Ethics of Treasure Hunting

The Dunhuang Caves

Archaeology has evolved a lot from its beginning as glorified treasure hunters who took what they found home with them. Originally archaeologists were rich men of western descent travelling to Asia or other non-western countries searching for buried treasure. They took what they could after excavating a site, and since they were not trained in excavation or preservation of historical materials many items were ruined. Many more were sold to private buyers for a profit. Another problem with this early form of the archaeologist was that they often did not record their findings in a satisfactory manner. If they worked multiple sites, they would neglect to record what objects came from which site. This is problematic in evaluating the sites rooms and uses, as well as for dating the time periods that used the area. Although there are some exceptions to this mode of conduct acceptable at the time (German archaeologists in Mesopotamia were particularly accurate, including drawings as well as blueprints of the area with every objects location), the vast majority have caused gaps in information and lost material that may have told us more about the people who these objects were made by and who lived at the time. Nowadays thankfully the interest has shifted from the objects to the people they belonged to, which encourages information gathering and study rather than simple excavation and retrieval. Popular examples of earlier archaeology are the removal of objects as well as bodies from tombs. This is interesting and has something to do with the way westerners romanticize the east more than anything. If a Chinese archaeologist were to discover one of Queen Elizabeth’s ancestors bones and immediately brought them to China and put them on display that would be quite an issue, however the reverse is not true. This happened at Dunhuang as well, while the discovery of the relic rich cave belonged to a Chinese taoist priest name Wang Yuanlu, the people who removed the art, sculptures, other objects were English, French, German, and American (Shichang, 1995). They all robbed the site in the name of reserving histry and many of the things they took can be seen across the globe where they can be found in the men’s home country’s museums, and have branched out from there to other museums. This exemplifies the western worlds fascination with foreign cultures and unfortunately this romanticized view prevents them from recognizing the other peoples rights to their own pasts, ancestors, and allows the robbery of site in the name of archaeology. A person focused on finding gold is a treasure hunter but so too are those who take clay and other relics of varying materials that lack physical value but have heaps of historical and cultural value. According to Oxford Dictionaries an archaeologist is: “A person who studies human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains” (Oxford University Press, 2015). While other dictionaries refer to treasure hunting only as a game, Wikipedia refers to the modern treasure hunting of the underwater world “Treasure hunters try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with market value. This industry is generally fueled by the market of antiquities” (Wikipedia, 2015). There has been much debate over whom objects belong to after they have been removed from the site. The person who found them? The country they were found in? Generally once an object has been removed from a site and leaves the country of origin its return is highly unlikely due to a certain stubbornness not dissimilar to the concept of ‘finders keepers’ rather than right or wrong. What constitutes stealing when the original owners no longer live, their place is abandoned, and they have left no will?

References

Oxford University Press. (2015). Archaeologist. Retrieved from: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/archaeologist

Shichang, Ma. (1995). Buddhist Cave-Temples and the Cao Family at Mogao Ku, Dunhuang. World Archaeology, Vol. 27, No. 2, Buddhist Archaeology, pp. 303-317.

Wikipedia. (2015). Treasure Hunting. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_hunting_(marine)