Author: Brian Haughton

Publisher: New Page Books (A Division of The Career Press, Inc)

ISBN: 13: 978-1-60163-249-4

Author and researcher Brian Haughton is back with another interesting tome bringing to us his formidable knowledge concerning ancient treasures with his Ancient Treasures: The Discovery of Lost Hoards, Sunken Ships, Buried Vaults, and Other Long Forgotten Artifacts.

In the introduction, Haughton poses the question if human fascination with these treasures is only a desire for wealth, or is it more to do with the romantic appeal of the tales of lost ancient artifacts?

As noted, some of these fascinating yarns behind the loss and discovery of these ancient treasures as the Amber Room and the Sevso Treasure read like edge-of-the-seat fiction, somewhere between Indiana Jones and James Bond. On the other hand, as Haughton states, treasures don't always have to be in the form of gold, silver jewelry, weaponry or coins, as illustrated in the chapter on the cache of mummies from Deir el-Bahri, discovered on the west bank of the Nile, opposite the city of Luxor, in Egypt.

Other themes covered are treasure hunting tales, shipwrecks, looted treasures and the manner in which they have found their way to some of the most well-known world museums, which have knowingly accepted illegally excavated treasure hoards.

There there are the mythical and folklore treasures as the Treasure of the Knights of Templar, the Ark of the Covenant, Yamashita's gold, and several others.

Other topics explored are how treasures, in the form of hoards, are hidden during times of war and catastrophe, as exemplified in ancient Pompeii and more recently in Afghanistan.

No doubt, there is a certain appeal and excitement attached to ancient treasures and their stories and this is in evidence when we consider some of the extensive media publicity devoted to the Staffordshire Anglo Saxon hoard which is dealt with in chapter eleven. This is the largest gold and silver metal work found and was discovered in a field near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England in 2009. This discovery consists of over 3,500 items and have been tentatively dated to the 7^th and 8^th centuries with a value of at least £3.2m.

I have to admit that all of the stories included the seventeen chapters contain engaging anecdotes as well as juicy tidbits that whetted my curious historical appetite. Haughton has done considerable research which is backed up with his thirteen page bibliography that appears at the end of the book and he has crafted a more than useful reference, it is also a very entertaining read.

Brian Haughton is an author and researcher on the subjects of prehistoric megalithic sites, ancient sacred places, and supernatural folklore. He has also authored Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries as well as Haunted Spaces, Sacred Places; The Lore of the Ghost; and History's Mysteries. A great deal of his work has been published in various print publications as Doorways Magazine, Awareness, and All Destiny, and on websites as the BBC's Legacies, World Mysteries, and the Book of Toth.

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