In the 12th century text
Account of Egypt,
Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi wrote about the historic value of the Egyptian monuments, and praised the contemporary governments for trying to preserve them. He also discussed the profession of treasure hunting, noting that poorer treasure hunters were often sponsored by rich businessmen to go on
archeological expeditions. In some cases, an expedition could turn out to be
fraudulent, with the treasure hunter disappearing with large amounts of money extracted from sponsors. The early stages of the development of
archaeology included a significant aspect of treasure hunting;
Heinrich Schliemann's excavations at
Troy, and later at
Mycenae, both turned up significant finds of
golden artifacts. Early work in
Egyptology also included a similar motive. Modern amateur treasure hunters use relatively inexpensive metal detectors to locate finds at terrestrial sites.
Underwater archaeologist,
Peter Throckmorton, in a paper he wrote in 1969 as part of a
Historical Archaeology Forum on
E. Lee Spence's salvage of a
Civil War blockade runner, addressing the question of whether treasure hunting and archaeology are in conflict, stated: "The foregoing discussion may seem like an attack on Mr. Spence. I do not mean this to be so. A whole new branch of archaeology, that of
Mycenaean studies, was founded by
Heinrich Schliemann, who also had the courage to remember his dreams ... It is right to dream, and it would be the worst kind of mistake on the part of the state to discourage the big dreams of men like Mr. Spence, and to let a project requiring that sort of enterprise fall into the hands of what Mr. Spence's friend terms 'some bloody historical society' which might lay the dead hand of unimaginative and stereotyped thinking on Mr. Spence's courage and ability." In 1972, Spence and Throckmorton, along with three other men, were awarded the degree of Doctor of Marine Histories by the
College of Marine Arts on July 16, 1972, becoming first people in the world to be awarded a doctorate for work in marine archaeology. More recently, most serious treasure hunters have started working underwater, where modern technology allows access to wrecks containing valuables, which were previously inaccessible. Starting with the
diving suit, and moving on through
Scuba and later to
ROVs, each new generation of technology has made more wrecks accessible. Many of these wrecks have resulted in the
treasure salvage of many fascinating artifacts from Spanish treasure fleets as well as many others. Since at least the 1970’s, treasure salvaging companies have been hiring
archaeologists to help excavate sites. Although oftentimes the people with the most knowledge about a particular site are the private citizens staking their fortunes on the venture, a staff archeologist can substantiate a dig. This can allow the excavations to become accepted within the archeological community. In many cases, however, private citizens conducting archaeological deemed activities with or without an on site archeologist are still labeled by the academic community as piligers. And the archeologists who support this public-private venture are often outcast. Nevertheless, when this type of archaeological research is carried out it can provide archaeologists the resources to fund research of sites that would otherwise go unrecorded or be subject to destruction by natural forces. Typically many recovered items will also end up donated to state and local museums for all to enjoy. Some cities, such as St. Augustine and Key West have privately operated museums run by the treasure salvors which allow the public to see recovered treasure firsthand. ==Legality==