What’s a treasure hunt? The treasure hunt is a targeted search for lost or hidden artifacts.
In antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the idea of finding wealth through treasure hunting was hardly widespread. On the other hand, the graves of great rulers or saints were actively sought, as symbols of worldly power or divine assistance within the framework of the cult of relics. In the High and Late Middle Ages, some rulers initiated isolated searches in Roman ruins and early historical monuments in the hope of acquiring treasures.
In the early modern period, this idea became widespread. The (forbidden) magical practices and beliefs associated with the treasure hunt, such as walking on a rod or conjuring up the treasure-guarding demons and ghosts, are reflected both in the extensive legend material of the time and in the court documents of the occasional treasure digger trials. Associated with the topos of the treasure hunt is the belief in a golden age in the past, compared to which the present represents a degeneration.
The slow change from early modern corporate society to modern bourgeois performance-oriented society was accompanied by a clear secularization of treasure folklore. The belief in spirits and ghosts almost completely disappeared. Rather than moral edification, Treasure Stories are primarily about adventure. The hope of getting rich quickly without work displaces the hope of socially acceptable prosperity.
Treasure hunting becomes a commercial enterprise, preceded by historical research and carried out using archaeological or mining methods. Both the commercial treasure hunt, which is operated with great technical effort, and the more hobby-like probe activity, operate in the gray area between real archaeological research and so-called robbery digging, as well as between state and private property claims of landowners, museums, and the antique trade.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages
Coincidental finds of treasure are already known from antiquity and the Middle Ages and the ownership rights between finder, landowner, and sovereign were regulated by law (in different ways). However, it is hardly known that there was a specific search for treasures. Caesar had the tomb of Alexander the Great searched, Augustus had it opened, and Caligula took Alexander’s armor. However, this was not primarily about taking possession of wealth, but about staging power.
In medieval England, the treasury regime was particularly strict: any valuables found automatically became the property of the crown. Finder and landowner got nothing. For this reason, in 1201 King John, who was notoriously short of money, was the first to have Roman ruins searched for treasure, albeit largely without success. Henry III ordered the confiscation of a treasure said to have been found on the Isle of Wight and had further treasure searched in the area.
In the late Middle Ages and in the early modern period, other European sovereigns also occasionally had treasures dug, mostly in remains from the Roman period, in Germany and Scandinavia also in burial mounds. The artifacts unearthed, even if they were not gold and silver, aroused the antiquarian interest of humanist scholars. Wealthy citizens and nobles began to buy antiques for their collections, and the sovereigns commissioned systematic inventories of the existing monuments. Here, and in the effort to keep robber graves away from the sites, one can see the first beginnings of professional archeology and monument protection.
The church was fundamentally opposed to treasure hunting. Hoarding and hiding treasure was considered an expression of greed and avarice, as was seeking it, and avaritia was the second of the seven deadly sins. In addition, treasure hunters were always suspected of engaging in magical practices, theoretically an offense punishable by death. On the other hand, the search for relics needed for the consecration of a church bore a strong resemblance to a treasure hunt. Although the relics themselves were mostly materially worthless (bones, hair, etc.), the possession of relics of famous saints was extremely prestigious and then, because of the income from pilgrimages, represented the actual church treasure. The original resting places of the martyrs and saints were often not known for sure and it took a lot of research (or a miracle) to locate them. Since the failure of such searches would have damaged both the reputation of the initiator and that of the saint sought, they were usually carried out at night and secretly, and only made public if they were successful. Some elements of the legendary reports about the transfer of relics found their way into the treasure tales of the early modern period in a secularized form.
Early modern age
From the late Middle Ages, the kings of England granted licenses to treasure hunters. Similar to the letters of marque for privateers, they regulated the share that was to be paid to the crown. The license holders bore the entire risk and costs, but they were no longer subject to the draconian penalties for robber graves. Sometimes, however, such licenses were obtained for fraudulent purposes. In 1521 a certain Robert Curzon was granted treasure hunting rights in Suffolk and Norfolk by Henry VIII. But instead of searching for treasure himself, he blackmailed anyone even suspected of doing so without a license. Curzon’s victims were thus forced to buy expensive sublicenses from him.
In the Holy Roman Empire, the emperor only issued a few treasure hunting licenses due to the lack of central authority, but the princes in the territorial states all the more. The regulations varied greatly from case to case (as does the entire legal situation), but the government often avoided specifying a fixed allocation rate. In the event of success, it had the option of retaining larger parts of the find. On the other hand, the wealthy individuals also commissioned treasure hunters of their own accord, similar to gold makers. Apparently, the use of forbidden magic was generously ignored and the risk of being caught by an impostor was accepted. Unsuccessful treasure hunters, however, found themselves in a tricky position. In 1606, Duke Friedrich von Württemberg commissioned a certain Thomas Mayer as a treasure hunter. After the duke had already had several court alchemists executed, he committed suicide in the ruins of Achalm.
The professional treasure magicians, who were hired by wealthy private individuals, mostly came from two very different population groups: first, the (lower, less orthodox) Catholic clergy, and second, the itinerant people. Catholic clergymen, in particular, were believed to be potential exorcists, even in Protestant areas, in summoning the demons and ghosts that guarded the treasure. In this way, poor country clergymen earned an extra income by looking for treasure. Among the vagabonds, on the other hand, there were many unemployed mercenaries who had practical experience of where people usually hide their belongings during a war.
Only rarely did women appear as treasure magicians, but sometimes children, who in their innocence were considered particularly clairvoyant. The workers who helped with the actual digging could become a problem. They either refused to work for fear of the ghosts, or they argued with the client about payment if the treasure was not found. The clients were often real “stock corporations” with dozens of investors who bore the running costs but were supposed to share the findings in return.
If the aspect of the redemption of poor souls was emphasized during the preparations, which went hand in hand with regular prayers and religious exercises, the treasure digger groups could also take on the character of a house church. In 1770, a short-lived Christian sect around the maid Anna Maria Freyin emerged from such a group in Weilheim, Württemberg. They staged worship-like apparitions for their followers, in which redeemed ghosts communicated divine revelations. The authorities were only able to master these activities with difficulty.
Treasure Myths and Treasure Sagas
Treasures already play an important role in Old Norse literature and in medieval heroic epics, such as the dragon hoard in Beowulf or the Nibelungen hoard in the Völsunga saga and in the Nibelungenlied. Some sagas describe the looting of burial mounds. These treasures are cursed magical-mythical objects and the “quest” for them consists only in overcoming the already known treasure keeper. These are also magical-mythical beings, like dwarves or dragons, sometimes the deceased owner, a draugr. The first literary figure to see the hoard, unlike previous owners, no longer as a purely magical object, but quite “modern” as a mere collection of valuables with which one can buy power instead of merely representing it symbolically, is Kriemhild.
However, the heyday of treasure tales is in the early modern period. In these sagas, the treasure sometimes takes on the characteristics of a living being: it comes to the surface of the earth to “bask” and can then be found by accident, but it hides from treasure seekers like deer from a hunter, usually by going deep sinking into the ground. Sometimes it also disappears through holes in the walls or takes on another shape, such as that of a pile of (hot) coals, if not dirt. A single spoken word is enough to scare it away. However, it can be outwitted by knowledgeable experts. It is located with mantic tools such as a dowsing rod or a treasure mirror. Certain plants (fern seeds) that are carried make the treasure hunters invisible or lull the treasure. With money and pieces of gold, the treasure can even be sedated and lured, just as hunters lure birds with decoys.
The hardest part is capturing the treasure. It is therefore sometimes easier to banish the treasure keeper instead, the mountain spirit who guards the treasure. To the theologians of the time, these spirits were demons, fallen angels, and devils, held in check only by the omnipotence of God, but who continue to seek to deceive and tempt people. For natural philosophers and alchemists, they were elemental spirits (mainly gnomes and sylphs). On the other hand, various ideas circulated among the people. Here, too, the treasure keeper succeeds in driving away from the treasure hunters in the form of huge poisonous toads, white or fiery snakes, or a terrible black dog. But it often reveals itself in a violent gale, sometimes even inside solid buildings. However, experts in treasure magic can bring the treasure keeper under their control. In the best case, they don’t even have to go to the hiding place themselves, but have a helpful house spirit at their disposal, such as the Drak, who simply fetches the riches for them.
Related is the idea of the little money man, who was often (allegedly) carved out of a mandrake, and of the Heckertaler, which you simply put with your own money so that it magically multiplies (“concocts”) it. Although such practices were placed close to the devil’s pact (the only permissible dealings with demons was exorcism), many treasure wizards apparently found the risks manageable. In fact, their most powerful incantations and magical symbols are borrowed from Christian worship and, with their massive appeal to God, the Trinity, and the saints, are almost indistinguishable from prayer. For reasons that are not clear, the treasure hunters regarded St. Christopher as their patron saint.
However, by far the most important treasure keepers are spirits of the dead and ghosts. Although theologians of all churches rejected the belief in unsaved souls who must continue to haunt (the Catholic Church only accepted the existence of poor souls in purgatory, the Protestant churches not even that), the belief in ghosts stubbornly persisted. It was assumed that the souls of the dead returned because they still had “something to do” in the living world. In the case of mothers who died young, this could e.g. be the protection of their children, but in the case of unrepentant sinners, the atonement for their misdeeds.
So the ghosts over treasures were the souls of the greedy misers who had amassed them instead of using them for charity. Now they tried to reveal the hiding place in the hope that someone alive would dig up the treasure and redeem the sinner with it. They often appeared in a radiant form, as a candle for the dead or fire of money, much like the angels and saints in the translation reports who wanted to point out the location of relics. The connection between belief in ghosts and belief in treasures was so close that every night’s haunting was finally interpreted as a sign of a buried treasure.
The church’s teaching that the apparitions were demons who only pretended to be dead was turned into its opposite in popular belief: the poor soul showed the approximate location of the treasure, which could be determined more precisely with a dowsing rod. Then a demon appeared who wanted to prevent the sinner’s salvation. This could be driven away with the Christoffel prayer. In their self-image, the treasure hunters by no means surrendered to the dark powers, but, on the contrary, courageously carried out a meritorious Christian duty.
The fascination of the treasure hunt, which is reflected in the extensive legend material, cannot be explained by increased finds in the early modern period. Treasure finds were very rare at all times. The cultural historian Johannes Dillinger explains it with the ethnologist Robert Redfield’s limited-goods model: the society of the time, which was still largely agrarian, behaved as if all goods were only available in a limited quantity that could never be increased. The economy was viewed as a zero-sum game: one’s gain is another’s loss. However, like winning the lottery, finding a treasure did not harm others and was therefore not perceived as a threat to social equilibrium.
Treasure Digging Trials
Unlike witchcraft, treasure hunting was not an entirely imaginary phenomenon. While no woman has ever actually ridden a broomstick to the witches’ sabbath, there have been people who have used supposedly magical practices to obtain treasures. But while entire branches of theology and jurisprudence dealt with alleged witches, early modern scholars had little interest in treasure hunters. When a case of unlicensed treasure hunting was prosecuted, authorities had three possible courses of action:
Persecution as simple fraud. In fact, some treasure hunters practiced early forms of advance fee fraud. They allowed gullible clients to hand them large sums of money, ostensibly to “lure” a great hidden treasure. Or they staged apparitions in which they pretended that money had to be collected to pay for charitable works in order to redeem the poor soul. The scammers then made off with the money. Others persuaded their victims to perform lengthy rituals in remote locations while robbing their homes.
Persecution as superstition, i.e. as a punishable but less serious violation of the prohibition on magic. This seems to have been the most common approach. The penalties included expulsion from the country, display in the pillory, or fines. The treasure diggers often got away with a mere reprimand or a symbolic punishment.
At worst, persecution as witchcraft, or in the case of misuse of sacred objects, as sacrilege. Such cases were rare, although there were often outright summonings of demons as part of the treasure hunt, but they could well lead to the death penalty on the pyre or on the gallows.
Even if some contemporary demonologists demanded rigorous equal treatment of all sorcery offenses, the judges in treasure digging trials followed them only in exceptional cases. The decisive factor seems to have been that treasure magic, unlike witchcraft, was not perceived in public opinion as harmful magic. Jean Bodin and other witchcraft theorists claimed that while the devil knows all the treasures with which to tempt people into treasure hunting and other sins, he is prevented by God from distributing them among his followers. As evidence, they cited numerous examples of failed treasure hunts. Poor women on the fringes of society were mostly accused of witchcraft. They were accused of destroying their neighbors’ wealth and health out of sheer envy and malice. Also, none of the constituent crimes of supposed witches (witch flights, witches’ sabbath, devil’s philandering, harmful spells) applied to treasure hunters. Treasure diggers, on the other hand, were almost always men, and their clients and financiers were often members of the upper-middle class, if not princes. Wealthy people were only accused of witchcraft when they were considered unfair competitors by those around them.
Modern Age
After the end of the witch hunts and the beginning of the Enlightenment, magic remained forbidden but was only considered fraud. However, the circulation of magic books increased because the books (as ineffective) were no longer destroyed by the authorities.
In Faust II (Act I, Kaiserliche Pfalz), Goethe parodied the old institution of treasure hunter licenses: Mephisto persuades the emperor to claim all the hidden treasures for himself and to use these fictitious values as cover for the new paper money.
The belief in ghosts in poor souls who need the help of the living for salvation turned into its opposite in spiritualism in the 19th century. Now it is the living who ask the spirits for help, advice, and comfort. As a result, treasure digging lost its religious justification.
The dowsing rod changed from a magic wand to a pseudo-technical instrument. However, their use still requires special personal talent (“radiation sensitivity”). Commercial companies offer the services of dowsers to locate water, ore veins, and petroleum. In 1911 the Association for Clarifying the Dowsing Rod Question was founded in Germany. Contrary to what the name suggests, it was a lobby association of dowsers. Before the First World War, the association offered to look for water for the government in the deserts of German South West Africa, and during the war for “hidden stash of hard cash” at home. Also in the Second World War dowsers put their supposed skills in the service of the Reich. The research community Deutsches Ahnenerbe trained employees to search for water in the Balkans, but also search for explosives. The esoteric inclined Heinrich Himmler sent dowsers to search for iron deposits, but above all for the origin of the Rhine gold.
Changes in treasure hunting in the New World
North and Central European settlers took their treasure beliefs with them to America. For example, Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like his parents before him, occasionally worked as a treasure hunter even as a child. He used two peepstones called Urim and Thummim in his hat. As soon as he looked inside, he claimed to be able to see hidden treasures. The finding and deciphering of the Book of Mormon described by Smith also has clear reminiscences of ancient treasure-hunting tales: the book is written on solid tablets of gold, so it represents great material value. Its location is revealed to him by a spirit named Moroni, as in the Relic and treasure legends, either an angel or a spirit of the dead. In this context, however, he no longer uses the peepstones as a mantic aid to localize the book, but rather to translate the text. So the real treasure is no longer the gold (which Moroni also takes back bit by bit), but the new doctrine. Smith’s contemporaries were largely skeptical of this account, and early missionaries in the new church, therefore, strove to make Smith appear more like an archaeologist and linguist than a treasurer.
Especially in the former Spanish colonial areas, the European settlers suspected rich treasures, not only in the abandoned forts and mission stations but also in forgotten gold and silver mines. These treasure hunters thus approached the classic western men and prospectors, the gold seekers who, alone or in small groups, were often the first whites to penetrate new territories. The experts who could provide information about the location of the lost treasures were no longer magicians, but local Mexicans and Indians. They still knew old tribal stories about waymarks and incised drawings that led to the treasure and marked its location, or they had old site plans. A well-known example of this is the sagas about James Bowie’s “lost mine” Los Almagres. In the oldest versions of the story, there was probably still talk of Spanish silver bars instead of a mine. Research into the whereabouts of the treasure no longer took place with magical aids, but with the research and interpretation of quasi-archaeological finds and pseudo-historical sources.
In 19th-century Texas, the treasure map trade flourished, and the publication of Robert Louis Stevenson‘s adventure novel Treasure Island in 1881 canonized the notion that an X on the map marks a hiding place. To date, all searches for William Kidd‘s legendary pirate treasure have been based on the (fake) maps acquired after 1929 by antique collector Hubert Palmer. The question of why someone sold such a document, which could make him rich, for relatively little money, was suppressed, as was the case with the European whale books.
Researchers such as the gold prospector and cartographer Karl Mauch, who discovered the ruins of Greater Zimbabwe with its abandoned gold mines in 1871, the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, who, in 1873, “with the Iliad under his arm” excavated the “Treasure of Priam“, Hiram Bingham, who found the city of Machu Picchu lost in the jungle in 1911, or Percy Fawcett, who disappeared in 1924 while searching for Eldorado, became the models for fictional treasure hunters like Allan Quatermain, Indiana Jones, and Lara Croft. In these modern treasure tales, spook and magic only play a subordinate role. Adventure is the dominant element. The modern treasure hunters no longer fail because of demons, but because of the wilderness and inadequate recovery equipment. If a supposedly safely localized treasure, like the one on Oak Island, cannot be found despite enormous effort, it is no longer because it is sinking deeper and deeper into the ground, but because of the traps and protective mechanisms that resourceful engineers have installed there. Even the advance scammers followed this trend away from magic. Now it is no longer about the salvation of a poor soul and his treasure, but about the liberation of a rich man from prison (preferably in Spain), or about his inheritance, which is buried somewhere.
While in the early modern treasure tales the origin and whereabouts of the treasure played almost no role (other than that it had been collected in sin and could now be put to good use), modern treasure tales sometimes deal with nothing else. It is meticulously reconstructed where a conquistador or pirate is said to have collected this and that treasure that changed hands here and there was buried or stolen by Indians or sank in the sea. The only potential treasure hunter is the listener of the story, who might go off in search of the treasure himself.
Dillinger attributes the change in the perception of treasure hunts since the early modern period to the simultaneous change in the prevailing economic conditions. In modern society, competition is no longer seen as harmful, but on the contrary, as a duty. While the treasure hunt used to be based on the hope of achieving prosperity without offending the neighbors, today it promises a way out of the constraints of the capitalist meritocracy.
Detectorists
Detectorists use a metal detector to search for metallic objects in the ground, in the military area for mines and ammunition, and in the civilian area for lost valuables such as antiques. You can work on your own account as well as on behalf of authorities or private individuals. In addition to treasure hunts (also underwater), their activities include the salvage of fallen soldiers (using the identification tag) and militaria, the search for nuggets, or for meteorites, or flotsam.
The legal situation is usually regulated by central government authorities. For the targeted search for archaeological monuments and especially for digging on such, an excavation or research permit is required, otherwise, there are severe penalties. All archaeological and historical finds must be reported. Failure to do so could result in charges of embezzlement and possibly public property damage. All finds of particular scientific value belong entirely to the state. So in Germany e.g. according to the Brandenburg Monument Protection Act of July 22, 1991: “Movable archaeological monuments that are ownerless or that have been hidden for so long that their owner can no longer be determined become the property of the state since their discovery if they are found during permitted excavations or discovered in protected archaeological areas or if they are of value for scientific research.” In some states, however, the finder receives a reward.
Official archaeologists particularly criticize the often inadequate documentation of the finds by so-called robber graves, who are primarily interested in selling antiques or in their private collections and not in historical research. The destruction of the find situation makes the historical understanding of the finds even more difficult. On the other hand, detectorists with a permit can do valuable voluntary work in the preservation of monuments by reporting unknown archaeological monuments and providing new insights into known archaeological monuments. On the other hand, there are detectorists who market their finds unreported, mainly via the Internet, and thus contribute to the stolen collection of antiquities. The best-known case of robbery digging with the help of metal detectors is that of the Nebra Sky Disc.
Treasure hunt as a leisure activity
Even if occasionally larger archaeological finds are made by detectorists, such as the Staffordshire Treasure in 2009, most of them do not pursue the “treasure hunt” for profit, but as an equally exciting and relaxing nature sport.
Despite all the rationalization of the modern treasure hunt, the esoteric has not completely disappeared from it. In particular, the mythical “Rheingold” and the “Nibelungenhort” are not only searched for with metal detectors, but also with so-called “remote perception”, mostly traveling over maps. Pendulums and dowsing rods are offered as ancient free technology in the relevant forums. Even the “mountain mirror” has returned in the form of digital cameras that can be retrofitted to photograph the “aura” of the hidden treasure.
In geocaching, an electronic form of scavenger hunt, the interest in profit has completely disappeared. The hidden items themselves are largely worthless, even materially. This hobby is mostly cultivated by men with an affinity for technology in secure circumstances, who often go on excursions to scenic sights with their family and friends. From the “treasure hunt” only the aspect of the search remains, the little escape from everyday life.
Commercial Treasure Hunt
Improved location methods and novel salvage techniques have meant that previously undiscovered treasures, especially at sea, can be salvaged. Professional treasure hunters work systematically to locate and salvage such treasures.
Treasure hunters pose an enormous problem for the science of archeology since they are usually interested in the material value and destroy the evidence at the site. Treasure hunters thus destroy historical knowledge to a large extent.
Legal issues
Several states are usually involved (country of the salvage company, country of the sunken ship, and possibly the state to which the salvage area belongs), so conflicting legal systems can arise. In the case of finds on the high seas, maritime law and private international law apply. There is a “doctrine of state immunity” in the law of the sea, according to which when ships are in service on non-commercial voyages, their wrecks remain the property of the countries that commissioned them. Private international law applies when treasures are located beyond 12 miles from a coast. A UNESCO agreement also stipulates that shipwrecks belong to the ship’s country of origin, regardless of where they were found.
Spectacular cases
In May 2007, professional treasure hunters from the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration found a treasure weighing 17 tons in the Atlantic, which was on board the Spanish frigate Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk by the British Navy on October 5, 1804. The wreck laying at a depth of 518 meters, contained a treasure worth US$ 500 million and belonged to Spain under international law, a US appeals court decided in February 2012 as the final instance. Odyssey Marine Exploration spent US$2.6 million on the salvage; on July 12, 2007, the Spanish Coast Guard confiscated their ship Ocean Alert.
Treasure hunters like Greg Brooks evaluate contemporary historical documents and thus begin the professional treasure hunt. In August 2008, his company Sub Sea Research located Port Nicholson, which was sunk on June 16, 1942, by two torpedoes launched by the German submarine U87. It is said to have loaded 71 tons of platinum, gold, and diamonds worth US$3 billion as a war goods payment from the Soviet Union to the USA and lies 225 meters deep near Cape Cod. In 2009, Sub Sea Research (SSR) received legal recognition as shipowner and owner. Due to the complicated technical conditions, the rescue has not yet taken place. But here, too, a legal dispute is hampering the salvage. Britain has claimed ownership of Port Nicholson since it sank and has never relinquished ownership. If the estimates are true, it will be the most valuable treasure of all time.
On October 24, 1974, the High Court of Singapore had to decide the case of the German submarine U 859, which was sunk by a British submarine on September 23, 1944, in the Straits of Malacca. He came to the conclusion that the Federal Republic of Germany was the owner of the submarine and its valuable cargo (several tons of mercury).
Treasure hunt in literature
The search for treasure has always found its way into literature, especially adventure literature. The motif of the treasure hunt is often found in oriental adventure fairy tales, for example in the stories about Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe took up the theme in his ballad Der Schatzgräber (1797). Subterranean treasure vaults are traversed in numerous gothic novels such as The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis (1796) and Melmoth the Wanderer (1820) by Charles Robert Maturin. In his novella Die Höhle von Steenfoll, Wilhelm Hauff tells of a treasure hunt in a cave on the Atlantic coast, based on a Scottish tale. In Achim von Arnim‘s novel The Crown Guard (1817), the old German imperial crown is the treasure sought. In Eduard Mörike‘s novella The Treasure (1835), the curse of evil lies on a gold chain. In The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–1846) by Alexandre Dumas, the hero uses a vast treasure to carry out his plans for revenge. John Retcliffe’s Puebla (1865–67) is about an Indian treasure.
In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain, the young hero discovers a treasure chest in a cave. The novel Treasure Island (1881/1882) by Robert Louis Stevenson became the model for many similar works. In The Treasure in the Silver Lake (1890/1891), Karl May tells of the search for an Indian treasure, in The Inca’s Legacy of an Inca treasure. H. Rider Haggard reports in Montezuma’s Daughter (1893) about the lost treasure of Montezuma, in People of the Mist (1894) a young Englishman is looking for a treasure with a mysterious African people. The Treasure in the Morning Bread Valley by Paul Ernst combines the plot with a description of the situation towards the end of the Thirty Years’ War. The quest for the treasures of the Templars appears as early as in Walter Scott‘s novel Ivanhoe (1820), L. Ezekiel‘s The Templars and Hospitallers (1931), and E. Sommer‘s The Templars (1950).