The Vulnerability of Wrecks in International Waters --ll letter from George Bass
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Fourteen years ago you asked me if I'd write a letter to Sea been suggestions by modern governments that artifacts raised in History about shipwreck protection. I answered in one sitting, the open sea should be returned to the land of "cultural origin," turning part of the letter into a short story called "The Men which is total nonsense. If a cargo of Greek bronze statues were Who Stole the Stars." Well, that little story proved to be about to be located and salvaged outside any territorial waters, is there the most popular thing I ever wrote, having been reprinted in anyone in the world who could say with certainty if these statues several magazines in several languages. were made in what is today Greece rather than in southern Italy Now you ask ifl might comment on the vulnerability of or on the coast of Asia Minor, which is today Turkey? There wrecks in international waters, and wrecks in the were major Greek cities in all these places in hitherto unplumbed depths of the ocean floor. So classical times. Not even laboratory identification here I go again, with what will be totally unexof the sources of the metals used in the castings pected suggestions from the author of "The Men would be helpful, for raw metals were widely Who Stole the Stars." traded. Ownership of truly ancient shipwrecks in My surprising suggestion is that since no international waters cannot be determined. I'm not modern nation could possibly make a legal claim talking about 19th- and 20th-century ships where to most ancient shipwrecks in international owners and insurers can be determined by law. I'm waters, those wrecks and their contents simply talking about the Bronze Age shipwreck found off belong to humanity. Cape Gelidonya in Turkey in 1960. I concluded, in George F. Bass So let us return to the beginnings of modern my publication of the site, that the ship had been archaeology, when museums sent out archaeWhy should not the a Canaanite merchantman carrying a cargo of ologists to what were then exotic lands to bring copper from Cyprus. More than a quarter of a Metropolitan Museum of back antiquities. That is now considered century later, my conclusions are still being Arl or the Louvre or the unacceptable behavior, for each country wishes to own and protect all the antiquities on its land debated, with some scholars, using the same British Museum--0r or in its waters. evidence, insisting that the ship was Mycenaean even a private collecGreek or Cypriot. But if ownership of a wreck in international Luckily, the shipwreck lay in Turkish tor-sponsor an under- waters cannot be determined, why should not the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Louvre waters, so all of the antiquities belong to Turwater excavation, with key, as do all antiquities found on Turkish soil. or the British Museum or the Getty Museumthe understanding that or even a private collector-sponsor an But if the wreck had been in international waall of the material underwater excavation, with the understanding ters, should its artifacts have gone to modem Syria or Lebanon or Israel, where the belongs to that museum that all of the material belongs to that museum Canaanites lived during the Bronze Age? or collection? That would insure that all of or collection? And what if my conclusions were wrong? the finds would be kept together for display Could a judge and/or jury have decided if my critics were and study; thank goodness all of the materials from the right, meaning that the finds belonged to modem Greece .. . wrecks we have excavated during the past 33 years in Turkey or to Cyprus? Five countries might all have claimed the wreck, are kept together in one museum, for each year we find new with almost no possibility of the original nationality ever ways of learning about the past through their re-analysis and being determined, even by the best minds in archaeology. study. The medieval ship with cargo of Islamic glass and To keep standards of excavation high, and to protect wrecks from being pillaged by salvors who might destroy pottery we later excavated at Sen;:e Limani, Turkey, presents the same problem. After 15 years of detective work by some of wrecks by digging violently into hulls only for those items with sales value, which would then be scattered to all comers of the the leading authorities in the world, we are concluding that the globe, international law could prevent the import into any ship last sailed from the Black Sea or the Sea of Marmara with Bulgar merchants on its way to a port near Caesarea in Israel to country of antiquities salvaged by unscrupulous groups. take on its last cargo. It is doubtful, however, that we will ever International law might also allow excavation rights to be given know the "flag" of the ship. If this seemingly Byzantine wreck to those who locate an ancient wreck, to prevent pirates from appearing on the scene with later claims. had been in international waters, should its finds have gone to None of this is quite as simple as it sounds, but I do modern Bulgaria? Roman wrecks are the same, for Romans built ships in suggest that this is the right track. Work at great depth is not only Italy, but France and Spain and North Africa and Asia expensive. But museums which pay millions for a single work of ancient art should be able to afford the price of excavating an Minor and on the Syro-Palestinian coast .. . and still farther afield. One might determine the origin of the ship's last cargo, entire cargo of art works. Does anyone have a better answer? GEORGE F. BASS but to what modern country should that cargo go if raised Archaeological Director, outside any country's waters? Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) This example presents the problem for all ancient Bodrum, Turkey wrecks that might be found in international waters. There have SEAHISTORY68, WINTER 1993-1994
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