The treasure hunt is an actual global venture embarked upon by professionals and laypeople alike. It’s also one of the wildest fantasies of many kids and even adults. It’s why the likely picture that came to your mind was professionals with headgears looking for ocean treasure underwater. Or men with helmets and boots on a sunny day digging the ground auspiciously.
Diverse opinion has been made, over time, concerning its meaning. Wikipedia has suggested that it can mean geocaching and other games of that sort. Can this be true? This guide will help you understand how these hunters utilize modern technology in a scavenger hunt with a focus on the various techniques.
The Need For Modern Technology
When we speak of treasure hunts, geologists are better skilled than others in determining the locations of treasures and the best methodologies in digging them out. Geologists could very well be called expert treasure hunters even though they are not exactly looking to hunt. Before the advent of modern technology, geologists were faced with challenges involving inaccurate data and incorrect interpretation of geophysics. However, with the advent of data science and advanced technology, these problems have become solvable rather than inevitable.
Technologies Available To Modern-Day Treasure Hunters
As we have seen before, mineral explorations haven’t always been rosy for geologists and treasure hunters. However, in this day and age, technology has impacted virtually every field of human endeavor, including a treasure hunt. Hunters now have access to technological equipment that makes a lot of things easier for them, including the provision of treasure hunt clues. Below are the various technologies that can ease the burdens of a modern-day treasure hunter.
Metal Detectors
This equipment has put an end to several centuries of misery suffered by people hunting for relics. It is a technological piece that can detect and discover metals, even metals that have been hidden deep down in the ground for ages. This valuable equipment dates back to the 19th century precisely when President James Garfield was shot in an assassination attempt, which later proved successful. One of the bullets fired remained inside the President’s body and couldn’t be found. A telephone juggernaut, Alexander Graham bell put together a metal locator using electromagnetism and it was called an induction balance. It was credited as the first electromagnetic metal detector even though the bullet wasn’t found. The use of metal detectors is a viable option that may help guarantee a successful treasure hunt, whether it’s underwater or underground.
3D Scanners
Clues pointing to the location of treasures are either left in the form of glyphs or carved writings. However, with these 3D scanners, hunters would not need to go through the rigorous task of sketching as these 3D scanners can do that even more accurately in a relatively short period. This equipment can even be used by people participating in a hunt who also need scavenger hunt clues.
Ground- Penetrating Radar
Hunting without treasure trails maps has been quite challenging for hunters in time past. Lost treasure hunters were faced with such a challenge as to an accurate prediction of the existence of treasure in a designated area. The advent of technology has, however, brought a breakthrough in solving this puzzle. Modern hunters now take advantage of sophisticated technological tools in resolving pre-existing obscurity.
Hunters that embark on a global treasure hunt find this equipment very much useful and beneficial. This technological equipment goes even farther than metal detectors in terms of detecting abilities, given that it has what you could call an underground vision. This means that this equipment can see what is under the ground. It also makes use of electromagnetic energy, which enables it to go underground, detect valuable relics, and build up an image of what was in the ground.
Sonar
Sonar is more like a better version of the GPR, given its ability to further enhance that picture, making it lucid enough to determine whether or not digging would be necessary. It transmits and receives acoustic energy signals enabling it to provide an HD rendition of what is obtainable underground. This equipment reduces the chances of futile diggings in a treasure hunt.
Exploration through Excavation and Digging
Modern, sophisticated technologies are now used in reaching depth and height previously conceived to be humanly impossible. Digging and excavation of the soil has just been made easy! That sounds incredible, right? Exactly. You only need to use the appropriate device to drive home your exploration desire.
Snake Cameras and Remotely operated vehicles
These devices help hunters to get an even closer and clearer look at what the GPR or the sonar picks up. A snake camera is a system equipped with LED lights that can visually access otherwise difficult areas. It is waterproof and can be used for an underwater treasure hunt, and its portability means it can also be used for a prey treasure hunt.
Remote operated vehicles, otherwise known as ROVs is majorly used underwater, and it can get video footage of literally unreachable and inaccessible spaces underwater. They are superbly equipped, giving them the unusual capability to record and even retrieve items.
If you are a parent, surely this article has heightened your curiosity on how to plan a treasure hunt for your kid(s) who has shown an unusual interest in science and adventure. To sum it all up, the secret a treasure hunt seeks to unearth has been made even easier by data science and modern technology. Even though this venture still requires wholehearted commitment and zest, modern technology has helped reduce the risk, improved accuracy by a mile, and made it less challenging. Have you ever gone on an expedition of this nature? Tell us about your experience and the challenges you faced in the comment section below.
About Author:-
Thomas Quarry is a data scientist, geologist with special interests in the art of digging and excavation with a focus on relics. He also happens to run an institute where kids can join like minds in further boosting their knowledge of geology and arouse their interest in the subject.