NARRATOR: Another day
begins on Oak Island.
Following an urgent phone call
from archaeologist Laird Niven,
Rick Lagina arrives
at Smith's Cove, where
Laird and other
members of the team
have just made what they believe
to be a surprising discovery.
RICK LAGINA: Hey, Laird.
It's not wood.
What is it?
It's concrete.
RICK LAGINA: What in
the world is that?
(LAUGHING) I don't know.
RICK LAGINA: I mean, it's
certainly unrecorded.
LAIRD NIVEN: Yeah.
RICK LAGINA: How
deep does it go?
LAIRD NIVEN: We don't know yet.
BILLY GERHARDT: A
bit of a surprise.
A bit?
[chuckling]
A bit?
You want-- (LAUGHING) you
want to reconfigure that?
Yeah, I would say.
NARRATOR: A concrete
wall buried some eight
feet beneath Smith's Cove?
I wonder if there's
a way to date concrete?
The Romans had concrete.
LAIRD NIVEN: Yeah.
RICK LAGINA: The
Romans had concrete
that would set underwater.
This could easily
be incredibly old.
NARRATOR: Known for
such engineering marvels
as the Pantheon
and the Colosseum,
the ancient Romans were
the first to develop
and use poured concrete as far
back as the 3rd century BC.
By mixing volcanic ash along
with other rocks and minerals,
they created a unique
kind of hydraulic cement
which actually hardened
when exposed to seawater.
It has long been
theorized that this kind
of advanced engineering would
have been required to build
the intricate system of
booby-trapped flood tunnels
on Oak Island.
There is absolutely
no record of anything
like this in Smith's Cove.
So of course your
mind goes to, finally,
something we absolutely
are certain is original.
I mean, it'd be very
interesting if this
goes through this
structure or underneath it.
Then obviously whoever built
this knew about this for sure.
If it stopped short,
then this could
be something entirely separate
from that construction.
LAIRD NIVEN: Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
[machinery working]
RICK LAGINA: It's very strange.
In order to pour this--
this is underwater.
Exactly.
That's--
RICK LAGINA: And then this
is 3 feet below grade,
and then an additional
3 feet underwater.
I mean, this was
not an easy build.
LAIRD NIVEN: No.
RICK LAGINA: If you were
to ask me of five things
we might find in Smith's
Cove, 10 things, 20 things--
[laughter]
--this would not
be one of theme.
A concrete wall
wasn't one of them.
BILLY GERHARDT: Yeah.
I said, the only thing that
would have surprised me more
if it was hot pink, honest.
[laughter]
RICK LAGINA: Well, then the
coffin would be on top of this.
So there's no wonder that he
didn't see this or find it.
Sure.
Yeah.
BILLY GERHARDT: Yeah.
And there's no mention
in 1850, or 1860,
or '66 of them using concrete.
Mm-hmm.
RICK LAGINA: We
need to dig inside.
Yeah.
RICK LAGINA: You know,
respecting that integrity.
BILLY GERHARDT: Yeah.
RICK LAGINA: If whatever
is here goes that way,
then we do have to stop.
And we've got to
call the engineers,
give them the specs of what
we're doing, and get an OK.
But I think one--
one pull through here is fine.
Obviously, a pull
through here is fine.
But any closer, it's
a all-stop situation.
Yeah.
LAIRD NIVEN: OK.
RICK LAGINA: So let's kind
of just scrape this and see
what-- see what happens.
NARRATOR: For Rick,
Marty, and their team,
the discoveries they
are making suggest
that the origins of
the Oak Island mystery
may date much
earlier and be much
more profound than
the treasure hunters
before them ever suspected.
But as they continue to dig
deeper, both at the Money Pit
and at Smith's Cove,
what will they uncover?
A vault filled with
sacred treasure?
Ancient waterways
and architecture
dating back to Roman times?
Or will it be
evidence of something
even more astounding--
something so forbidden
that it had to be
protected by a deadly curse?
