Unidentified wax chunks washed up on the beach
On the northern Oregon Coast, near the mouth of the Nehalem River, beeswax chunks, other cargo, and even parts of a ship have been turning up over the past two centuries. Is this a lost Spanish galleon from the 17th Century? My buddy from high school, Scott Williams, is the Washington state archaeologist working on the project and he thinks it is. When I last visited him he showed me chunks of wax…or something…that had washed up on the beach that they were trying to identify.
Oregon Field Guide recently aired a story on the project that I thought you all might find fascinating. Enjoy! View the video here.
I also found a second video online from The Archaeology Channel:
4 comments
November 19, 2008 at 7:39 pm
nwlimited
Really cool! I’m glad to see the video online.
Come see our shipwreck chart. The Beeswax group have been very helpful in providing information while we were assembling our chart.
November 24, 2008 at 12:29 pm
paulanm
Oh the story those chunks could tell.
November 30, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Paula Scott
Wow! Who would’ve expected WAX from a Spanish Galleon wash up on shore centuries later? If anyone doubted the longevity of beewax, here is a good testimony!
December 17, 2008 at 12:59 am
Pat
How exciting! I fell ‘in love’ with encaustics earlier this year and have never looked back. Each time I let the wax lead me to new ways of expressing myself.
Thanks for sharing your great blog!
Pat
http://artinthewax.blogspot.com