HuntTreasure.net

A cup passed on to a grandson was thought to be made of brass, but was instead of gold and about 2,500-years old. At a British auction, it went for $100,000 (£50,000).
Englishman John Webster inherited the cup from his grandfather, a "rag-and-bone" man or junk dealer, and had it stored for years [...]

Florida treasure-hunting firm Odyssey Marine Exploration struck jackpots last week with huge announcements.
On top of two new shipwreck site finds, Odyssey will be in front of millions of people worldwide in a new prime time TV series on the Discovery Channel.
Odyssey filed admiralty arrests in the U.S. District Court for the [...]

An alabaster head of Cleopatra and a Aphrodite mask believed to be Mark Antony’s have been found near Egypt’s Mediterranean city of Alexandria, according to Egypt’s antiquities chief Zahi Hawass.
Cleopatra was Queen of Egypt, and Mark Anthony a ruler of Rome after Caesar’s death. The pair were famous lovers and each committed [...]

The ancient circle of Stonehenge was attacked by vandals during the middle of the night last week, taking a coin-sized piece of the monument away with them and leaving behind a 2.5-inch scratch.
Two men are responsible for the vandalism, accordion to English Heritage who protects and promote England’s historic environment.
AFP quoted an English Heritage spokesperson [...]

Rare gold coins discovered in a sunken steamship off the Louisiana coast have been put under the microscope of sorts, by coin experts.
The SS New York was a 165-foot side-wheel steamship that was found under some 60 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico.
It carried within its hull coins made in [...]

The Namibian government is taking over the responsibility for the excavation of the 500-year old shipwreck diamond hunters found in the Atlantic, off the Namibia, African coast.
Last month geologists hunting for diamonds instead discovered a several hundred year old shipwreck filled with silver and gold coins, copper ingots, cannons and other valuable artifacts.
The [...]

Tammy Bullock of Boulder, Colorado found a painting in the trash, decided to grab it, held it for 10 years, and almost tossed it when moving into a new home.
It’s a good thing she didn’t. Although she didn’t know what to do with it or how to sell it, she felt it could [...]

You might never have thought about or expected it, but taking your ring in for cleaning leaves some small silver, gold, or platinum nuggets behind for the jeweler.
Don’t worry, your jeweler isn’t chopping pieces off from your jewelry when making them all shiny again. Buffing and cleaning a ring results in minute amounts of [...]

Odyssey Marine Exploration, a shipwreck treasure-hunting company based in Florida, has announced their first quarter 2008 earnings to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
By accounts, their legal battle with Spain over the 17-tons of silver coins found in a shipwreck of May of 2007 isn’t helping them. Not only must the legal bills be substantial, [...]

Geologists hunting for diamonds instead discovered a several hundred year old shipwreck filled with silver and gold coins, copper ingots, cannons and other valuable artifacts.
Namdeb Diamond Corporation, a joint venture of the government of Namibia and the mining company De Beers, made the discovery during mining operations in the Atlantic, off the [...]

Yesterday’s 5th anniversary of the looting of Iraq’s National Museum is a stark reminder that the casualties of war are not limited to human life. The museum is home to some of the world’s oldest artifacts, and many of them are now gone—pillaged by would-be treasure and quick profit seekers.
Some 15,000 [...]

Radiocarbon dating has marked the age of recently discovered Aboriginal tools found in Western Australia to 35,000 years old.
Archaeologists found the tools in a rock cave and believe further digging at the site could uncover artifacts as old as 45,000 years. Consultant archaeologist Neale Draper commented,

"Because we have a two-metre (six foot) deep archaeological [...]

Who would have thought a load of radiocarboned feces found in central Oregon would be key to laying a foundation of when humans first arrived in North America?
But it was indeed feces, of the fossilized variety, that leads to new evidence that North American’s arrived at least some 14,300 years ago—dispelling the common [...]

A rare letter written by President Abraham Lincoln in 1864 was expected to sell between $3 million to $5 million US dollars in a Sotheby’s auction today.
It met expectations and in fact broke a record for any presidential manuscript and any American manuscript ever auctioned. The final winning bid was $3,401,000.
The manuscript was [...]

A clay tablet inscribed around 700 BC had hidden its secrets from researchers for over 150 years, but now its cuneiform script is translated and known to describe an asteroid impact at Köfels, Austria that occurred way back in 3123 BC.
The tablet was found by Henry Layard in the remains of the library [...]

The first archaeological dig in nearly fifty years has started at Stonehenge. British archaeologists are trying to unravel age-old secrets to the ancient stone circle. They believe Stonehenge was built around 2500 BC, but that’s simply an estimation.
The last site excavation of the site occurred in 1964, or 44 years ago. Video [...]

The common belief is that the first people to America arrived some 13,500 years ago. A new theory led by anthropologists suggests otherwise. How much earlier? Perhaps 1,000-2,000 years.
Texas A&M University Professors Ted Goebel and Michael Waters and University of Utah Professor Dennis O’Rourke theorize migration through Alaska may have started as long [...]

A rare first edition fantasy novel "The Hobbit" was sold for 60,000 pounds (approximately $122,000 U.S.) at Bonhams’ auction house in London. The 1937 novel was signed by its author, J.R.R. Tolkien, and was written prior to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
“The Hobbit” was originally penned for Tolkien’s children. A friend later [...]

A rare and ancient silver coin was uncovered in the main drainage channel of Jerusalem from the Second Temple Period. The Israel Antiquities Authority reported the find while carrying out an archaeological excavation in the Walls around Jerusalem National Park.
The silver shekel-denominated coin was said to be of the type used to pay the half [...]

Two metal detecting men uncovered 49 coins in a field that was once the site of a Roman encampment. The field is near Ugthorpe, UK and has been the source of at least two other finds.
The Roman coins, along with part of a brooch discovered, were declared treasure. Russell Willis, one of [...]

‘Archaeological News’ Added to HuntTreasure
A new Archaeological News section has been added to the HuntTreasure site. The top section contains the latest embedded archaeological news stories from around the world. The bottom section has archaeological headlines, excerpts and linked stories.
The embedded articles can be read by scrolling through the list, selecting a headline [...]

Taking steps that could be considered more procedural in impact, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday made several rulings in relationship to the Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. v. The Unidentified Shipwrecked Vessel (Spain) case.
As you may recall from past HuntTreasure.net articles, this series of events started in May of 2007, when the [...]

The digging near Deutschneudorf, Germany at a site that is hoped to contain buried buried Nazi loot, including parts of the famed Amber Room, has stopped according to the Associated Press.
Up to the third day of drilling, which was yesterday, Feb. 28, eleven holes at two different locations had been dug. (See photos of [...]

Digging for the suspected looted Nazi treasure in Deutschneudorf, Germany has begun. Treasure hunters in Germany hope to find parts of the fabled Amber Room along with stockpiles of stolen gold and other artifacts the Nazis hid toward the end of World War II.
The Amber Room was built from 1701-1709 in Prussia [...]

Deutschneudorf, Germany — Treasure hunters in Germany may have found the fabled Amber Room treasure, according to Spiegel Online. The Amber Room was built from 1701-1709 in Prussia and was beautifully created by German and Russian craftsmen with amber panels that were backed with gold leafs and mirrors.
The chamber was given to Russian [...]

A secret underground tunnel was discovered last year by archaeologists near the Belgium village of Zonnebeke and it is now being excavated.
The hidden shelter, known as Vampire Dugout, served as an underground headquarters for the British during World War I. The dugout was apparently named after soldiers who’s mission was [...]

Wyoming, US — A lesson of ‘not counting chickens before they hatch’ was learned regarding bats. Most experts believed bats developed sonar before flying. However, an exceptionally well preserved 52-million year-old bat fossil indicates the exact opposite - bats flew first and then developed sonar.
The bat fossil is the oldest known [...]

Seoul, South Korea - The Namdaemun gate, the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, went up in fire Sunday night. Namdaemun gate was built in 1398, rebuilt in 1447 and was given the status of "National Treasure number one" in 1962.
The historical gate survived the Japanese occupation and the Korean War, but it couldn’t [...]

You might imagine finding some old pennies, but who would ever expect to discover a shiny gold coin buried within the oldest part of an American City? But an old gold coin was indeed found, and it’s worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The Main Plaza area of downtown San Antonio, TX has been experiencing [...]

Miami Stone Circle was discovered in downtown Miami, Florida in 1998. It’s a series of 24 loaf-shaped holes or basins cut into the limestone bedrock on a coastal spit of land, surrounded by a large number of other ‘minor’ holes (See images.)
At first thought, it’s easy to expect any archaeological site [...]