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Solutions: The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth

12/26/2012

13 Comments

 
NB: The Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth was published by Carlton Books in September 2011. The book contained an elaborate puzzle which book buyers were invited to solve. The answers were due in March 2012. The prize offered by the publisher was 50,000 Euros. While the answer to the puzzle as a whole was released some months ago, only the answers to the first six individual puzzles have been released up to now.
Picture
by Tim Dedopulos

Since there’s still some uncertainty about the specific answers for the Great Global Treasure Hunt on Google Earth, I’ve decided to put final page-by-page solutions up on the Internet. Many of these solutions are explained in much better detail on YouTube, courtesy of the Carlton Books stream. I recorded videos explaining all the pages on the same day, shortly after the hunt closed, so I’m confident that Carlton will have them all up in due course. In the end, there were 77 correct solutions entered, and the winner, selected at random, was Herr Knichel, of Germany.

Page-by-Page Breakdown

#1: Solution: Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England. Meaning: A stone circle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inDsYfX7u0w

#2: Solution: The Devil’s Playground, Kelso, California, USA. Meaning: Sand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EleBqglP6d0

#3: Solution: The Temple of the Masonry Altars, Altun Ha, Belize. Meaning: Masonry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-UKbAtf4xI

#4: Solution: Deer Trail, Colorado, USA. Meaning: Bulls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q9W84jMBdo

#5: Solution: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Meaning: Bologna, Italy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LapNXCjKP4

#6: Solution: Annonay, Rhône-Alpes, France. Meaning: Ferrara, Italy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3R7V0sFFZU

#7: Solution: Hawara, Faiyum, Egypt. Meaning: The Minotaur.

#8: Solution: Ø, Viborg, Jutland, Denmark. Meaning: Ø as a shape.

#9: Solution: Asian Gallery, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Meaning: Art.

#10: Solution: Three Graces National Park, Northern Territories, Australia. Meaning: Boticelli’s Primavera (‘The Allegory of Spring’).

#11: Solution: The Cave of the Apocalypse, Patmos, Greece. Meaning: St. John.

#12: Solution: The Clarence Hotel, Dublin, Ireland. Meaning: Bono da Ferrara.

#13: Solution: Clerk’s Well, Farringdon, London, England. Meaning: Wells.

#14: Solution: Tel Hazor, Yesud HaMa’ala, Hula Valley, Israel. Meaning: Freemasonry.

OVERALL SOLUTION: 44.4907, 11.3483. Francesco Del Cossa's stained glass window of St John of Patmos in San Giovanni Church, Monte, Bologna, Italy.

Derivation:

#1. It is a circle of stone.

#2. It is made of glass.

#3. It is stonework.

#4. It is in Italy (and Bologna).

#5. It is in Bologna.

#6. The creator, Del Cossa, was from Ferrara.

#7. Restating the link to Italy and Bologna.

#8. It is very near a well shaped like Ø that is visible on Google Earth.

#9. It is a work of art.

#10. The creator, Del Cossa, artistically depicted allegories of the Spring months.

#11. It is of St. John, in a church dedicated to him.

#12. It was created by an artist of Ferrara.

#13. Clue #8 depicts a well; also a well is a circle of stone.

#14. The creator’s father was a stonemason.

13 Comments
Zoe Janes (aka Seeker)
12/26/2012 06:34:53 pm

I'm still curious where the rabbits come in - if at all?
My connection was that the Europena rabbit is Oryctolagus cuniculus - and cuniculus is also the name of Roman diversionary watercourses, of which there are many in Bologna. I asked earlier if it was merely a reference to Masquerade & you said not

Reply
Tim Dedopulos
4/5/2013 01:06:32 am

The rabbits are a reference to Del Cossa's Triumph of April, which also has rabbits hiding all over the place. I hope I spotted them all, and the number of rabbits in the GGTH and the Triumph are the same... They also serve as a respectful nod towards Masquerade as well, of course.

Reply
Saviour-V
4/1/2013 06:13:06 pm

Is there going to be another one this year? And that the contest be open to the Asian region as well? We could do with a new treasure hunt, in the wake of Google's April 1st 2013 idea.

Reply
Salome Jones for Tim Dedopulos
4/2/2013 04:08:19 am

It doesn't appear that there will be a new Treasure Hunt this year. The publisher hasn't given the go ahead. Thanks for pointing out Google's April Fools joke. Nice.

Reply
Linz
4/20/2013 02:27:06 pm

Oh no I was really hoping for another treasure hunt maybe next year then? Or off to a new publisher perhaps?

Tim Dedopulos
4/21/2013 08:28:59 am

We can hope, Linz! It's out of my hands, really. I do have some ideas, of course... When I know anything though, I'll let you know.

Malcolm Hyde
9/5/2013 05:03:02 am

Really enjoyed the book, and hope another is published soon. Can you explain the meaning of the numbers and symbols that went around the border of each page please?

Reply
Ego
4/4/2014 11:42:48 pm

What do the triangular yellow sings with a dog and a (bomb?) mean?

Reply
Tim Dedopulos
4/5/2014 10:03:04 am

Those are the logo of Jon Lucas at dogbomb studios, the artist who did the illustrations.

Reply
Zoe Janes
4/6/2014 04:38:32 am

Are Carlton going to put the rest of the solutions up? Still only seem to find the first few

Reply
Tim Dedopulos
4/6/2014 09:14:47 pm

All I can say is I don't know. I'm sorry. That's part of the reason I posted the answers here.

Reply
Mel link
6/5/2014 04:39:34 am

Hi Tim,

I'm currently building a website dedicated to armchair treasure hunts and puzzles, past and present, and was wondering if I may include your solution list on my site? I would of course credit you and link to this page as well (or any other page you'd like me to link to). The site (work in progress) can be seen at http://treasurehuntspot.com. Thanks in advance for your time!

Reply
Geoff link
4/1/2016 01:51:57 am

Thanks for the pointers. Those and the few videos that are up are enough to understand the method and put the main pieces together.

But I'm still at a loss to understand some of the others things on each page.

I see someone else has asked this question as well, but I'll repeat it: what do the long/lat co-ordinates on each page represent or point to? How about the small pictures in circles?

Are these red herrings or interesting but irrelevant places for people to hunt on google, or does finding them help understand the puzzle? If so, I don't understand how!

Thanks

G

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