Pictures: Lost Royal Treasure Revealed by Sinking River

Rock Idyll

Photograph by Wojtek Radwanski, AFP/Getty Images

Shown on September 9 in central Warsaw, the Vistula River had hidden its contraband marble since the mid-1600s, when a shipwreck sent tons of stolen royal marbles to the bottom.

References to the lost loot appeared in 17th-century letters, Kowalski, the archaeologist said. His own search started in 2009, when he began studying 1906 documents depicting marble finds in the river-pictures, newspaper articles, and other accounts.

"Workers trying to dig sand out of the river found marbles, which I think were from exactly the same boat," he explained. "All the things they found were within a one-square-kilometer (0.4-square-mile) triangular area, which in the beginning of the 20th century was defined by three small towns. Now it's all in Warsaw."

(See more drought pictures.)

Published September 26, 2012

Low Water, High Culture

Photograph by Kacper Pempel, Reuters

Punctuating the sunken Vistula, an early 17th-century fountain peers back at modern Warsaw on September 18. It didn't take a drought to reveal the river's cache to Kowalski's team—but it did make their job a lot easier.

An arduous underwater search in November 2011 had already turned up some six tons of marbles via sonar and other technology, as well as long hours of scuba diving. This summer's sinking waters allowed the researchers to double their discoveries—now totaling 12 tons—in no time flat.

Finding the treasure, though, is only half the work, but again, the drought helps. "Many of these weigh 600 or 700 kilograms [1,320 or 1,500 pounds], so we used a police helicopter to move some a couple of days ago," Kowalski said.

(Get the facts: "What's Causing Extreme Weather?")

Published September 26, 2012

Precious Cargo

Photograph by Kacper Pempel, Reuters

"When anyone finds 12 tons of marble in a river, it's a huge find," said Kowalski, deputy director of the Museum of the University of Warsaw. But, he added, the finds resonate especially strongly for Varsovians, whose city was leveled in World War II.

"We don't know much about the royal residences from the 17th century," Kowalski said. The discovery should be a boon "for historians and art historians, for conservators—for everybody."

(Pictures: Underwater Museum for Egypt's Sunken Treasures?)

Published September 26, 2012

Skimming the Surface

Photograph by Alik Keplicz, AP

Kayakers in Warsaw try their luck on the withered Vistula on September 11. After a long dip the water level is beginning to bounce back in late September. That's good news for boating and commercial navigation, for south Poland's water supply, and for power plants cooled by river water.

But for Kowalski and colleagues, the rising river is a ticking clock. "It's a race against time, because these things are still lying in the water, one meter or half a meter [1.5 to 3 feet] deep, and we are trying to get all of them," he said. "Soon it'll be impossible or very hard."

(See World War II shipwreck pictures: "Forty-eight Tons of Silver Recovered Three Miles Down.")

Published September 26, 2012

More: World War II Wreck
Treasure (Pictures)

Photograph courtesy Odyssey Marine Exploration

Published September 26, 2012