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Roman Sword found in Nova Scotia questions history of Americas

CougarKing

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EDITED TO ADD: Could one of the moderators please move this thread to the Military History section? 

If the Vikings make it to Newfoundland, why is it so far-fetched that a even earlier Roman galley made it this far?

Daily Buzz/Yahoo News

Sword discovered off Nova Scotia’s Oak Island questions history of Americas

An ancient artifact discovered near Nova Scotia’s Oak Island is forcing experts to question the history of the Americas. An eyebrow-raising new report suggests that mariners arrived to the New World more than a thousand years before Columbus.

Researchers who’ve explored the island – rife with mystery thanks to a 230ft deep booby-trapped shaft known as the ‘money pit’ - claim to have found evidence that Roman ships arrived to North American during the first century or earlier, way ahead of Columbus’ arrival in 1492.

The discoveries have been documented on the TV show ‘Curse of Oak Island.’

J. Hutton Pulitzer, a historic investigator, claims to have evidence of a Roman sword that was discovered submerged near the island, which is believed to be a Roman shipwreck.
He says the ancient weapon is the “smoking gun” to his theory.

(...SNIPPED)
 
I live a matter of yards from Oak Island, in fact if it weren't dark outside I would be looking at the island out my bedroom window as I type. All I'll say right now is that anything that comes from the mouth or keyboard of J. Hutton Pulitzer is to be taken not with a grain or even a pound of salt.. but with a dump-truck full.

There have been a few recent issues with him regarding Oak Island that have shown that sensationalism to get a headline or a couple thousand views on a blog or facebook are his method of operation.  He's akin to the lad who claimed to have shot and killed bigfoot last year and sold tickets to see the body.
 
George Wallace said:
What!  A kid shot Big Foot?
Skewered with a Roman sword of some sort on the East Coast ... (that's how RUMINT starts)  ;D
 
The "Roman" sword can be bought on eBay for approx £75.

It's a fraud like it was expected. There's a reason why the MSM based in Halifax didn't touch it with a 10' pole.

Regards
 
Personally, I would not be surprised one bit if real Roman artefacts were found on the shores of North America one day - but it would not change history one bit.

"Discovering" a new land and exploiting it requires travels in both direction, so you report the discovery and mount an effort to go again and explore. It does not include accidentally ending up there - stuck.

And it is this second way of arriving in the New World I have in mind for the Romans. They travelled regularly out of the Strait of Gibraltar, along the Spanish and French coasts and up to England. It is simple logic to think that some of that traffic was caught off guard by storms. Many of them were never seen again, I am sure. Most simply sank, but a few must have survived the storm, but found themselves out of sight from the coasts, disoriented (you only navigated by sight in those days, unless you were Phoenician and in on the secret of compass) and after many days, found themselves on the Coast of North America, but never to return to Rome to report the discovery (as they would not have known how).

Doesn't mean that the Crazies that are obsessed with Oak Island haven't faked this, though.  :christmas happy:

After all,some of you may remember that in 1947, some scientists proved that the Mayan culture could have arisen from the Egyptians (there are many similarities in beliefs and things like  astronomy and pyramids, etc) when they crossed the ocean on a raft made of papyrus, the Kon Tiki. Of course, the original idea with the Kon Tiki was to prove that Polynesia could have been discovered and developed by the by the Mayans, not the other way around, but it worked both ways for the real scientists.


 
Oak Island has been a topic of family discussion since I was a child (early '60s at least). My Dad is from Nova Scotia and it was a topic of discussion in his family even before that. To say it is a lasting mystery is an understatement. I visited Oak Island in the mid-'70s and if nothing else, found it "spooky". Of course that could be just all the ruminations over the years working on my mind. My logical brain and conventional wisdom says there is nothing there, just natural formations, innocuous use of the Island hundreds of years ago and over-eager treasure hunters (and outright charlatans). But my illogical brain really, really, really wants them to find something amazing. I guess its just the hidden treasure hunter in us all. I'm watching the latest series (The Curse of Oak Island on the History Channel) with rapt attention, being entertained if nothing else (seriously guys, got money to burn?). Jeeze I hope they find something  :nod:
 
We did a family tour of Oak Island in the summer.  Paid our $$, got the walking tour. 

It was neat to see the locations and equipment in person, but I truly have my doubts that they will ever find anything out there.

The idea of 'engineers' from centuries ago creating the water tunnels, etc, is, well, kind of far-fetched in my opinion.

I wish them well, but their disregard of basic safety in some of the filming leaves me.....concerned....for their 'one more must die' part of the 'curse'.

NS
 
NavyShooter said:
I wish them well, but their disregard of basic safety in some of the filming leaves me.....concerned....for their 'one more must die' part of the 'curse'.

NS

I keep telling my wife when I'm watching that show that they should just toss the really old dude down the 10X shaft and get if over with already - everything will mysteriously appear then 8).

MM
 
Could a Roman sword also not have made it across by a later traveller who could have been using something left behind after the Romans took their ball and left England to the barbarians?
 
jollyjacktar said:
Could a Roman sword also not have made it across by a later traveller who could have been using something left behind after the Romans took their ball and left England to the barbarians?

Anything is possible, but I suggest someone who would bring one would be apt to be well off, and why the heck would he or she then toss something valuable enough to bring across the Atlantic down a shaft, or do whatever, on an obscure Nova Scotian island? Perhaps someone looking for some instant and fleeting fame, or perhaps trying to throw a side issue into the argument is more likely.
 
Old Sweat said:
Anything is possible, but I suggest someone who would bring one would be apt to be well off, and why the heck would he or she then toss something valuable enough to bring across the Atlantic down a shaft, or do whatever, on an obscure Nova Scotian island? Perhaps someone looking for some instant and fleeting fame, or perhaps trying to throw a side issue into the argument is more likely.

Or maybe it was someone staggering home after a mess dinner, a time when many odd decisions have been made...
 
dapaterson said:
Or maybe it was someone staggering home after a mess dinner, a time when many odd decisions have been made...

Or trying to pitch a series for History or one of the other cable channels? Mind you, alcohol could indeed be a factor.
 
Dave, I think I saw a post on Facebook, which I skimmed a few days ago. As I recall it, Vern called the sword a fake as it was identical to replicas one could buy in bazaars in the Middle East, or at least I think that was what she posted. Now I'm going have to go into hiding if I misquoted Canada's meanest redhead.
 
Does anyone know what salt water does to metal?

Now add the amount of years it would have been in that water.

If a Roman sword was left there, it would have dissolved long ago...
 
jollyjacktar said:
Could a Roman sword also not have made it across by a later traveller who could have been using something left behind after the Romans took their ball and left England to the barbarians?

Has anyone seen a picture of the sword? Is it a true gladius? Could someone post a link to the picture?

Never mind, found it. I don't see the similarity, other than they are both swords. The artifact doesn't look like a gladius to me.

Well, it seems I can't post pictures.  :dunno: or modify posts, or, or,........ probably because Mike is getting ready for an upgrade.

 
Given the length of service of some of us, it could be a sword *we* lost early in our careers. (The Centurion beasted me for weeks after i lost mine.....)  ;D ;D ;D
 
I've joked for a few years now that I want to buried fully kitted out in Roman armour and arms, without a coffin somewhere in North America just to mess with archaeologists in 1000 years...

I call hoax to boost ratings on the show, seems the "History" channel has lost it's interest in history.

EDIT TO ADD: Just saw a picture of the sword. I'm not claiming to be a great expert on the subject of Roman swords, but to my eye it does not look like a gladius or spatha. Looks like a cheap decoration from a bazar, I think they had them in Istanbul(not Constantinople...).
 
Cairo, Beirut, Rome every where there are gullible people. As an aside, didn't the Vikings and the Romans bump heads in Britain? A possible spoil of war? OR maybe the Chinese ships on their way to Cape Breton dropped off some trade goods? OR the Aztecs (as recently postulated on the program) have copied/traded/ stolen it and dropped it? OR the Crusaders? Hmm, more questions than answers, but isn't that the study of history?
 
ueo said:
As an aside, didn't the Vikings and the Romans bump heads in Britain? A possible spoil of war?

No.  At least not the way I think you are suggesting.  Romans certainly had contact with scandinavians but not Vikings if you use the actual definition of what a viking is.  And definitly not in Britain, which had been abandonned by Rome centuries before Vikings would make their appearance there.  But trade and contact with the Eastern empire is most definitely a possibility if not reality and fits teh right timeframe.

But as I mentioned, a Roman sword would not survive in salt water all these years, heck it would barely survive a decade or two.  So that in itself is enough to call this a hoax without even getting into the other improbabilities of this story. 
 
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