Treasure Hunting

A friend sent us this article and thought it would make an excellent blog,… and while we agree, we can’t help but confess that the following images and stories are sad and even a little disturbing.

In Southeast Asia the people of Loas are reliant on the trade of scrap metal to face the challenges of both poverty and food security. Entire communities, including young children, search the local paddy fields and jungles with $10 Vietnamese metal detectors and small shovels for any sign of scrap metal. Unfortunately, the scrap metal they are looking for is often found in the form of very dangerous, live bombs.

MAG International tells many heartbreaking stories on their website, but here is an excerpt…

“The older and more experienced villagers will recognize and leave a majority of the dangerous items - especially the round, orange sized cluster bomb submunitions - where they find them, but many of the younger people do not know the difference.

Eighteen-year-old Chai and her 12 year-old brother Song look for scrap metal high in the mountains near the Vietnamese border in Khammouane province. They camp out for up to a week at a time, living on the rice they bring with them and bamboo shoots and roots they find in the forest. They spend the day searching and digging and bring their finds to the roadside. Traders in trucks and pickups collect the scrap from them daily.

“We can make money for our family doing this,” explained Chai. “I know it can be dangerous and people in the village have been killed, but we are careful.” However, when asked about the different kinds of ordnance common in the area it became clear that they didn’t realize what the dangerous items looked like.

People say that they have no choice but to look for scrap metal. “We don’t grow enough rice,” said Kam in Phanop village. “Our land has flooded a lot in recent years so the harvests have been very bad. We grow only 20 per cent of the rice we need. I know collecting scrap metal is dangerous, but my family has to do it to live.”

In the past all the metal collected went to smelters in Vietnam but now factories have been built in Laos. It is very organized. The scrap collectors get $1.50 for a kilo of iron, and $2.50 for a kilo of aluminum. On average they find about seven kilos of metal a day.”

To read the rest of this article, see more stunning photos, and see a side of metal detecting that we never knew existed, please visit MAG International. This organization does everything they can for these region and while it breaks our heart to write this article, we’re happy to make people more aware. We’re very fortunate to be able to curse pull tabs and can slaw…

~ Liz ~

Share This

When we blogged about the 9th century gold Aestel that was found in South Yorkshire in 2005 by Tim Pearson, we had NO idea that our little blog would actually be read by Tim Pearson himself.

But he did read it and he’s our new friend and hero.

He found this stunning relic while metal detecting with his first generation Minelab Explorer metal detector and we are stunned. Big fans of Minelab products here (Adam has an X-Terra 70 and I’m hoping to get an Excalibur II for Christmas), we were thrilled to hear that this amazing find was made by someone so down-to-Earth and so much like ourselves.

Enjoy these pictures, passed on to us by Tim Pearson. This really is the kind of find that will make your heart skip a beat. Unfortunately we don’t have much of a chance of finding something this old on our continent, but thanks to Tim we most certainly can dream.

Share This

Tim Pearson, a metal detectorist and amateur treasure hunter (aren’t we all?) found what he thought was a milk bottle cap back in 2005.

Pearson was detecting in a South Yorkshire field that he had combed over for more than six years. In the past the field that had yielded nothing more than a Roman coin for him, but this time, there was something special waiting.

Tim says “When I broke open the clod of earth the first I saw of the aestel was its flat back covered in mud. Seriously just looked like a piece of gold coloured foil, hence the milk bottle top similarity. Obviously, soon as I had the object in my hand I knew it was something special!” (Note: Many thanks to Tim for commenting on this blog for that personal quote - we are honored.)

But as you can guess, it wasn’t a milk bottle top.

What Pearson found is a relic now known as the “Yorkshire Aestel” and is the only one of its kind held by a private owner. It’s a hallow “cast pointer” that would have been used by monks as an aid to reading manuscripts. Auctioneers claim -that King Alfred (who ruled from 871 - 899) commissioned several of these aestels to made for his bishops to aid the translation of Pope Gregory I’s Regula Pastoralis.

The pointer measures just 31mm high and weighs 4.12grams and is known to be one of seven pointers in existence. The most famous pointer, “The Alfred Jewel” was found in Somerset in 1693 and resides in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Four more were found in King Alfred’s Wessex while the other five identified aestels are “The Minster Lovell Jewel” in Oxfordshire, “The Bowleaze Jewel” in Dorset, “The Wessex Jewel” in Wilshire, “The Bidford Bobble” in Warwickshire, and “The Borg Aestel” in Norway.

This relic will be auctioned at Bonham’s on October 15th during their Sale of Antiquities in London. It is expected to garner 15,000 pounds, or over $27,000

Madeleine Perridge of Bonhams Antiquities Department, comments: “When handling an object like this, anyone with a love of history and literature knows that they are in touch with centuries of monastic scholarly endeavour, and possibly with royal sponsorship of that work. It is a privilege to be selling this beautiful rare object.”

We are proud and honored to say that Tim Pearson stopped by our blog the night this was written and passed on some photos to share. The first and third photo are of Tim’s Aestel, and we must say that it would have made our hearts skip a beat or five if we had dug this up. Yet again, one more instance where we are kicking ourselves for not planning a trip across the pond earlier.

- Adam & Shaun

Share This

If you live in New York City then you probably don’t get to go out metal detecting too often.

But you do get to go to some great exhibits at the various museums around The City and yes, we are jealous here in St. Cloud, Florida.

DiveMaster.com reports that artifacts from the oldest known shipwreck, the Uluburn, will be on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Bodrum Underwater Archaeological Museum in Turkey starting November 18, 2008.

All of the 140 unique pieces that were removed from the 3,300 year old ship will be on public display at the Met., including the “golden seal of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, glass beads, golden necklaces, precious jewels, a stone hoe, and containers for food and hunting items used in ancient times.”

Museum Director Yasar Yildiz said “In addition to being the oldest shipwreck discovered so far, Uluburun provides significant insight into the ancient commercial life of the Anatolia and Mediterranean basins. Furthermore, the artifacts from Uluburun are extremely well preserved. Egyptian Queen Nefertiti’s first and only golden seal in the world will be on display at the symposium. We are proud of exhibiting and promoting the artifacts from Bodrum Museum, which is acknowledged as one of the most outstanding museums in the world. We will introduce our treasures to the public in the U.S.A.”

The Uluburun was discovered in 1982 by a Turkish sponge diver and was recovered using techniques of underwater excavation in 11 consecutive campaigns of 3-4 months duration each from 1984 to 1994.

For a complete list of the items found on the ship (and consequently, the items that will be on display at the Met in November) view the Uluburun’s Wikipedia Page.

Anybody planning on going to this? Feel free to send us pictures!

- Shaun

Share This

No treasure hunter is complete without a good story of pillaged booty and pirate ships… that’s why we’ve decided to properly celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate Day here at TreasureHunting.com. Our sponsor, Kellyco Metal Detectors is also celebrating Talk Like a Pirate Day by offering a replica Spanish coin, the same one plundered by Pirates from the ships sailing around the Caribbean, with every purchase of a metal detector September 19 - 21, 2008.

We went straight to the source of “Talk like a Pirate Day” and found the guys who invented it! Turns out they own TalkLikeaPirate.com and have a handy “how to” guide for those of us who don’t already have Pirate lingo built into our life.

Here’s what the folks at TalkLikeaPirate.com have to say:

“Why do we need an International Talk Like a Pirate Day?

Make no mistake. We do. But it’s a little hard to articulate why, especially when you’ve made the mistake of referring to your wife as a scurvy bilge rat and tried to order her back into the galley.

Talking like a pirate is fun. It’s really that simple.

It gives your conversation a swagger, an elán, denied to landlocked lubbers. The best explanation came from a guy at a Cleveland radio station who interviewed us on the 2002 Talk Like a Pirate Day. He told us we were going to be buried by people asking for interviews because it was a “whimsical alternative” to all the serious things that were making the news so depressing.

In other words, silliness is the holiday’s best selling point.

Before we go any further, there’s something we need to be clear about. Pirates were and are bad people. Really reprehensible. Even the most casual exploration of the history of pirates (and believe us, casual is an accurate description of our research) leaves you hip deep in blood and barbarity. We recognize this, all right? We aren’t for one minute suggesting that real, honest-to-God pirates were in any way, shape or form worth emulating.

So what is it exactly that we’re celebrating here, if not pirates? What, you’re wondering, is the point?

We’re going to be painfully honest here, perhaps fatally so.

The point is, there is no point.

And that’s what’s fun about Talk Like a Pirate Day specifically, and talking like a pirate in general.

We’re talking about the mere image of swaggering pirateness. And while this is a guys’ guide, the comely wench will have fun talking like a pirate, too. It’s powerful, yet harmless. Perhaps, dare we suggest it, the ultimate aphrodisiac. Try it!

When Sept. 19 rolls around and suddenly tens of thousands of people are saying “arrr” and “Weigh anchor or I’ll give you a taste of the cap’n’s daughter,” it staggers us. They are talking like pirates — not because two yahoos from the Northwestern United States told them to, but simply because it’s fun.”

So enjoy this day folks - it only comes around once a year!

Share This

An unfortunate accident left a security guard dead and two big rig trucks totaled on Interstate 95.

It also left $187,000 in brand new nickels scattered across the ground.

One of the trucks, which apparently collided in the southbound lane on I-95 with another truck, was a U.S. Treasury truck transporting nickels from the mint in Philadelphia down to Miami. Reporters on the scene describe “some parts of this tractor-trailer are not even recognizable. It almost looks like the trailer portion was ripped in half.”

So what do you folks think the chances are of them getting every nickel up…? You guys thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’…?

- Shaun

Share This

Just like the title says folks - a 16th century sunken ship bound for Asia from Portugal was discovered off the coast of Namibia.

We’re excited about the find because of all the TREASURE found on the sunken vessel!

The Earth Times is reporting “the ship’s rich bounty includes 2,000 gold coins and 1.4 kilograms in silver coins. Besides the treasure, they also found cannons and elephant tusks on the seabed.”

Also found among the remains of the ship were navigational instruments used by Portuguese sailors and the vessel has been linked to the first European to round the Cape of Good Hope - Portuguese explorer Bartholomez Diaz. Diaz is known for establishing a sea route from the Atlantic to Asia in 1488, but he went missing in the year 1500.

This shipwreck is believed to be the oldest one ever discovered off of the coasts of sub-Saharan Africa, and archaeologists from the U.S., Portugal, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe are currently deciding how the excavation will be carried out. Although the shipwreck was discovered in April, journalists will be getting their first peek on Monday, September 22, 2008.

Share This

Can you believe it? It’s already been a year of blogging at TreasureHunting.com.

We set out to start a website that put all the good treasure hunting and metal detecting news in one place and have had a blast doing just that. Adam, Elizabeth and myself figured the various treasure hunting forums have plenty of stories from the every day user, but the news from all around the world got so jumbled and easily lost on this big internet; We needed one spot for it all. It’s really amazing how much news there is about this hobby!

Many thanks to our sponsors: Kellyco Metal Detectors and Metal Detectors For Less, without which we wouldn’t be here today. They pass on stories, new product information and even proofread a post or two for us. Thank you folks for making our hobby so much fun.

Even more thanks to our subscribers who keep us motivated to share treasure news. We’ve been passing good stories back and forth over email for a few years now, but having an audience to share it with makes all the difference in the world. We’ve learned a whole lot in the year we’ve been doing this and have been happy to teach a thing or two along the way.

Looking forward to another year with you folks!

- Shaun, Adam, and Liz

Share This

When I first saw this article I thought to myself “Well whatever that means, it sure sounds cool.”

Turns out I was right and this is a neat find.

A pile of ancient relics was unearthed while restoring the “Cheonggye Stream” in Korea and among the items discovered was a firearm, produced in 1591. That was just one year before the start of the Seven Year War between Korea and Japan. The rifle is partially damaged, made from bronze, and is inscribed with the date of its production.

The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) reports: “The partially-damaged firearm is 74.2 cm in length but, considering the inscriptions and its present size, experts say that the relic may have been closer to 1.2 meters long at the time of its production.

The museum said the key feature of the firearm is that its manufacturers chose an octagonal section to protect the gun barrel from explosion.”

Check out pictures of this 400+ year old rifle at the Korean Broadcasting System Online. It’s definitely different.

- Shaun

Share This