Treasure Hunting, searching for lost or hidden riches, especially jewels and gold or silver in the form of coins, bullion, ornaments, candlesticks, utensils, or other objects. Treasure hunters also search for lost or hidden statues, cannons, and other objects that are worth money because of their artistic or historic value. Treasure worth millions of dollars lies underwater in the remains of sunken ships. Pirate treasure is buried on some seacoasts and islands. Hoards of money and other valuables are concealed in buildings, in caves, and in the ground where they were hidden for safekeeping by their owners. Other riches lie in archeological sites such as tombs, buried cities, and abandoned ruins.
Sunken Treasure
The major sunken-treasure areas are the Gulf of Mexico, the western Caribbean, and the waters off the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the Azores. They hold the hulks of Spanish treasure ships that sank while carrying riches from the New World, 1500–1820. Some of the treasure has been recovered, but gold, silver, and jewels worth millions of dollars probably still lie below the sea. Other rich waters are those near the Philippines and the Marianas; a number of Spanish ships sank here while carrying silver coins from Mexico to the Philippines to purchase Oriental luxuries.
Many other areas of the world hold valuable shipwrecks. In the Indian Ocean, for example, are a number of European trading ships that sank while sailing between Europe and the Far East. In the Mediterranean Sea are ancient and medieval vessels that were wrecked while carrying statues, vases, cannons, and other items. Among the 1,100 known shipwrecks in United States waters are some with gold cargoes.
Treasure wrecks are sometimes found accidentally by a fisherman, a sponge diver, or a lucky treasure hunter. More often, they are found as the result of a search. Professional treasure hunters may spend months in research to discover the general location of a wreck and the value of its cargo. They study such records as naval histories, insurance company records, logbooks, old newspapers, and reports of earlier salvage attempts.
Then they search in the general area of the wreck, often with instruments such as metal detectors and depth recorders. Even with these instruments sunken ships, especially those made of wood, are difficult to find. Wooden timbers may rot away, leaving only ballast stones, metal parts (cannons, anchors, hardware), and nonperishable cargo. The remains of the wreck may be covered by coral, sand, gravel, or mud.
After a wreck is found, divers may spend months in recovering its treasure. Their equipment—besides diving gear—usually includes a hydraulic blaster, which cuts away loose sand, and an air lift, which sucks water, silt, and small objects up a pipe to the surface.
In ancient and medieval times, skin divers were able to recover some valuables from wrecks. Spanish crews used diving bells to rescue several hundred million dollars' worth of riches from their sunken ships. In 1687 William Phips, an American shipping merchant, recovered treasure worth about $1,000,000 from a sunken Spanish galleon.
The development of diving suits in the 19th century and of scuba equipment in the 20th century greatly increased the extent of underwater treasure hunting. One of the richest finds was made in 1985 off the Florida coast by Treasure Salvors, Inc., a professional treasure-hunting company. After a 16-year search, the company discovered the Spanish treasure ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which had sunk in 1622, and recovered more than 100,000 silver coins, hundreds of gold and silver bars, and thousands of
Hidden Treasure
Money and other valuables have been hidden for safekeeping since ancient times. Many hoards still lie untouched in their original hiding places.
Pirates who raided shipping in the waters off northeastern South America buried some of their booty on Caribbean islands, as well as along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America. These buried treasures inspired hundreds of tales and led to many unsuccessful treasure hunts.
Before banks came into wide use in the 20th century, many people kept their savings hidden at home. Favorite hiding places were in attics, inside walls, behind loose chimney bricks, under floorboards, and under fenceposts. In the western United States are caches hidden by outlaws who robbed banks, stagecoaches, and trains. Some abandoned mining shacks probably conceal bags of gold dust hidden by prospectors.
Hidden treasure is seldom found by following the directions to a spot marked by a cross on a faded map. Such treasure maps are usually fake or hopelessly vague. Less romantic but more useful are maps compiled from treasure reports, showing general locations where treasure has been reported lost or hidden.
Treasure hunters on land, as on sea, may spend months studying old books and other sources for treasure information. They may use instruments such as metal detectors to help them search likely places. However, most hidden treasure is found accidentally in the course of activities such as demolishing buildings and digging excavations.
Other Sources of Treasure
Tombs, burial mounds, buried cities, and abandoned ruins were rich sources of treasure in earlier times. Egyptian pyramids, for example, often contained jewels, gold ornaments, richly decorated furniture, statues, and other precious objects. Nearly all pyramids were looted by treasure hunters in ancient times. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, treasure hunters carried away many art objects from the sites of ancient civilizations. They often carelessly destroyed other relics in their rush to obtain treasures that could be sold to collectors. By the 20th century many countries had laws controlling the excavation and exportation of historical relics and art objects.
Treasure Hunting Laws
The rights to a treasure trove (recovered treasure that has no apparent owner) vary in different countries. In the United States treasure trove is treated in the same way as any other found property. State laws vary, but the finder is usually allowed to keep the treasure. Some states require permits for treasure hunting on state lands. The U.S. Treasury Department issues excavation permits for public lands. The federal income tax laws apply to discovered treasure.
The law on sunken treasure is complicated. Many shipwrecks are the property of shipowners, insurance companies, or state or national governments. Treasure hunters may make an agreement with an owner to recover the treasure for a fee or a percentage of the find. If a wreck has no known owner, its cargo usually belongs to the finder.---history.howstuffworks.com