20 Treasures From History that Remain Elusive and Yet to Be Found

People are pretty good at finding lost treasure, but these cool artifacts are still at large.

Published 4 months ago in Wow

From the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs to the Titanic's shipwreck, people are pretty good at finding lost treasure. It's part of human nature to be curious. But while there are plenty of mythological treasures that will never be found like the lost cities of Atlantis and Aztlán, these 20 cool artifacts are known to exist... and have still evaded us to this day.

Perhaps the coolest entry on this list is the tomb of the First Qin Emperor in China, the Qinshihuang Mausoleum. Unlike most other examples here, however, we know exactly where it is. The issue lies with what people think is inside. While extensive exploration of the surrounding Terracotta Army has occurred, legend has it that the tomb itself is extensively rigged with traps, and flowing rivers of mercury. Until scientists can find a way to map out the interior from the outside, the risk of harm to archaeologists, and the historical site itself is too high.

Speaking of tombs, the resting place of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, and Marc Antony remains undiscovered. You would think such figures might demand elaborate tombs, but many researchers believe they lie beneath the modern city of Alexandria, and thus out of reach.

1
The tomb of the First Qin Emperor of China, the Qinshihuang Mausoleum, exists and we know exactly where it is. The only part of the site that's been extensively excavated for artifacts is the famous Terracotta Army. The main tomb itself is still completely sealed and no attempts have been made to open it since legend states that it was filled not only with mountains of treasure inside, but also mechanically operated rivers of flowing mercury made to resemble the major rivers and bodies of water in China and booby traps to protect the massive subterranean complex, which has been measured to be around 1/4th the size of the Forbidden City using ground-penetrating radar and other non-invasive techniques.

2
Tomb of Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and Marc Antony. Funny thing is, they are all probably buried in Alexandria beneath the modern city.

3
The shipwreck of Flor de la Mar. Sunk with the equivalent of $2 billion in today’s money.
4
Portrait of a Young Man by Raphael. Missing since the end of WWII, all signs point to it having been sold for traveling money by German Hans Frank.

5
The 1715 Spanish treasure fleet wreck will almost certainly never be 100% recovered, meaning there’s still some out there.
6
The amber room. The room was dismantled and eventually disappeared during World War II.
7
I went to college beside that museum in Boston that got robbed. They never found the thieves or the paintings. The famous Gardner museum theft. No one knows what happened to the paintings still.

8
The missing Faberge eggs. There are about seven still missing, and only an old black and white photo remains of some of them, along with their descriptions.
9
The three brothers. An absolutely beautiful set of jewels that simply vanished from record, which is very surprising as they are beautiful and large!
10
A large part of Pompei. What they have excavated so far takes an hour to walk through, but a huge part of it remains hidden. This is because they've found that being discovered is causing more damage to the remains than 2,000 years of being hidden beneath the pumice, and they're waiting for new technology to preserve it.

11
Tomb of Genghis Khan.
12
Heirloom Seal of the Realm or the imperial Chinese seal. Supposedly worth billions.
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14
Irish Crown Jewels.
15
The horde of Aztec gold stolen and lost by Hernan Cortez and the Spanish conquistadors during the night of sorrows.
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About 83% of the caches from Byron Preiss' "The Secret."

17
The enormous golden menorah from the 2nd temple. The Romans took it after sacking Jerusalem. Some people think it’s being hidden by the Vatican, but I think more likely it was melted down and will never be found.
18
Olavsskrinet; The sarcophagus of Olav Haraldsson. Remember the christian viking from Vikings: Valhalla? Yeah, he was real. After his death, he became a saint and a bridge between old Norse faith and Christianity. He was eventually laid to rest in a jewel adorned sarcophagus in the Nidaros Cathedral. It was Northern Europe's biggest destination for pilgrims until the reformation. When Norwegians broke with the catholic church, Olavsskrinet - maybe with Olav still in it - disappeared. Buried under the cathedral? Sent to Denmark? Nobody knows.
19
King John’s Crown Jewels. Lost while crossing the Wash on the east coast of England, over 800 years ago.

20
In 2013, James Howells accidently threw away his bitcoin hard drive which has $275 million in modern day bitcoins on it. It still hasn't been recovered from a landfill. Actually there are probably a bunch of bitcoin hard drive stories like this. Modern day treasure!