Marine archaeology and treasure hunting?

[scubalil]

Does anyone think that archaeologists and "treasure hunters" could ever agree to disagree and work together? It seems to me that treasure hunting could definately stand to benefit from the "legitimatacy" of scholastics and scholastics could definately use the financial backing of private corperations! Is there a way to prevent the academic community from back-balling archaeologists who support artifact removal? Just wondering if anyone had any background on either side of the debate...

 

[WreckWriter]

Its been done in a few rare cases. I wouldn't hold my breath expecting it to become the norm though.

WW

 

[BacardiSpice]

Depends on how you're defining 'treasure hunter' here, Scubalil. If you're referring to those who are in it purely for the bottom dollar, then collaboration would be a rare thing indeed - the ultimate aims of the two groups are too disparate and in many cases incompatible. If a 'treasure hunter', however, is a non-archaelogically trained amateur diver who enjoys wreck diving and sometimes removes artifacts, then there are moves around the world to further co-operative efforts between the academics and the recreational wreck divers.

 

[archman]

Archaeological digs almost always consume far more time than your salvage/treasure team is able to financially back, or even wait for. Artifacts are only ONE component of nautical archaeology; the site itself is the true jewel. If you read up on protocols for recovering artifacts, the first thing that usually comes up is DON'T MOVE IT!!

Treasure hunters would find that a bitter pill to swallow indeed. They're antiquities collectors, after all. Archaeologists are more concerned with the story. Yanking objects before the site is professionally examined and mapped drives these folks NUTS (I know I've heard it firsthand).