
Show of shipwrecked treasures raises scientists’ ire - diodorus
http://www.nature.com/news/show-of-shipwrecked-treasures-raises-scientists-ire-1.21429
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JoeAltmaier
Another argument: in future, scientists will be able to chart every particle
of mud and every molecule adhering to the potsherds. Taking them now, by even
the most meticulous and 'responsible' methods, prevent future archaeologists
from scanning them properly Star-Trek fashion. So today's 'scientists' will be
viewed as pot-hunters in the future.

I say, do what you can with what you have now. Because ultimately you should
do nothing, against the day you could do better.

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wtbob
This seems like a clear case of letting the best be the enemy of the good: had
the shipwreck not been salvaged, looters would have destroyed everything.

And how the heck can a scientist claim in good faith that there is knowledge
people shouldn't be allowed to see?

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curun1r
I wonder how much the depth of the wreck should play a role in deciding how
these wrecks are treated.

At 40m or less, wrecks can be explored using recreational scuba gear. Every
effort should be made to catalog these wrecks and remove all items of any
interest before recreational divers are allowed to visit the site.

Down to about 200m, tech diving equipment can still be used, but the danger
and the skill level needed to salvage goes up. Given the likelihood that the
wreck will be unexplored by any other than professional salvagers, the
archeological rigor with which the site is treated should go down. Proper
archeological treatment of the site will mean more dives and an increased
chance that someone dies. And the equipment is quite a bit more expensive.
It's only natural that they'd limit themselves to the more profitable salvage
and leave what is essentially charitable salvage to any organization that can
solicit enough donations to do their own work.

Below 200m, you're talking submersibles and robots and the cost to salvage
goes way up. Expecting archeological rigor at those depths likely means that
most wrecks will be completely unexplored. I'd rather see the valuable stuff
salvaged and put in museums than just left on the ocean floor.

But perhaps I'm being too myopic to my own interests and those of other scuba
divers.

~~~
Someone
_" Down to about 200m, tech diving equipment can still be used, but the danger
and the skill level needed to salvage goes up"_

70m apparently isn't much of a problem, given that several large World War Two
wrecks have disappeared from that depth in the Java Sea
([http://www.sciencealert.com/several-wwii-shipwrecks-have-
mys...](http://www.sciencealert.com/several-wwii-shipwrecks-have-mysteriously-
vanished-from-under-the-sea), [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-
asia-37997640](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37997640))

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gozur88
People are going to salvage shipwrecks if they contain something valuable. The
end game of this kind of thinking is it becomes illegal unless you have some
sort of credential, and people who find shipwrecks take priceless artifacts
made of gold or silver and melt them down for sale, then don't tell anyone
about the wreck.

