Upcoming Smithsonian shipwreck exhibit questioned by archaeologists

Science : Archaeologists are criticizing the ethics of a planned Smithsonian Institution exhibit, Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds, slated to open in 2012. The exhibit is based on artifacts hauled up from an Arab dhow that sank to the bottom of the Java Sea in the 9th century CE. Critics say that the German company that salvaged the wreck, Seabed Explorations, did not observe professional archaeological standards while recovering the artifacts and later sold them to a second company in Singapore. Such commercialization of ancient objects doesn’t break the laws of Indonesia, in whose territorial waters the dhow was found, but many archaeologists say that it contravenes their field’s standard ethical guidelines. In addition, notes Ted Schultz, chair of the National Museum of Natural History Senate of Scientists, “We believe that substantial scientific information was lost due to the methods employed.”