Pirates of the Smithsonian

I believe that these artifacts are not in the possession of their rightful owner(s).  Neither the Indonesian government, nor the Singaporean government is the correct owner of the artifacts.  The looters or anyone who bought looted artifacts clearly have no claim on the items.  I believe that the rightful possessors of the discovered pieces are either the Chinese government or the Arab governments.  From what I understood of the video, the Arab vessel that the artifacts were found on was not a pirate ship.  That makes me think that the Arab traders were in lawful possession of the Tang items.  Therefore, the pieces should be split among the current Arab nations’ governments.  The governments should not have to purchase the items either.

In the case of ancient artifacts that are discovered, I do not believe that the philosophy “finders, keepers” is applicable.  The artifacts do not belong to the person that finds them, much as the lost wallet someone finds does not belong to them.  This looting of the shipwreck is somewhat comparable to the piece of the Parthenon that the British Ambassador took back to England to display.  The Parthenon belongs to Greece, and therefore, the piece of the building that was removed still belongs to Greece.  Taking the piece of the building back to England was basically stealing.  The Tang artifacts (almost) clearly were in the possession of Arabs at the time of the ship’s wreck.  Therefore, those artifacts still belong to the Arabs. Since there is not a nation known as “Arabia”, all Arab nations should receive a split of the artifacts—unless it can be determined what area of the Arab lands the sailors were from.  Once the Arab nations receive the artifacts, it would be their option as to whether to sell the items or keep them for themselves.  This addresses the idea of the sovereignty of the artifacts.

By allowing Singapore to purchase the artifacts and giving Indonesia whatever was left, salvage company we promoting free global transmission.  There is a very likely chance that China may have taken the artifacts and not have let anyone see them.  Instead, many people have the chance to see this exhibit because Singapore is displaying it and offering to let museums around the world view the items.  There is also debate about the intentions the salvage company had for excavating the artifacts (profit versus knowledge).  On the other hand, some people claim that the artifacts being exhibited at the Smithsonian were looted items that were stolen from the site and sold.  All I can say is that I think the rightful owners (Arab governments) of the artifacts should be given the items, and they can decide whether or not they would like them to be displayed in museums.