7 Missing Wonders Many of history's most famous shipwrecks, tombs and relics are still missing. Jennifer Saranow on the growing high-tech hunt for them. By JENNIFER SARANOW November 9, 2007; Page W1
With as many as 1,500 active satellites orbiting the Earth and the human population approaching seven billion, you'd think that everything of value on the planet would have been discovered by now.
In recent years, a growing army of historians, archaeologists and wealthy treasure-hunters has been raising huge sums and enlisting new technology in a bid to find these and other treasures. Maury Kravitz, a 75-year-old semiretired attorney and commodities trader from Highland Park, Ill., has spent 15 years and $3 million to $4 million searching north-central Mongolia for the tomb of Genghis Khan. Roger "Woody" Peard, 53, of Lake Tahoe, Calif., believes Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10-E, which disappeared over the South Pacific in 1937, was downed by a midair collision and buried on a Japanese military base in the Marshall Islands. He is raising $30,000 to fund an expedition to use ground-penetrating radar to prove his theory. "Nobody believes me," he says.
Explorers have had some success. Last May, Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., an underwater search and recovery firm, announced it had found a Colonial-era shipwreck it called "Black Swan" and recovered a trove that includes more than 500,000 silver coins. In 1985, a search team found and filmed the wreckage of the Titanic, while in 1992, satellite images helped another group locate what they believe is the lost legendary region of Ubar, which Lawrence of Arabia called "the Atlantis of the Sands." One searcher says he has recovered treasure from the famous Flor de la Mar shipwreck off the coast of Indonesia, while a Texas professor claims to have purchased a sliver of the True Cross -- the cross used to crucify Jesus -- for about $1,500 on eBay.
After mysteriously disappearing in 1937, the remains of Amelia Earhart have eluded explorers who have searched both land and sea. A number of theories exist on her disappearance. WSJ's Jennifer Saranow reports. Traditionally, nonacademic treasure hunts are funded by groups of investors who seek returns by selling media rights and splitting any treasure. Odyssey Marine, the most prominent company of its kind, capitalized on the interest in treasure hunting in 1997 by going public. The company has a market capitalization of about $300 million and posted revenue of $5.06 million last year. It last had an annual profit in 2004.
But technology is opening up the field. Using the Global Positioning System, searchers can better pinpoint where to look. Wireless communications allow searchers to share and analyze information from remote spots. Satellite photography can suggest likely ancient sites and trade routes, while increasingly sensitive and affordable devices use radar signals, magnetic sensors and electrical pulses to detect foundations and metal objects. At the same time, deep-diving devices that use magnetometers and sonar detection have enabled searchers to see things underwater that weren't visible even five years ago. Many such techniques are accessible to "pretty much anybody these days," says W. Fredrick Limp, director of the University of Arkansas's Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies.
Porcher Taylor III, a University of Richmond professor, has spent nearly a decade analyzing increasingly detailed satellite images of an anomaly on Turkey's Mount Ararat that he believes could be Noah's Ark. In Miami, geographer Ulf Erlingsson recently used high-tech mapping software to show the similarity between Ireland and Plato's descriptions of Atlantis (Mr. Erlingsson believes Plato's descriptions were inspired by an island in the North Sea).
In some cases, wealthy people are commissioning searches. To find the U.S. submarine their father died in during World War II, three brothers recently hired two underwater-exploration companies to look for it (the vessel, the USS Grunion, was identified last August). For $30,000, individual treasure hunters can buy ground sensors or hire an underwater search vessel for a day.
In recent years, archaeologists, historians and governments have voiced concern that many underwater treasure hunters are pillaging loot with little concern for the historical record. Under traditional laws governing shipwreck sites in international waters, finders are keepers and salvagers are entitled to compensation. But governments are increasingly staking claims -- Odyssey Marine is now engaged in a legal battle with Spain over the Black Swan. (Laws governing objects found on land are usually more stringent.)
Here are looks at seven of the most prized lost treasures -- what they are, where they are thought to be and who is looking for them.
sure will do,talking of treasures...count of monte cristo....my all time fav
> nice list > Have you read CLIVE CUSSLER. > he starts every novel of his with a buried treasure like you > mentioned. > > one time its treasures of atlantis. once its the library contents of > alexandria. once it eldorado of central america.. > > > and int he contemprory account the hero dirk pitt finds them. all > underwater adventures > > please read for some great experiences. > > > venketesh
As u know i am attempting to produce import substitute of electrical resistance, cavity finder with remote control cameras, and Gps fitted Ground penetrating rador(advance technology in to indian archealogy).
some of the kings allready offered me to trace the treasures which hidden by their ancestors during mogul ,maratha and english rulers.
waterbody ,hills, caves and deep forests are still protecting our hidden heritage .
there are lot of tresure hunting clubs are in abroad.
Now i got the agency from
www.accuratelocators.com
to marcket their products in India for the government agencies .
s.balasubramani B+ve.
i am alone coordinating all of my technical activities need some volunteers for my research activites.
the first reliable instrument for treasure hunting( any other ideas vijay?) was the metal detector.
2 important things about the metal detector was one it was invented by a very familiar person- alexander graham bell
and two its use was different and novel too. it was designed in a hurry to locate a bulet in a dying ( assasinated) president of usa . I think it was garfield.