I just listened to this coverage on NPR of a controversial exhibit at the Smithsonian, which I learned about this past weekend at a conference. The exhibit, “Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds” is an exhibit of Chinese ceramics taken from a shipwreck off Belitung Island in Indonesia. These artifacts were “recovered” from the wreck in a less-than-scholarly manner by a commercial treasure hunting firm in the late 1990s, and the exhibition of artifacts taken in this way violates professional ethics. Essentially, the community of maritime archaeologists only wants to support excavations that are done responsibly, recording the state of artifacts on the bottom and their relationship to one another, so that the maximum amount can be learned from the exercise. When ships are emptied of treasure the way Belitung was, a great deal of contextual information is lost.

I listened to a presentation on this controversy by Paul F. Johnston, a Curator at the Smithsonian who specializes in maritime history. He is, to say the least, not pleased with this exhibit or the Smithsonian’s failure to do the due diligence required on these salvaged artifacts. The presentation was part of the annual conference of the Council of American Maritime Museums (CAMM) which took place in Santa Barbara this past weekend. One of the ethical policies this exhibit threatens to violate comes from CAMM and is referenced in the NPR story: “Members shall not knowingly exhibit artifacts which have been stolen or removed from commercially exploited sites.” It will be interesting to see whether the Smithsonian chooses to move forward with the exhibit, violating its own ethical policies and encouraging similar “recovery” operations on future wreck sites. 

I was at CAMM to present on the Wawona Project for Northwest Seaport, and on the Collections Policy of the Center for Wooden Boats.