Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both commercial and archaeological value. In many instances, discovery of a wreck only occurs after searching tens of thousands of square nautical miles, thus making discovery normally impossible for archaeologists.
Since the popularization of metal detectors in the 1970s, treasure hunting has also taken the form of beach combing for lost valuables. Beach hunters may search for modern jewelry, pocket change, or shipwreck treasure. Most metal detectors will fall in the $150–$600 price range, but can even cost upwards of several thousand dollars. Metal detecting is generally quite tedious and most enthusiasts go years without finding an actually valuable object. Metal detectors are quite useful to archaeologists as well. On terrestrial sites they give researchers the ability to scan large swathes of land for important artifacts without having to consume time and resources excavating large holes. Skilled amateur archaeologists are also able to assist professionals by using their metal detectors to discover previously unknown sites. For example, in the United Kingdom, many discoveries have been made by metal detectorists that have had a large impact on the understanding of early British history.
