In the US, the discovery of shipwrecks of the Spanish Plate Fleet generated a whole industry in treasure hunting that began in the 1960s. By the beginning of the 1970s, the field was divided into roughly three camps: the treasure hunters out for commercial gain and little else; a small number of archaeologists working for professional organizations that conducted archaeological projects; and a number of amateur and volunteer divers who wanted to help preserve the archaeological record, usually acting independently.
By the mid-1980s, the discovery in Southeast Asia of shipwrecks that had marketable Chinese and Asian ceramics opened a new floodgate of treasure hunting and looting of archaeological sites in Asia.
No discussion about maritime archaeology is complete without some reference to treasure hunting. There are three kinds of treasure hunters: professional, semiprofessional, and amateur. The professionals typically use off-shore equipment and work in deep water, the semi-professional generally works on smaller vessels with less skilled divers, and the amateur is simply someone who loots in his spare time. The history of maritime treasure hunting probably starts with the amateur divers who started in the 1950s in the Mediterranean, collecting amphora and selling them. In the Carribean, the treasure-hunting business started with the discovery of the first of the Spanish Plate Fleet ships in the 1960s. Up until the 1980s, treasure hunting was connected with finding gold, silver, and other valuable items. In 1983, a Chinese junk, dating from the mid-seventeenth century, was discovered in Indonesian waters. The wreck contained a remarkable collection of Chinese porcelain, which was ultimately sold at Christie’s in Amsterdam, and made a small fortune for the finder. The finder went on to discover the Geldermalsen which contained a huge cargo of Nanking porcelain. There has never been an event quite like the sale of the Nanking Cargo. It composed over 160 000 ceramic items and 126 gold ingots, all of which sold for about ?10 million. The suggested price in the catalog was generally far exceeded at the time of the auction, often by up to ten times. The auction was the second highest total for a Christie’s sale and no doubt, for them, a very profitable operation. From this moment on, shipwreck treasure hunting was not just looking for gold and silver. Asia became the new center for treasure hunting, and while there has never been an auction on the scale of the Nanking Cargo, many sites are being looted and destroyed, and the finds sold at auction.
The arguments between treasure hunters and maritime archaeologists have largely reached a stalemate. Archaeologists are not going to become involved in selling artifacts and maintain it is not possible for an untrained person to conduct archaeological excavation. Treasure hunters say they are the only people finding wreck sites and there are plenty of sites to go around. In the interim, underwater sites are being salvaged of artifacts that have commercial value, often with official approval of the country involved. Sadly, the commercial exploitation of underwater archaeological sites continues, with little or no concern from governments that are, in reality, the guardian of the national cultural heritage (see World Heritage Sites, Types and Laws).
World History
