed ceramic oil lamps from the 1600's (24 in all) eroding out of the shoreline. Most likely wares brought over with the Spanish invasion in the 1500s-1600s. You can even see the burn marks near the spouts from where the wick layed. I took a few to UCFs Archaeological Dept...and blew them away. One archeologist said they were without a doubt from Europe, due to flecks of Mica in the ceramics. A few even have some fingerprints that are atleast 600yrs old...View attachment 212486View attachment 212487
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Holy ****e, dude, I didn't know you got that stuff at Lake Jesup. One of my brothers lives a couple blocks from the lake, I might need to join him for an expedition.
 
TheOriginalCane said:
Holy ****e, dude, I didn't know you got that stuff at Lake Jesup. One of my brothers lives a couple blocks from the lake, I might need to join him for an expedition.
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Yessir...basically right under the 417 (and the shoreline) there's a Spring not 500' away. When I found the first ceramic bowl...it was turned over, making me look up to see if it was something that fell from under the bridge. I found 17...then went back a week later at low tide, and found 7 more. You can actually see not only burn marks from wicks...but dried up wax/oil as well. I have a similar killer walk in Debary, where the St John's and Lake Monroe meet.
 
SWFLHurricane said:
What a friggin Mess...I talked with Butch, who's home suffered extreme damage. He said the people who came through it pretty much unscathed, were the ones who's homes are on stilts...which quite frankly, are quite prevalent in that area. When I lived on Captiva from 81-83....A good friend had a home on stilts. It was within walking distance to the Mucky Duck.
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Crazy. I remember living in Naples when I was a kid in a house on stilts
 
@Rickd @OriginalCanesCanesCanes @SpikeUM ......This is a complete Mammoth Tusk that I pulled out of the Santa Fe River 20yrs ago. It's approximately 20,000 yrs old. I'm only one of 4 people in the History of the State of Florida to find one in It's entirety. There's been alot of pieces found...but only 4 complete ones ever found. I was offered $10,000 for it...and I literally laughed in the guys face....Enjoy
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SWFLHurricane said:
@Rickd @OriginalCanesCanesCanes @SpikeUM ......This is a complete Mammoth Tusk that I pulled out of the Santa Fe River 20yrs ago. It's approximately 20,000 yrs old. I'm only one of 4 people in the History of the State of Florida to find one in It's entirety. There's been alot of pieces found...but only 4 complete ones ever found. I was offered $10,000 for it...and I literally laughed in the guys face....EnjoyView attachment 214214
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Holy shlt! that’s an incredible find. I mean, I didn’t even know those things ranged that far south.

I honestly can’t find the words to describe how amazing I think that is. I’m not an expert on archaeology or anything like that, but that has to be a hugely significant find. Somebody should write that up. That should be an archaeology scientific journal or something like that.
 
OriginalCanesCanesCanes said:
Holy shlt! that’s an incredible find. I mean, I didn’t even know those things ranged that far south.

I honestly can’t find the words to describe how amazing I think that is. I’m not an expert on archaeology or anything like that, but that has to be a hugely significant find. Somebody should write that up.
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Mammoths and Mastodons were plentiful in Florida 10,000 to 15,000 yrs ago....they migrated originally from Alaska. Florida also had Giant Ground Sloths..and Sabre Tooth Cats (Smilodon)....Btw...some pics of Meglodon teeth I found in Bartow. (Old Phosphate mines)
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