List of treasure hunters

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term "treasure hunter" refers to a person who's vocation or avocation is searching for and finding sunken or buried treasure and other artifacts.

Contents 1 In Real Life 2 In Fiction 3 References 4 Bibliography

[edit] In Real Life

thumb|200px|Portrait of Heinrich Schliemann.

• Heinrich Schliemann January 6, 1822 - Naples (Italy), December 26, 1890) was a German treasure hunter, an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer, and an important excavator of Troy and of the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns. He is considered by many to have been the "Father of Historical Archaeology."

Dr. E. Lee Spence with ruby and sapphire studded gold sword handle.

• E. Lee Spence, (November 6, 1947 - ), a pioneer in underwater archaeology is perhaps the world's most famous treasure hunter. He is an internationally known expert on shipwrecks and sunken treasure. Spence, born in Germany to an American spy master, is also a published editor and author of non-fiction reference books; a magazine editor (Diving World, Atlantic Coastal Diver, Treasure, Treasure Diver, and Treasure Quest), and magazine publisher (ShipWrecks, Wreck Diver); and a published photographer. Spence was twelve when he found his first five shipwrecks.^[1][2] Spence has salvaged over $50,000,000 in valuable artifacts^[3] and has been responsible, through his archival research, for the location of the wrecks of the side-paddle-wheel steamers Republic^[4] and Central America^[5][6] from which over one billion dollars in treasure has been recovered.^[7][8]

• Mel Fisher (August 21, 1922 – December 19, 1998) was an American treasure hunter best known for finding the wreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha. He discovered the wreck July 20, 1985. The estimated $450 million cache recovered, known as "The Atocha Motherlode," included 40 tons of gold and silver and some 100,000 Spanish silver coins known as "Pieces of Eight", gold coins, Colombian emeralds, golden and silver artifacts and 1000 silver bars.

• Robert F. Marx was one of the pioneer American Scuba divers and is best known for his work with shipwrecks and sunken treasure. Although Marx is considered controversial for his frequent and successful forays into treasure hunting, fellow treasure hunter and underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence has described Marx as the true father of underwater archaeology.^[9]

[edit] In Fiction

• Indiana Jones is a fictional professor of archaeology, adventurer, and the main protagonist of the 1981 adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark, its prequel (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), and sequels (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). Jones is notable for his trademark bullwhip, fedora, leather jacket, and fear of snakes.
• Benjamin Franklin Gates played by Nicholas Cage in National Treasure a 2004 adventure film from Walt Disney Pictures. National Treasures is an adventure movie set in the USA about a search for lost treasure, involving stealing the Declaration of Independence, which leads to a trail of clues and a back-story intertwined with the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. The same character, again played by Cage is the hero in the sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Treasures of the Confederate Coast: the "real Rhett Butler" & Other Revelations by Dr. E. Lee Spence, (Narwhal Press, Charleston/Miami, ©1995)[ISBN 1-886391-00-9]
• Tolstikov, Vladimir; Treister, Mikhail (1996). The Gold of Troy. Searching for Homer's Fabled City. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 0810933942.  A catalog of the artifacts Schliemann excavated at Troy, with photographs.
• Wood, Michael (1987). In Search of the Trojan War. New American Library. ISBN 0-452-25960-6.