UNESCO and the Belitung Shipwreck: The Need for a Permissive Definition of Commercial Exploitation
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UNESCO AND THE BELITUNG SHIPWRECK* THE NEED
FOR A PERMISSIVE DEFINITION OF
COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION
Patrick Coleman*
I. INTRODUCTION
In 1998, fishermen diving for sea cucumbers off the coast of
Belitung Island in Indonesia accidentally discovered the wreck of a
ninth-century AD Arabian ship laden with cargo from Tang dynasty
China.' Looting began almost immediately.2 The Indonesian gov-
ernment could not afford to protect or recover the shipwreck, so it
granted a salvage permit to Seabed Explorations, a German com-
pany with experience in the region, in an effort to both preserve
the artifacts and prevent them from being dispersed in a manner
that would leave them unknown to the public and the academic
community.3 Within two years of receiving the permit, Seabed
recovered over sixty-three thousand artifacts, which it later sold as a
complete collection to the government of Singapore for $32 mil-
lion.4 Singapore built a permanent museum installation for the
shipwreck, and in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution,
* J.D. 2013, The George Washington University Law School; Ph.D. in Art History
2010, Rutgers, The State University of NewJersey; M.A. in Art History 2001, Case Western
Reserve University; B.A. in Visual Arts 1999, Oberlin College.
1. Elizabeth Bartman, From the President: The Belitung Shipwreck, ARCHAEOLOGY,
Sept.-Oct. 2011, available at http://archive.archaeology.org/l 109/departments/president
.html; Press Release, Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Media Back-
grounder: Discovery, Recovery, Conservation and Exhibition of the Belitung Cargo (Mar.
16, 2011) [hereinafter Media Backgrounder], http://www.asia.si.edu/press/2011/prShip
wreckedBackgrounder.asp; Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Ancient Arab Shipwreck Yields Secrets of
Ninth-Century Trade, N.Y. TIMES (Mar. 7, 2011), http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/
arts/08iht-singshowO8.html.
2. Bartman, supra note 1; Laura Gongaware & Ole Varmer, Tang Cargo: To Exhibit or
Not to Exhibit-What Is Best for This Cultural Resource?, LAwYERS' COMM. FOR CULTURAL HERI-
TAGE PRES. BLOG (Aug. 15, 2011, 11:28 AM), www.culturalheritagelaw.org/blog?mode=Post
View&bmi=676757.
3. Bartman, supra note 1; Gongaware & Varmer, supra note 2; Media Backgrounder,
supra note 1.
4. Bartman, supra note 1; Gongaware & Varmer, supra note 2.
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UNESCO and the Belitung Shipwreck: The Need for a Permissive Definition of Commercial Exploitation
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