Archaeologists, not treasure hunters
Via the seasite mailing list, this article about the difference between underwater archaeology, salvage, and treasure-hunting really got me thinking.
I started off as a diver, then a marine archaeologist, and often came into contact with the strange point of view that if you find something underwater, like something from a wreck, it’s OK to prise it off and take it home to display proudly on your wall, yet you’d hardly go and break the wing-mirror off someone’s car. A friend became an archaeologist for Odyssey, the controversial marine salvage firm, and was ostracised amongst the academic community for his decision, yet he just wanted to put food on his children’s table, and felt that it was better for Odyssey to have some archaeologists trying to do things right than none at all.
Clearly, the difference between archaeology and treasure hunting or salvage is not clear, and is often quite emotive. This latest article, though, makes me feel even more uneasy about this strange blurring of lines. From what I can tell, treasure-hunters felt it was their right to steal things, even when visited by the police and the coast guard.
I don’t think this happens all that often on land, though we have occasionally had to hire 24 hour security for our sites to stop metal-detectorists coming in and digging things up. And sometimes to stop feral children getting in and setting fire to things. But that’s a different story…
The only conclusion I can come to is that people think it’s OK to do this sort of thing underwater, or at sea, because they don’t think they will be seen or caught. So, people behave themselves only because they think they will be censured by their peers, not because of any inherent sense of right or wrong. How depressing…
As the XKCD geohashers recently found, it takes some people longer than others to understand that all the land of North America is owned by someone, and avoid trespassing.
Those who are going to be underwater need to learn the property rights on/under the water. Unless they think it’s OK to come up and find someone took their boat.
After we posted that article on our site (the Museum of Underwater Archaeology) most folks were appalled because the bottom land underwater there happened to be private property (a rather unusual property condition actually). It’s interesting that stealing from other citizens is frowned upon while removing objects from public land is seen by some as fair game. Apparently for some it’s the number of people you steal from that makes a difference.
Thanks for stopping by, both of you!
I was a wreck-diver before becoming an archaeologist- in fact I can remember the dive that made me “see the light”. On a newly discovered wreck in the English Channel, my fellow divers, all friends, were getting busy with chisels and crow-bars removing brass fittings and anything else they could find. The viz was superb, but all I could see and hear were people chipping away at this wreck. When I went near to someone they got all defensive, as if I was going to take their find. I went home and signed up on an underwater archaeology masters course.
Anyhow, the point of that reminiscence was that I have had plenty of opportunities over the years to discuss these dichotomies with people- and pretty much always get blank incomprehension as a result. As SEWilco said though, they’d be the first to complain if they came back up and someone had nicked their boat, or prised off the propellor!