Red, A deadeye is a device used to tighten the ship's rigging,so the ropes can hold the masts, is one is alder wood around 1800. downeastdigger if you put that artifacts back in fresh water for a few weeks I think you can save it. looks like it came out of fresh water better than saltwater, dave
One of the most interesting non-bottle finds I've seen exhibited on this forum, not excluding the privy recovered black dildo!
I haven't visited the site in a long time; so, I've been scrolling backwards. I just came upon your "primative anchor" or "poke" find. I'm inclined to agree with the anchor interpretation--I think that the "flukes" are too delicately made for it to have been intended as a poke for livestock; whereas, they make perfect sense for slicing into sandy or muddy bottoms. I sure hope that you heeded the advice about reimmersing it in water. I think that item might be more important and valuable of a find than most of the bottles that you are likely to discover. Depending upon how cold the temperatures were, and whether or not it spent most of its time buried in mud, sealed off from oxygen, that artifact could well be over two hundred years old.
If ownership were not brought into question, it is an item that I would certainly advise having a professional archeologist or museum curator look over--preferably one well versed in late colonial woodworking techniques together with maritime history of your region. Forego the oil treatments unless you find that it is not all that important of an item--Jnoon and d12 are more on track in their recommendations. If it's important, you might find a museum willing to have it professionally conserved in exchange for a loan.