Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

The ethics of collecting archaeological artifacts often revolves around objects known to be looted from unexcavated sites on land. One side of the debate claims that purchasing these items increases the perceived demand, while the other side claims that with such damage already done, the importance lies with preserving the item. However, collecting objects from underwater archaeological sites introduces a different legal framework and an alternative set of ethical choices. Currently, laws of the sea grant access to and ownership of underwater archaeological sites. A country’s land laws protecting cultural property often lack synchronicity with its maritime laws over similar objects found underwater. Some aspects regarding protection necessitate distinct considerations unique to subsurface sites and objects. For example, corrosive elements in the environment may lead to damage or destruction, as in the case of Halomonas titanicae, a marine bacterium that eats iron. With rising sea levels already impacting communities globally, the authority governing some cultural objects and sites will change from land law to maritime law. Societies must consider how the introduction of contemporary culture and jurisdictional changes will affect the people, places, and objects in these coastal areas and the protection of these areas and objects. This paper uses primarily Kantian and Utilitarian frameworks to consider these issues.