Treasure Hunting

About 1,000 ancient Roman relics were discovered in the country home of a wealthy engineer who lived just outside of Rome. The relics were traced by archaeologists to one of Emperor Trajan’s first century villas.

To give you a little perspective on that, Emperor Trajan ruled from the year 98 A.D., to 117 A.D. He’s best known for his extensive public building program, which reshaped the city of Rome and left multiple enduring landmarks such as Trajan’s Forum, Trajan’s Market and Trajan’s Column. His legacy as a Roman emperor is comparable only to that of Augustus Caesar - who I’m sure you’ve heard of. Check out the map on the left to see exactly how extensive the Roman Empire became under his rule.

In fact, every new emperor after Trajan was honored by the Senate with the prayer “felicior Augusto, melior Traiano,” meaning “may he be luckier than Augustus and better than Trajan”.

The relics that were recovered were being used as decorations in the engineer’s weekend residence, and they came from the walls of Trajan’s hunting retreat in Arcinazzo Romano.

The raid that revealed the relics took place more than a year ago and just became public this March.

Just more proof that every relic founds teaches us a little bit more about history. Hope ya’ll enjoyed the lesson.

- Shaun

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If you consider yourself a metal detectorist of any caliber then you have an extensive collection of pull tabs. If you’re anything like me, you wonder where the heck they all came from. So I did some digging around online to see what I could find about them and got a pretty good history lesson.

In the early 1960’s the Pittsburgh Brewing Company introduced “Iron City Beer” in ‘self-opening cans.’ The concept was pretty novel – just pull up on a tab and you had an open can of beer in your hand! No accessories like a ‘church key’ or bottle opener neccessary - imagine that! These early pull tabs were known as “zip tops” and were disposable. But because of the rough edges of the aluminum, the cans often left people with cuts on their fingers, lips and even noses.

But the revolution had begun! By 1965 the design was changed to the ring style, which I’m sure every metal detectorists has seen his or her share of. The ring style was even easier then the zip top; just put your finger into the ring, yank forward and have your beverage with less potential for physical injury - even better!

Needless to say, the swift evolution of the zip top to the ring tab revolutionized canned beverages. By the mid-60’s over 75% of all cans produced in the U.S. had a pull-tab opening.

But for all their convenience, the pull tabs were an environmental and metal detectorist’s nightmare. For 10 years people opened cans, ripped off the pull-tabs and threw them to the side because they were encouraged to - there was nothing else to do with these removable metal pieces. Pets and wildlife died from ingesting them, as did a few people who dropped them into a can and accidentally choked on them. They wound up everywhere – from beaches and parks, to playgrounds and garbage disposals. People routinely cut themselves in a time when hand sanitizer wasn’t in every woman’s purse.

Ten years after the “ring” version of the pull tab was introduced, an answer to this environmental and safety nightmare finally came. The “stay tab” style was introduced in 1975 by the Falls City Brewing Company, and they were here to stay – literally. These ring-style-stay-tabs are what we can see on every can of coke and beer in the grocery store today. Unfortunately, they don’t stay quite as well as the designers would have liked. But at least this style doesn’t force people to throw the tab aside… they actually have to do a little work to get it off.

Thankfully, metal detectorists like you and me pick these up as we go… cleaning the beaches, parks and playground for the future, all in the name of a healthy hobby. Personally, I think we live in a disposable world now-a-days, and I wonder when we’ll figure out that convenience comes at the price of our environment. But that’s another conversation, meant for another day. In the meantime, keep picking those pull tab’s up, and thank Pittsburgh Brewing Company for the introduction of your most frequent find.

For more history of cans, specifically beer cans, see Brewery Collectibles Club of America. Also look at RustyCans.com for a great history of cans in general.

- Shaun

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I’ve found several common threads that link us Treasure Hunters together, but perhaps my favorite is our sense of adventure. Since it’s Presidents Day I thought I would share the history of one of my favorite and most adventurous presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.

Historian Thomas Bailey perhaps said it best when he labeled Teddy as “a great personality, a great activist, a great preacher of the moralities, a great controversialists, a great showman.” There is no doubt he was an adventure-seeking man, and us self-confessed ‘history buffs’ can set aside politics and appreciate Teddy’s endless quest for knowledge.

In March 1909, Roosevelt left for a safari in east and central Africa. His party landed in what is now Kenya and traveled to what is now Democratic Republic of the Congo before following the Nile up to Khartoum in modern Sudan. Roosevelt hunted for specimens for the Smithsonian Institution and for the American Museum of Natural History in New York. His party killed or trapped over 11,397 animals, from insects and moles to hippopotamuses and elephants. Roosevelt wrote a detailed account of the adventure in the book “African Game Trails”, where he describes the excitement of the chase, the people he met, and the flora and fauna he collected in the name of science.

In 1913 and 1914 Roosevelt went on another adventure, this time to the Brazilian jungle. His book “Through the Brazilian Wilderness” was quite popular and describes all of the scientific discovery, tropical scenery and exotic flora, fauna and wild life he encountered.

To honor the adventurous spirit of Teddy, here’s a list of some of his “Presidential Firsts” which show his true spirit was that of a Treasure Hunter:

In August, 1902, Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to take a public automobile ride. This occurred during a parade in Hartford, Connecticut

On August 25, 1905 he became the first U.S. President to ride in a military submarine when he boarded the USS Plunger (SS-2) and ran submerged with her for 55 minutes.

In 1906, he made the first trip, by a President, outside the United States, visiting Panama to inspect the construction progress of the Panama Canal on November 9.

In 1906, Roosevelt became the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize.

In 1910 he became the first U.S. President to ride in an airplane.

In 2001, he became the first and only President up to date to receive a Medal of Honor, making him the only person to date to win the world’s highest peace honor, as well as his nation’s top military honor.

He was the first President to officially refer to the White House as such, on his official stationery. This had been the common name (referring to the color of the building), but until then, the official name was “The Executive Mansion”

He was the first President to wear a necktie for his official Presidential Portrait.

He was the first President to approve a coin, the Lincoln cent, with a man’s face on it, in 1909, just in time for the centennial of Lincoln’s birth. Lincoln was Roosevelt’s presidential hero.

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So who was/is your favorite president? Who would you consider the most adventurous? Which one do you think has the spirit of a treasure hunter?

~ Elizabeth ~

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On June 30, 2005 the fate of the early American silver dollar coin changed forever. A 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar was graded by Numismatic Guaranty Corp. as an MS-64 and sold for $1,150,000.00.

Did your mouth drop open when you read that number? So did mine!

Now 1804 silver dollars are expected to command that much attention as well as that kind of money due to their scarcity and demand. But, as the article at Numismaster.com says, ‘to say that a price of more than $1 million for a 1794 dollar was unusual would be putting it mildly.’

1794 is, without a doubt, historic but there may be 135 known to exist and a few of those in Mint State. Coins with over 100 examples known don’t usually bring in more than $1 million. But the rise in value for the early silver dollars didn’t stop with the 1794 Flowing Hair.

A 1795 MS-65 brought $230,000.00 and later a 1776 Continental Dollar graded MS-64 brought $126,500.00. Shortly thereafter an 1802 bust dollar graded MS-65 sold for $247,250.00. What this means is that Bust dollars ‘have apparently found an audience of collectors and that audience is willing to pay top prices for the best early dollars of the U.S.’

To read an excellent and engaging history of how America first came to issue silver dollars, check out the full article at Numismaster.com. The article also details the creation of the highly coveted 1804 dollar, and explains why you’ll never dig one up.

Articles like this make you want to run out to those Colonial sites you know about and spend a few days combing every inch, huh?

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As always, the friends behind TreasureHunting.com watch for news of unique treasure finds worldwide. Despite having only lived and treasure hunted in America, we envy the metal detectorists across the big-pond with their rich history that goes back thousands of years, through so many civilizations. And today we stumbled upon an article that makes us want to grab our detectors and hop on a plane to Europe now more than ever!

In north-east England, North Yorkshire to be exact, a metal detectorist found and recovered a frightening little object. Made of copper, and depicting the face of a “wild, violent and drunken female nymph” this find might have creeped us out at first. But thank goodness our fellow treasure hunter hung onto the little female figurine because it was identified and purchased by the Yorkshire Museum as a rare 2,000 year old Roman lamp!

Apparently only a handful of these lamps have ever been discovered in Britain and this one is in “brilliant” condition. The frightening head is thought to be that of a “Maenad” which translates to “raving ones,” who, in Greek and Roman mythology were the drunken, violent worshippers of Dionysus - God of mystery, wine and intoxication. Museum officials say it was common for Roman lamps to show the Maenad figures, as it was an example of what not to let yourself become.

If you had to create an object out of metal to warn future generations about “what not to let yourself become” - what would you make? For us, a violent, drunken nymph is a good place to start…

See the original article as listed in The Press here.

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The differences between a hobby metal detectorist and a professional archaeologist have long been a heated topic of discussion for both parties. But I recently came across the uplifting story of metal detectorist Peter Hyams and his quest for professional help unearthing “one of the most spectacular Iron Age finds ever made in Britain.”

In Current Archaeology.co.uk, Independent Archaeologist John Winterburn details the story of the Chiseldon Cauldrons found outside the village of Chiseldon. Peter was metal detecting a field he had been over many times before when he discovered twelve buried cauldron’s - vessels with some iron rings and thin sheets of green and corroded bronze. His first reaction was to post a “plea for help on the Britarch email list,” but he was shocked at the negative response from several of the members. Knowing that he had found something worth preserving properly, Peter insisted on doing the right thing: getting advice and help from archaeologists.

After months of talking to professionals and vying for resources, all twelve of the cauldrons were properly excavated by several very determined, professional archaeologists and Peter himself. John Winterburn recalls “The cauldrons were jammed into the pit, and it was a problem to know which to remove first: it was essential to take them out of the ground in the reverse order to that in which they had been deposited – both to minimize any damage and to understand the sequence. A space was cleared for someone to work inside the pit – to stand in the place last occupied by the person who had arranged the cauldrons 2,000 years before.”

My question is: What would you have done?

Archaeologists and Hobby Metal Detectorists often clash and differ on their opinions of recovering artifacts. Would you have diligently sought out the help of a professional who may not take you seriously?

Peter Hyames did, and the history books are better for it.

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Staying with the map theme for the day, RomeReborn is an educational site that features a virtual model of Rome as it would have appeared on June 21, 320 A.D. You’re free to explore the model and watch videos showing the major features of the model.

This site was 10 years in the making, and was created by the combined efforts of groups from four different universities. Because it’s an educational site, you won’t feel bad after wasting the rest of the day exploring it.

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Have you ever thought about the early days of metal detecting? We were curious, so we checked Google Patent Search for the very first patent ever filed for a metal detector. Surprisingly, the patent we found didn’t look much different than the metal detectors of present day.

The patent for the Electrical Metal-Detector was filed, get this, January 29, 1889, by Jesse F. Kester of Terre Haute, Indiana. Jesse describes his invention as a “metal-finder for detecting the presence of metal - such as gold, silver, copper - which can be used either for exploring the bottom of streams or for searching the earth, either at the surface or several feet below the same.”

Something I found really interesting is that, on line 85 of the patent, they claim the devices, when used in very deep waters, can be grouped and suitably connected. Sounds like they could attach a bunch of these together for some sort of super metal detector.

For more information, click on over to the description of the first patented metal detector.

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