Activities common to both reality and fiction would be bribery (and associated forgery of documentation and permission), artefact smuggling, and dodging the various treasure trove laws and taxes around the world.
Did X ever really mark the spot? Dr Henry Jones Jr tells us ‘never, ever’ in his classroom, but Indiana Jones on a trip to Venice says yes.
In truth, there doubtless have been some individuals who, distrusting banks, or having no access to them, have buried their personal valuables and made a note with an X on it to remind them where they put it. Groups and societies would not.
The problem with any treasure map is that somebody else might see it, steal it, or copy it, see the X you’ve made, and go and dig it up. You don’t want this, if you’ve buried your life’s earnings. That means that if you have two brain cells to rub together, you don’t just draw a simple map with an X.
You either damn well remember where your loot is, and leave no paper trail for rivals, or you make your aide de memoire in a different form: perhaps in code or cipher, with no obvious locative markings on any attached map. And obvious gibberish codes and ciphers are themselves a bad idea because they automatically invite people to try to decode them.
What sort of people bury treasure anyway? Just about anybody from the dawn of time onwards, who either distrusted or had no easy access to banks, or lived in a remote area and didn’t want burglars finding their goodies in the house. Burying valuables is, after all, one of the simplest tasks possible, requiring only the ability to find a cave or dig a hole, and for most of history, everybody had access to a pick or shovel.
TOOLED UP
If movies and videogames have taught us anything, it’s that adventurers in search of historic lost treasures in the wilderness ought to be carrying weapons to defend themselves.
Of the most famous fictional treasure hunters, Indiana Jones uses a revolver as his primary weapon in Raiders of the Lost Ark (it’s a .45 calibre Smith & Wesson Model 1917 Hand Ejector in the studio and jungle scenes, and a British Mk II variant chambered for .455 Webley ammo in the Cairo scenes), and a Browning Hi-Power semi-auto pistol as his backup.
Indy then switches first to a Colt Police .38 in Temple of Doom, and a .455 calibre Webley WG in The Last Crusade and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The point to take note of here is that he always, even though automatic and semiauto pistols are widely available, prefers a revolver as his primary weapon. This probably isn’t just him being old-fashioned, but has solid practical reasons. Though having less ammo capacity, revolvers have fewer moving parts, and so are less susceptible to problems arising from humidity or sand in the mechanism. They also do not jam.
Laws on the possession of guns vary widely across the world, but most countries require some sort of licence and competency check, and almost none – Pakistan is the sole exception – allow non-resident foreigners to own guns. The wisest course, therefore, is to simply ensure that you have a licensed armed local if you absolutely need someone with a gun.
It is unlikely that you’ll actually need firearms, but not impossible. There are some parts of the world in which you’re likely to run into armed groups of people, but in such situations the golden rule is: never carry a weapon you are unwilling or unable to use correctly. The chances are that the local guerrillas are a lot better at using guns than you are, so it’s wiser to leave the protection to professionals.
It can be advisable to carry weapons for protection against dangerous wildlife, however. In general, a regular hunting rifle will be adequate protection against larger animals such as bears or cougars. A .44 calibre or larger handgun will be effective against alligators at close range, but a rifle is recommended, along with distance. If your concerns are about smaller creatures, such as snakes, then any .22 calibre weapon should see you safe.
If you absolutely must carry a handgun out in the wild, the best option is to follow Indiana Jones’s lead and use a revolver, as these are far more reliable. In the unlikely event that you do find yourself having to pick up a gun in an area of conflict in which actual people are shooting at you, grab whatever the most common local weapon is (and, let’s face it, that’s going to be a Chinese Type 56 copy of the AK-47, the most common gun in the world), since at least you’ll be able to re-stock on ammo from fallen bodies.
YOU KNOW WHAT A CAREFUL GUY I AM
The type of clothing you’ll require will of course depend upon the environments in which you find yourself. If you’re going to be looking for Nazi gold above the Alpine snowline, then obviously thick warm winter gear is going to be a good idea. Conversely, if you’re exploring the Valley of the Kings in search of the lost tomb of Herihor, you’ll want to be protected against the literally blistering desert heat.
That much is obvious, but what about clothes suitable for the travelling treasure hunter, who might require clothing that will fit in a variety of different climates and environments?
Leather jackets are always a good choice. They keep you cool in hot climates, and warm in cold ones. Also, depending on the type of jacket, may provide a degree of protection from cuts, scrapes and falls.
Lycra is often seen on female treasure hunters in popular media. In popular culture, this type of clothing is given to these female characters largely because, being form-fitting, it’s generally considered to be sexy. However, it’s not actually that bad an idea in certain circumstances, and not just for women. It is supportive of joints and muscles, while at the same time the form-fitting nature of it means it grants a certain amount of insulation. It can also be compressive, and this is helpful at high altitudes or in case of cuts. It is also therefore most suitable for use to make improvised tourniquets and compression bandages.
Hats are generally a good idea in both hot and cold climates. In the cold, most body heat is lost through the head, so a hat will insulate you and keep you a little warmer. In sunnier climes, a hat will protect the scalp from sunburn and generally insulate the head and brain. The brim will also shade against the sun. What sort of hat to wear is really a matter of individual choice and aesthetic preference, though one should always be careful with wide-brimmed hats that they don’t get blown off by high winds.
Footwear: While perusing libraries and archives and the like, you can feel free to wear whatever is most comfortable, but, out in the field, you’ll want to be sure to have a pair of stout boots, regardless of the environment – with Wellingtons or gumboots as an option for muddy and marshy ground (and you’d be amazed how dig sites always manage to become muddy and marshy, unless they’re in the middle of a desert).
Stout boots are the best option because they will protect you against threats in the underbrush, sharp objects in ruins and the bites of hostile creatures – in particular, some venomous snakes have very powerful jaws, which you will want to be as protected from as you can get.
You won’t need to carry picks and shovels and the like around the world with you – these things can be picked up on location. You won’t even usually need a whip or a gun, though these can be useful in certain parts of the world (though more for protection against hostile wildlife than hordes of Nazis). That said, there are some bits and pieces that it’s always worth carrying, and top of the list is a good camera. Remember, you’ll want to record your finds, and be able to prove where it was, and what the surrounding context was.
A good solid watch, satellite phone (rather than cellphone), first aid kit, GPS and bottled water are all fairly essential. There’s also no excuse for being ignorant of local laws regarding who owns treasure finds, what permissions are needed, or taxes must be paid – everything is on the websites of governments around the world.
Make sure also to check what diseases and venomous creatures you’re likely to encounter, and be sure to be vaccinated against the most common illnesses.
Treasure hunting can involve a lot of exertion, and you’ll want to keep yourself in good condition to do it. Drinking plenty of bottled water while out and about is important – hydration is
the single most vital factor in maintaining fitness for anything that may involve running, fighting, or just staying functional in the wide variety of exotic climates that treasure tends to get lost in.
Now that that’s cleared up, let’s board a plane that leaves a dotted line behind it and head for the treasures.
THE PHARAOHS’ TREASURES
WHAT IS IT?
Ordinarily, we think of Ancient Egyptian rulers as each being entombed with their own personal treasure, but one hoard may include the treasures of more than one pharaoh.
If it exists, it will probably be found in the lost tomb of Herihor. This is thought to be an intact pharaonic tomb dating from around 1075 BC, somewhere in the hills near the ancient capital of Thebes. It is believed to contain not just the amount of gold, jewels and artefacts typical to a pharaonic burial, but also a hoard of treasures and grave goods smuggled out of the tombs of previous pharaohs, that were taken out of their tombs by Herihor during his lifetime.
The total haul, therefore, could contain not just an intact mummy and sarcophagi – at least one perhaps made of solid gold – but also the finest model soldiers, amulets, statuettes, drinking goblets, weapons, chests, a throne and perhaps even boats or chariots. These are all things that were found in Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922.
In short, Herihor’s tomb could well contain the combined wealth of several generations of pharaohs, as well as many vital archaeological artefacts of inestimable value to historians.
HOW MUCH IS IT WORTH TO YOU?
If Tutankhamen’s tomb is anything to go by, a reasonable ballpark figure would come in anywhere between about $16 million and over a billon dollars, depending on who is willing to pay for it.
The total net value of the gold found in Tutankhamen’s tomb, simply as the price for that weight of gold today, is over $2 million. Throw in the historical value and his golden death mask is worth $15 million alone. The collection as a whole, on show at the Museum Of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, is insured for a billion dollars. However you look at it, a new find of similar or greater magnitude would be worth many millions in either sterling or dollars.
THE STORY
Everybody knows that the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt were entombed with all manner of fancy grave goods, from obvious treasures like gold and jewelry, to weapons, furniture, chariots, and even ships, which would be of huge historical value today. People also knew this back in the days of the pharaohs themselves, and bandits and thieves were breaking into tombs almost before the paint had dried on the hieroglyphs.
The priesthood conducted all of these pharaonic burials, but they also, in the 20th and 21st dynasties (425–330 BC), conducted a lot of reburials, largely because this was a period when they were getting especially annoyed at all the tomb-robbing. Previously interred rulers were therefore moved from their original tombs to ones in the Valley of the Kings, which were intended to be more secure against burglary.
While this was the best-known period of Egyptian reburials, it was not the first era for them. Seven hundred years before, a man called Herihor was a scribe, a general, and eventually became high priest during the reign of Rameses XI (around 1075 BC). Being high priest meant that Herihor was in charge of burials and, under his command, the priesthood engaged in a series of innovative reburials in the hope of hiding royal mummies from looters.
If he moved the mummies, it seems reasonable to expect he also would have moved their grave goods and treasures – as these were intended to serve the deceased in the afterlife – yet when tombs containing these relocated mummies have been found, the treasures have been conspicuously absent. This means that either the new tombs were looted, or the treasures were not put in with the new burials. If the latter was the case, then what actually happened to the treasure?
When Rameses XI died, Herihor took on the mantle and duties of pharaoh, even though there was also an ‘official’ pharaoh, Herihor’s fellow general and high priest, Piankh. How much of this was a split in the empire, and how much was a co-rulership deal, is open to debate. The men certainly worked together both in the military and the priesthood, and one of them was the son-in-law of the other – though Egyptologists disagree on which way round that was.
Either way, Herihor, though officially still only high priest, ended up having his name in pharaonic cartouches in Upper Egypt, and seems to have ruled there, while Piankh ruled Lower Egypt.
PREVIOUS SEARCHES IN FACT AND FICTION
There have simultaneously been lots of searches for Herihor’s treasure and none. This is because, historically, there have tended to be searches for tombs generally, rather than for specific ones. Usually archaeologists would find a tomb first, and then figure out who it belonged to. Archaeology also has a continuing vested interest in searching for lost pharaonic tombs, in order to set dates in stone, fill in gaps in the written records of history, and study how people lived in the era.
In Herihor’s case, there’s also the matter of archaeological authorities not quite agreeing on whether he counts as a pharaoh or not. This matters when expeditions are seeking funding. That said, since 1999 a Polish team have been scraping together funding to make a dig at Deir el-Bahri, where they believe Herihor and his treasure are buried.
John Romer, one of the most famous Egyptologists, and a familiar face on TV history programmes in the UK, announced in an interview in The Sunday Times in March 2014 that he had found what he believed to be the tombs of Herihor, Piankh and Menkephere, but has since fallen silent about the matter. What we do know about Romer’s claim is that it relates to the Wadi el-Gharbi, a few miles north-west of the Valleys of the Kings and Queens.
TRICKS AND TRAPS
Something that both professional and amateur treasure hunters will be concerned with for different reasons is the danger of large lumps of stone and other hazardous materials bouncing off their heads. Every adventure movie, videogame and comic book involving treasure hunters and archaeological adventurers threatens our heroes and heroines with all manner of devious mechanical contrivances which mean that putting one foot in the wrong place will result in spears shooting across, giant boulders bouncing around, or razor-sharp pendulums swooping down to cut the unwary in half.
Some cultures did historically build traps into certain types of building, especially tombs. Tomb-robbing has always been a popular pastime wherever tombs and mortuary temples have been built for the rich and powerful, and of course the rich and powerful builders have always known that. Therefore they would build traps to dissuade robbers from nicking all those fancy treasures, whether they be burial goods or the royal treasury. Over time the buildings perhaps became lost and forgotten, before being rediscovered in more modern times, so some of these traps still may remain for unwary archaeologists and treasure hunters.
That said, what is the likelihood of a carefully constructed trap still being fully functional after centuries or even millennia?
Frankly, not much. Wood will have rotted, as will ropes, especially if they were made from vegetable and plant fibres. Oil and grease to keep things moving smoothly will have soaked away or dried up and metal will have rusted, if the mechanism has not been maintained.
That said, ancient tombs and vaults are still going to be dangerous places to mess with, for much simpler reasons. Over time, natural environmental wear will have taken its toll on buildings and mechanisms, making them more fragile. Subsidence, earthquakes, the crumbling of cement and the rotting of support beams will all have contributed to making such old structures very dangerous. So, for all that primitive mechanisms are not going to function after so long, you’re still likely to risk having large rocks dropped on your head.
Traps are a little more plausible where the search for more modern treasures are concerned; hoards dating from World War II, for example, such as Nazi loot, may well still be rigged with explosives or the like. While munitions also decay over time, this again actually makes it more likely that they could go off without being deliberately triggered, simply by
the vibrations from nearby activity.
It is always possible that you could encounter modern-day traps, set by looters or rival treasure hunters to guard a site they’ve found until they can come back with suitable gear to loot it. It’s up to you whether you include legitimate security precautions such as barbed wire, cameras and burglar alarms as traps near treasures in private hands.
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
There is some debate over Herihor, and whether he was really a pharaoh at all. His parents were probably Libyans, and Herihor himself was certainly first a scribe, and then an officer in the army throughout the reign of Rameses XI. As a general, he booted the Nubian viceroy, Pinehesy, out of Thebes. He became High Priest of Amun at Thebes, married one of Rameses’s daughters, Nodjmet, and became vizier, the de facto prime minister under Rameses.
At this point, the powerbase of the pharaoh was weakening, and the empire was dividing once more into Upper and Lower Egypt. Herihor was married into the royal family already, and as both general, vizier and especially as high priest, had plenty of political power. In fact, at this point, the priesthood largely ran the Egyptian economy, as they owned 70 per cent of the land, 80 per cent of the industry, and 90 per cent of the ships.
Although Herihor assumed the title of Pharaoh at Thebes, Rameses XI was still ruling the rest of the empire, and so there became what’s known as the wehem mesut, or Renaissance, of the Two Kingdoms, with the High Priest of Amun being Pharaoh of Upper Egypt at Thebes, and the official pharaohs being based at Tanis in Lower Egypt. (Yes, the Tanis from Raiders of the Lost Ark. It would be Shoshenk I, aka ‘Shishak’ in that movie, who would reunite the empire 140 years later.)
Fortune and Glory Page 2
