diff --git a/lambda/recovered/__init__.py b/lambda/recovered/__init__.py
index 87645ef..f57c9d9 100644
--- a/lambda/recovered/__init__.py
+++ b/lambda/recovered/__init__.py
@@ -4,8 +4,10 @@ import zlib
 import base64
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
 import es
+import boto3
+import botocore.exceptions
 
-def getSonde(serial):
+def sondeExists(serial):
     query = {
         "aggs": {
             "1": {
@@ -43,7 +45,22 @@ def getSonde(serial):
         }
     }
     results = es.request(json.dumps(query), "telm-*/_search", "POST")
-    return results["aggregations"]["1"]["hits"]["hits"]
+    if len(results["aggregations"]["1"]["hits"]["hits"]) > 0:
+        return True
+    
+    # if there's a historic file created for this sonde, use that instead
+    try:
+        s3 = boto3.resource('s3')
+        object = s3.Object('sondehub-history', f'serial/{serial}.json.gz')
+        
+        object.load()
+        return True
+    except botocore.exceptions.ClientError as e:
+        if e.response['Error']['Code'] == "404":
+            return False
+        else:
+            # Something else has gone wrong.
+            raise
 
 
 def getRecovered(serial):
@@ -112,12 +129,10 @@ def put(event, context):
     if "datetime" not in recovered:
         recovered["datetime"] = datetime.now().isoformat()
 
-    sonde_last_data = getSonde(recovered["serial"])
-
     if recovered["serial"] == "":
         return {"statusCode": 400, "body":  json.dumps({"message": "serial cannot be empty"})}
 
-    if len(sonde_last_data) == 0:
+    if not sondeExists(recovered["serial"]):
         return {"statusCode": 400, "body":  json.dumps({"message": "serial not found in db"})}
 
     recovered['position'] = [recovered['lon'], recovered['lat']]
diff --git a/lambda/recovered/__main__.py b/lambda/recovered/__main__.py
index 690f00d..c0fddc5 100644
--- a/lambda/recovered/__main__.py
+++ b/lambda/recovered/__main__.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ payload = {
     },
     "body": json.dumps({
         "datetime": "2021-06-06T01:10:07.629Z",
-        "serial": "string",
+        "serial": "S4631407",
         "lat": 0,
         "lon": 0,
         "alt": 0,
@@ -57,4 +57,4 @@ payload = {
     "isBase64Encoded": False,
 }
 # print(put(payload, {}))
-print(get(payload, {}))
\ No newline at end of file
+print(put(payload, {}))
\ No newline at end of file