THE LOCKER OF OLDEN TIMES
Hiding valuables when no lockers existed .
Have you ever thought where people kept and how they protected their money and wealth in ancient times? Isn’t it a million dollar question!
Every house carries history within its walls, ceilings, floors and foundations. The very wood, plaster and stone can contain powerful secrets, some valuables were placed there for future inhabitants to find — a thread linking the past and the future. Once one starts digging urban land for a commercial project or tearing down the walls of a house one never knows what one would find.
Throughout history, before there were safes or banks, people hid their valuables underground, especially in unstable times such as during war or in normal times for safety of their jewellery and currency. They had no proper safety places to safekeep their stuff.
We keep hearing stories from our parents how their parents and others families protected their wealth, jewels at home only as they believed home was the safest place to hide their money and possessions in or around the house.
In earlier times when Banks came into being, many people did not trust them. Also, many of our elders were very independent individuals, they wanted total control of their lives, and their possessions, including their money and valuables. It was common for those individuals to bury their valuables for safekeeping.
However, most of the times, the person hiding the stuff would not tell the family. Husbands sometimes even did not tell their wives where they buried the stuff. Therefore, when the spouse died, the other had no idea of the stash. And imagine when both spouses died together the children not knowing of a hidden cache on the property would eventually move away and lo, the house with the treasure became the property of a new owner! Some parents did not tell their children about the location of jewellery and money as they were small but when death came they were unable to even tell their children the location. Money was also commonly stored in various different temples or places of worship for both practical and security reasons as a temple could catch fire or be ransacked.
Take the example of ancient Babylon where Temples and its Priests were their Banks of that time. It was difficult for the farmers or merchants to bring surplus stores of grain or precious objects, gems or metals to a Temple to be kept for safe keeping. The depositor would have likely received a clay tablet confirming his deposit so he could return later to reclaim it. Once coinage was invented and became commonly used, they might take any excess coins.
About 80 years back the people in villages and towns did not have any means to keep their gold, silver and currency in safe place. The only option they had to place their valuables in copper or brass vessel, cover it with lid and hide in neglected place of the house. Some used to painstakingly dig the pit and place the vessel there and cover it with soil. Only the elders knew the place of hidden valuables. Some passed on the valuables to the lucky next generation but many unlucky ones did not get anything rather they always kept digging the earth in search of success. Where there was no trust in family or dominance of elders, such things were bound to happen.
The idea of searching and finding a buried treasure has been thought about and dreamed by both young and old. Some have followed their hearts and have gone on treasure hunts that have resulted in locating buried treasures both beneath the ground and in the house which they left under forced situations.
Treasures are out there, just waiting to be found, and some of them may be closer to you than you think. Older homes that date back to one hundred years or more have a very good chance of holding a treasure. But not all are lucky to find treasures.
Some made the hidden almirahs which from the front gave the look of a wall, as a few bricks were placed in front to give wall impression. Some families had Tajoris to keep their valuables. In most houses of Punjab, the ladies kept their jewellry in the Sandookh or Pettis as they were the safest place according to them.
There are circumstances like war, earthquake, sudden death when nobody is able to dig out jewellry and currency, in other words, to bring precious family glittering jewellery to the surface. People would hide their money during dangerous times, and if they were killed or displaced by war, they never reclaimed their loot. While some of it was found later by someone but there are many which are still waiting to be discovered.
Most of the times it has been seen that workers digging the soil at the construction site came across loads of coins. Once a boy came across Roman coins near a river. Later when he saw same type of coins in museum, he started searching for more. After finding more coins, he saved pocket money to purchase a metal detector and that is how his metal detecting adventure started. A metal detector is a useful tool for locating buried treasure.
By Opinder Kaur Sekhon
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