Treasure hunting

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (May 2009)

Treasure hunting is the search for real treasure which has been a notable human activity for millennia.

In modern times

In recent times, the early stages of the development of archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunt; Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at Troy, and later at Mycenae, both turned up significant finds of golden artifacts. Early work in Egyptology also included a similar motive.^{[citation needed]}

More recently, most serious treasure hunters have started working underwater,^{[citation needed]} where modern technology allows access to wrecks containing valuables which were previously inaccessible. Starting with the diving suit, and moving on through Scuba and later to ROVs, each new generation of technology has made more wrecks accessible. Many of these wrecks have resulted in the treasure salvage of many fascinating artifacts from Spanish treasure fleets as well as many others.^{[citation needed]}

Famous treasure hunters

Treasure hunter Heinrich Schliemann.

• Capt. Martin Bayerle located the shipwreck of RMS Republic in 1981.
• Mel Fisher (discoverer of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha)
• Cork Graham (war correspondent, author)
• Mike Hatcher (discoverer of the "Nanking Cargo")
• Ponce de Leon (searched the new world for gold and the Fountain of Youth)
• Robert F. Marx (underwater archaeologist, author)
• Odyssey Marine Exploration has extracted treasure from the shipwreck of the SS Republic
• Dr. E. Lee Spence (pioneer underwater archaeologist, author)
• Heinrich Schliemann (grocer turned treasure hunter, considered father of historical archaeology, discoverer of lost city of Troy)
• Robert Stenuit (underwater archaeologist, author)
• Michael T. Dodd (recovered a box of 17,000 pearls from the wreck of the Santa Margarita, author, musician)

See also

• Armchair treasure hunt
• Buried treasure
• Geocaching
• Letterboxing
• Lost mines
• Marine salvage and treasure hunting (marine)
• Metal detector
• Shipwreck
• Treasure hunting in popular culture

Further reading

• Robert E. Burgess, Sunken Treasure (Dodd, Mead; New York; 1988)
• Cork Graham, The Bamboo Chest; 2004
• Dr. E. Lee Spence, Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the "Real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, 1995)