Page 31 - Green - Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook. 2nd ed

10 Maritime Archaeology: A Technical Handbook, Second Edition
material has been recorded is in an illustrated auction catalog which, for archaeological purposes, is totally inadequate. The issue has been addressed in a number of forums: the ICOMOS International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the International Congress of Maritime Museums being the most significant.
As far as the question of artifacts from shipwreck sites is concerned, there are now several schools of thought holding widely divergent views on these issues. The purists argue that the collection is unique and, if dispersed, the information will be lost forever. Therefore, no excavation should take place unless the material can be conserved and then preserved. The prag- matists state that sites will be excavated or looted and, unless the material is recorded, it will be totally lost. Their approach is to work with the salvors and try to preserve and record as much as possible. The purists claim that this is self-defeating. By giving archaeological respectability to looting or salvage, it is legitimized and, in the long run, even more material will be lost. The treasure hunters argue that, but for them, the sites would never be found. In their eyes, archaeologists are incompetents who are trying to take away the right they have, as treasure hunters, to the rewards for their endeavors. Within this hotbed of dissent exist questions relating to the posi- tion of amateurs and nonprofessionals and who is to take responsibility for conservation, storage, and display of material. It is, therefore, not surpris- ing that some terrestrial archaeologists find the maritime field difficult to accept as a fully fledged academic discipline. Sadly these words, written in 1989, are still largely true, although the situation is slowly changing for the better.
Maritime archaeology is a part of archaeology, and as such, is a scientific discipline. It has quite simple aims. First, archaeology should be systematic, and as much information as it is reasonably possible to record must be extracted, information must be properly recorded and documented, and finally, the work should be fully analyzed and published. Where one is involved in excavation, the material should be properly preserved so that it can be studied in the future and the work published, preferably as an excavation report. It is totally unacceptable to excavate, record the mater- ial, and then disperse the collection. The collection must be kept together, in a secure, long-term storage. This in reality means a museum of some sort. It is the responsibility of museums, by nature of their function, to take on this role. It is unfortunate that more museums have not done this and some that have done so have actually taken on collections that were, arguably, illegally obtained or, in many cases, not recovered using proper archaeo- logical techniques. However, one must appreciate that taking on such a responsibility creates serious organizational, financial, and administrative problems. Sadly, few institutions have accepted the challenge of maritime