ROBOT DISCOVERS GOLD ON CHILE?S ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND
Government Says Treasure Must Stay In State Hands
(Sept. 27, 2005) Legends of buried treasure, pirates and fortune hunters have always surrounded Chile?s Robinson Crusoe Island, but now it seems that the tall tales may actually prove true.
Last Wednesday a team from Wagner Technologies announced to the world that they had discovered 800 metric tons of gold, silver, and jewels on Robinson Crusoe Island, one of a tiny group of islands in the Juan Fern?ndez archipelago, located 645 km off the coast of Chile. The astonished explorers claim that the booty is the long-lost treasure of Spanish Conquistador Juan Esteban Ubilla y Echeverr?a, worth over US$10 billion.
The team used new robot technology that is able to scan the atomic composition of materials such as water, metals and petroleum buried up to 50 meters underground. Because the robot uses sonar to scan the ground, no digging has actually been done yet, but if the team is right, the discovery would be the largest buried treasure ever found anywhere.
According to legend, the treasure originated in the Incan Empire and was stolen during the Spanish conquest of Peru in the 16th and 17th centuries. When the treasure was en route to Spain around 1715, the navigator in charge of the ship landed on Robinson Crusoe Island and buried his cargo. Before he could return to unearth the booty, an English pirate named Cornelius Webb uncovered the Incan treasure and reburied it elsewhere on the island.
What became of the fortune afterwards has been the focus of speculation and myth that has survived on the island for over 300 years. Since 1998, the American millionaire Bernard Keiser has been excavating caves all over the island in search of the hidden loot. He has invested over US$1 million in the hunt, but has never been able to find the ?X? that marks the spot.
But ?Arturito,? the little robot named after Star Wars character R2 D2, took only moments to locate the buried treasure after engineers from Wagner Technologies set it down on Cerro Tres Puntas (Three Peaks Hill), the site of the discovery.
Arturito is becoming famous for solving mysteries that people cannot. In June, it discovered the massive arms cache buried at Colonia Dignidad, the right wing German colony compound in southern Chile. In August, it detected the remains of the body of businessman Francisco Yuraszeck, who went missing in 2004. In both cases, officials were unable to find anything on their own and relied on Arturito to solve the mystery.
On the site of Arturito?s latest discovery on Robinson Crusoe Island, excavation will not begin until October, but the turf wars have already begun.
Representatives from Wagner Technologies and the government are trying to decide how to divide the loot amongst them. The location of the site is under the jurisdiction of the Council of National Monuments, on government property. As such, there are two laws that apply to the buried treasure.
The first involves the discovery of money, jewels, and other precious articles. The law states that in any discovery where the rightful owners cannot be determined, the finds should be divided equally between the finder and the property owner.
The second law involves discoveries on national monument property, and states that any material of historical value, including ancient treasure, found on government property is archaeological by default and therefore must be returned to the state to allow for historical research on the artifacts found.
Chile?s government says that because the treasure is on national monument property, the second law applies in this case, entitling it to 100 percent of the treasure. Predictably, Wagner Technologies immediately rejected the government?s claim.
Island officials have also weighed in, stating that they are entitled to the government?s share of the find, as it was discovered on their island, effectively making them the interested property owners.
SOURCE: LA NACI?N, LA TERCERA, EL MERCURIO
By Nathan Gill (editor@santiagotimes.cl)
