Treasure Hunting

Between 1413 and 1433, seven fleets of Chinese ships were sent out under the command of the legendary Admiral Zheng He, a contemporary of Christopher Columbus. The last of these expeditions sailed to the Straits of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and were wrecked, and still lie on the ocean floor today.

Associate Professor Phil Mulhearn, from the Ocean Technology Group and School of Geosciences, designed the advanced underwater imaging system used to conduct the ocean floor surveys.

The first survey, conducted in 2009, uncovered another 10 sites where treasure might be found, and a second survey is to be completed in 2011.

These wrecks are so important because any discovered sea treasure will reveal hidden secrets about the exchanges between the Far East and the West in the early 15th century.

“Sea treasure is far better preserved than treasure found on land,” explains Professor Ian Jones, the Adjunct Professor for Climate Change in the Ocean Technology Group.

So, while artifacts found above sea level will have been weathered and degraded over time, treasure found underwater on the seabed will be in almost pristine condition.

Earlier this month, the Confucious Institute held a public seminar at the University of Sydney where Professor Mulhearn and Professor Changqing Hu presented their expedition findings so far.

Share This

Villupuram, INDIA: The district police and revenue officials recovered 19 gold coins each weighing 300 grams, part of a treasure unearthed by three construction workers. While one man surrendered before the police and handed over 19 coins, two others are absconding with 27 gold coins in their possession, police said.

P Munusamy, 55, hailing from Pillaiyarpalayam in Kancheepuram district and two others whose identities have been withheld, found a gold treasure while demolishing the walls of an ancient temple in a remote village, Kuzhi in Villupuram district. They were thrilled to find 46 ancient gold coins in a pot buried in the ground. The elated workers divided the gold coins among themselves and absconded.

Meanwhile, the contractor based in Kancheepuram, who engaged the three workers to demolish the temple wall, came to know about the treasure. He called Munusamy over phone and instructed him to hand over the treasure to him, or face severe action.

The scared worker approached the Tiruvanainallur police and narrated the events leading to the treasure being unearthed. He surrendered 19 gold coins weighing totally 64.5 grams that he took from the temple site and also disclosed the identities of two other workers to the police. He claimed that the two persons are in possession of another 27 gold coins.

Police engaged a jewel appraiser, who ascertained that the coins were made of gold following which they seized the valuables and registered a case under section 102 of CrPC. They later alerted the revenue officials about the seizure.

A team of revenue officials led by Tirukoilur tahsildar R Bhama recovered the priceless antique coins and handed it over to Tirukoilur sub treasury. “The district collectorate will hand over the coins to the Archaeological Survey of India, the appropriate authority to reveal more information about the coins,” Bhama told TOI. Tiruvanainallur police have launched a hunt for two other construction workers, who fled with 27 gold coins.

Share This

WINDSOR, UK: A metal detecting enthusiast has had one of his finds – a 3,000-year-old gold necklace – classified as treasure after an investigation by a coroner.

Crown Wood treasure hunter David Conway was hunting near a gravel extraction site in the Windsor area on Sunday, December 6, last year, when his metal detector picked up a strong signal. He had previously found a small golden ring on the site and asked the landowner to let him search again.

The latest find was a gold Bronze Age torc – a kind of necklace – of which the first ring he found was part.

Under the Treasure Act 1996, a coroner has to establish that a find is more than 300 years old and has a gold or silver content of more than 10 per cent. Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford held a treasure trove inquest in Newbury on Wednesday, August 4.

During the hearing Mr Bedford said the torc was authenticated by Gillian Vandell at the British Museum who dated it back to between 1300 and 1100BC – more than 3,000 years old. She also said it is 83 per cent gold and 15 per cent silver.

During the hearing David explained that he nearly did not make the find because the landowner did not want him to search on the land.

David told Mr Bedford: “He turned me down at first, but I kept asking.”

Mr Bedford classified the find as treasure meaning it will be valued and offered for sale to an appropriate museum.

If a museum does not want to buy it, the item can be sold privately.

Ownership is usually negotiated between the landowner and the finder.

Share This

Historians are becoming increasingly convinced that a villa uncovered 20 miles from London was once home to Britain’s Roman Governor.

Since Lullingstone Roman Villa was first uncovered in the 1930s experts believed it was once the home of a leading Roman or wealthy Briton, but archaeologists were unsure of the owner’s identity.

Now experts have re-examined treasures found at the site, near Orpington in Kent, and say it was almost certainly the home of Publius Helvius Pertinax.

The governor is known to have fled the villa at the end of the second century amid a mutiny by his soldiers. The men then looted it for gold and silver.

Roman experts believe the looters prised the seal from a gold signet ring and then left it behind as worthless. There are signs the seal has been gouged with a knife.

Historians also say two portrait busts left behind were of the governor and, almost certainly, his father.

The one of Pertinax was left decapitated in an act of spite, probably carried out by an enraged soldier.
Joanne Gray, English Heritage curator of Lullingstone, said:

‘We have always known that the site must have belonged to someone of high status because of its size, the quality of its mosaic floor and the archaeological finds.

‘The image on the seal is one of victory. It is an image often used by Romans as a sign of imperial power.’

She said the research had been carried out by archaeologists Martin Henig, who lectures in Roman art and culture at Oxford University, and German archaeologist Richard de Kind.

Mrs Gray said: ‘The research that has been done points quite strongly to Lullingstone being the home of Britain’s governor. Everything seems to fit.’

Visitors to the villa, near the village of Eynsford, can still view the basement and foundation walls of the villa.

Share This

These are the kind of events that makes Metal Detecting a truly honorable hobby.

Black Mountain, Asheville, NC — A group of metal-detecting enthusiasts helped police find some stolen jewelry last week.

The jewelry was stolen in a string of home break-ins last month. Five town residents were arrested in the case. The Police Department approached the metal-detecting hobbyists and gave them the approximate location of where they thought the suspected criminals disposed of some items.

The treasure hunters did the rest of the work.

“They did a good job,” police Sgt. Rob Austin said.

Mike Post, a Swannanoa Valley resident and dealer for Minelab brand metal detectors, recruited members of the Blue Ridge Metal Detecting Club and posted a message on Treasurenet.com, a website for hobbyists. They converged on the site Aug. 5 at the end of Vance Avenue and Montreat’s In the Oaks campus, and began sweeping the area, Post said.

Another man out for a walk discovered some jewelry boxes after the searchers told him what they where looking for. They were able to use their metal detectors to uncover the jewelry hidden beneath the leaves and dirt.

“It doesn’t take long for this stuff to bury itself,” Post said. “It settles once it rains and the wind blows.”

Club members came from as far as Sylva, and one man who was traveling through the area from Illinois made a detour to attend after seeing the post on Treasurenet.com.

“It was a good idea,” Austin said. “It panned out.”

The jewelry is now being processed as evidence. Austin is reviewing descriptions from police reports filed immediately after the break-ins to match the jewelry with the owners.

He said the case underscores the need for homeowners to document their possessions with photographs and record the serial numbers of possessions. Having photos can help homeowners claim their stolen goods if they are recovered, and serial numbers can help law enforcement officials track items through nationwide databases.

Share This

Chichester, West Sussex, UK: A skeleton dating back to Roman times has been unearthed on an estate.

The rare find, which is believed to date back to the first and third Centuries, was found during a metal-detecting exhibition earlier this year.

An inquest in Arundel was told how a silver ring and a bottle that may have contained ashes were also unearthed next to the lead coffin.

The find, which was made by Ken Mordle from Midhurst, on April 7, near Chichester, was examined by the British Museum on May 12.

Under British Museum guidance the media are asked not to reveal the exact location of important historical finds.

The ring, which was dated to between AD43 and AD250, was found to be more than 10% precious metal and is therefore considered treasure by the Coroner of West Sussex Penelope Schofield.

The inquest was told that Chichester District Museum has already expressed an interest in exhibiting the ring.

It is not yet known how much the find is worth. This article is referenced from the Argus, UK news posting.

Share This

The Sofia Echo news page reported later yesterday that archaeologists from Varna discovered one of the largest medieval treasures in recent times. This is also the largest discovery in 2010 during excavation works in the medieval city of Kastritsi in Euxinograd, on August 4, news agency Focus reported.

The treasure was discovered embedded in the floor of a home within the medieval stronghold, the report said.

According to associate professor Valentin Pletnyov, head of the Regional History Museum in Varna, the treasure consisted of a small jug dating back to the 14th century, containing 166 silver coins from the era of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria and his son Mihail, Focus reported.

The archaeologists also unearthed parts of utensils and swords.

“We hope that more artifacts will be discovered during the excavation works ahead,” Pletnyov said.

According to the professor, this is one of the biggest medieval treasures found in Bulgaria in 2010.

Share This

This morning, I came across a new event that the website www.welostourgold.com made videos which gives clues to unlock the mystery of where their “buried treasure” is to find.

An individual can now view the first video and unlock one of eight video clues since yesterday. The site claims there is $10,000 in US currency buried in a wooden chest somewhere within the five boroughs. All you have to do is decode the videos, and the treasures all yours.

“We wanted to create a real treasure hunt.” says a message posted by on the site by its creators.”And there’s a chest of “gold” waiting to be found. We’ve always wanted to experience the excitement of searching for pirate treasure, so we decided to give that feeling to everyone else.”

While the website is called “welostourgold.com” the creators say there’s no real gold out there. “The treasure is 10,000 US mint one-dollar coins. Most of them are Sacagawea dollars, or the new presidential one-dollar coins,” is posted in the frequently asked questions on the site. They also note that the new coins are gold colored so it will give you the pirate feel.

The site is leased through godaddy.com, and was created back in October of 2006, no owners are listed and the landlubbers say they are not telling.

We don’t know where the treasure is buried, but we can tell you that it’s not buried in Central Park. The site’s creators say they love the City but don’t want to encourage anyone to start digging up the park or anywhere else.

So you’ll have to trust the three puppet pirates and the ninja, watch the videos, and hopefully uncover the buried treasure hiding under New York City. Or else just be roped into the latest viral marketing campaign

Share This

Glens Falls, NY– The massive hole in front of the Cronin High Rise in downtown Glens Falls is not from replacing pipes or construction. Excavation workers are digging out the remains of an old building that was buried there. It was causing the lawn to collapse in front of the prestigious High Rise.

“We had a lot of erosion and settling,” said Robert Landry, of the Glens Falls Housing Authority. That agency runs the senior high-rise on Ridge Street.

“It was creating sinkholes, and it made it difficult to maintain the lawn. The flagpole was even starting to lean.”

Landry said the city hired an engineer to do a soil test, and it was determined a previous demolition at the site had become unstable, causing the sinking lawn. Services Unlimited was hired to excavate the site, remove the debris of the old building, fill it back in with clean fill and re-tamp the surface.

“We’ll have a new lawn and new landscaping,” Landry said. “Our goal is to be the nicest looking property in downtown Glens Falls.”

He said the excavation work should be complete by mid-August, and the lawn and landscaping should be done by September 1st. The project carries a price tag of about $50,000, which was covered by a Capital Fund grant covering infrastructure improvements.

But just what is it they are digging up? City Historian Wayne Wright said the structure was the home of Dr. George W. Little.

“Dr. Little had a conservatory on the right side of the house where he kept monkeys, birds and all sorts of plant life,” Wright said. “After he closed his practice, he handed out little spoons to the people who were still with him. Some of those spoons are still around.”

Little was eccentric, and his wife moved out of the house in his later years to settle in the Fort Edward area.

“There was a one-story addition built onto the front of the house for a storefront,” Wright said. “The structure came down during Urban Renewal in the early 1970s, and they just bulldozed it under.”

Landry recalls a pool hall at the spot in the ‘70s.

“It was the Chalk and Cue Pool Hall, and it was a popular hangout for St. Mary’s students, and since I was one of them, I used to hang out there,” he said. “Van the Shoe Man and Griffin’s Paint Store were also in this area.”

Robert Landry believes there might be a few interesting finds from this old demolished house, but they still have yet to dig and discover pieces of history. Citing and picture use from Post Star articles.

Share This

Sebastan: Dozens of gold and silver coins hidden nearly 300 years ago were found Friday when a cannon recovered July 11 from a wrecked Spanish ship was being cleaned for preservation, salvagers reported this week.

Divers from the salvage boat “Gold Hound” brought up the ship’s bronze swivel cannon, a rare find in itself, in less than 20 feet of water between Wabasso and Vero Beach, said Anne Kazel-Wilcox, a spokeswoman for 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, a private salvage company based in Sebastian and Jupiter.

A historic bronze cannon found near Sebastian contained gold and silver coins concealed inside, treasure on its way back to Spain before the shipwreck

The heavily-encrusted cannon was taken to the Mel Fisher’s Treasures facility in Sebastian for preservation, Kazel-Wilcox said, “and as workers were conserving it, the cannon became unplugged and coins were found inside.”

In addition to 22 gold coins found near the cannon, 25 gold coins and 63 silver coins were found inside, worth an estimated $500,000 or more.

“This is an amazing historic find,” Greg Bounds of Fellsmere, captain of the Gold Hound, said in a prepared statement. “We found treasure within the treasure. This is right out of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ except this is the real thing. For centuries there has been talk of treasure possibly hidden inside of cannons, but up until today that was only pirate lore. Now it’s the real deal.”

The wreck was part of a fleet of 11 galleons and war ships laden with gold bars, coins, diamonds, emeralds and pearls bound from Havana for King Philip V of Spain. The cargo included the so-called “Queen’s Jewels,” a 74-carat emerald, pearls and diamonds meant for Philip’s new bride Elisabeth, who reportedly said she wouldn’t consummate the marriage until she received them.

The ships sank in a hurricane off the Treasure Coast on July 31, 1715. Last month, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, a private salvage company, acquired salvage rights to the fleet from the heirs of treasure hunter Mel Fisher, whose family had retained the fleet’s U.S. Admiralty Custodianship of a 300-square-mile stake off Indian River County that extends from the low-tide mark into the ocean. Together with subcontractors such as Bounds, they are searching for a mother lode estimated to be worth $900 million.

By law, the state gets 20 percent of the haul and gets to pick the pieces it wants first. The rest is split 50-50 between 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels and the subcontractors who found it.

Bounds, one of about 15 subcontractors who have worked with Mel Fisher Treasure and continue to work with 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, uncovered more than $12.9 million worth of gold chains, pearls, coins, swords and other artifacts in 2007 from the 400-year-old Santa Margarita site in the Florida Keys.

This article was found from a news blog site the Coin Docere.

Share This