Buried Treasure: Finders Keepers?

Many experts argue that shipwrecks and the artifacts they contain belong in museums, not in the collections of treasure hunters. After all, such items hold priceless information that can help us understand history, says archaeologist James Delgado.

Archaeologists like Delgado think sunken treasure should be turned over to them so they can study the artifacts. Many say that treasure hunters are just after coins or jewels that they can sell to become rich.

“The value is not in how much money you can sell something for, it’s the value of the stories it can tell,” Delgado says. “It allows us to connect to the people who came before us.”

Some archaeologists fear that, in their search for riches, treasure hunters might destroy fragile shipwrecks. Delgado says that important relics, like bones, get tossed because they’re not considered valuable.

“Focusing on how much you can make is very different than how much you can learn,” Delgado says.

People who hunt for sunken ships, called salvors, say they deserve to keep some of the treasure they find. They point out that they spend years locating a wreck, which isn’t easy. Ships break apart as they sink to the seafloor and artifacts get scattered. Over time, the remains get buried in sand.

Pritchett and other salvors also spend a lot of money on their missions. They use special technology to detect buried metal and then use machines to blow sand off the seafloor to uncover items. Pritchett says he spent about $4 million to find La Trinité. He thinks he should be allowed to keep some of the artifacts or at least get paid for them.

Experts estimate that less than 1 percent of the world’s wrecks have been explored. Treasure hunters argue that without them, these pieces of history might be lost forever.

Jason Lundock is an archaeologist who works with a private company that looks for wrecks. He thinks there are ways to compromise. For example, In some countries, treasure hunters are paid a finder’s fee for their discoveries.