Archaeology students advise against TH investment in Bloomberg.

[ropesfish]

Continuing in their long tradition of biased "Viewpoint journalism" Bloomberg (German for bull$hitter) brings us this piece of propaganda from some propagandists-in-training direct from that wellspring of capitalistic productivity- Academia!
Treasure Hunting Is the World's Worst Investment - Bloomberg View

The disconcerting part is this bit about England - Anyone think there is not a good bit of orchestration between the governments that rule us?
"
Additionally, the U.S. Navy plans to redefine the Sunken Military Craft Act to include everything from historic galleons to Merchant Marine vessels from World War I and II. That may be the biggest blow to the treasure-hunting industry. The change would “make it practically impossible to salvage those vessels,” Kim Fisher, chief executive officer of Mel Fisher Family Enterprises, told the Florida Keys News. Last week, the U.K. navy followed suit and declared that all sunken Royal Navy ships worldwide are now protected by sovereign immunity."

This article was written by a couple of doctoral students in Europe who have just made their name in the "Let it rot in place" society. Let us all remember that the academics are the ones who advised the US government into it's present state. An academic is merely a bureaucrat in a university's political structure instead of in a local/state/federal governmental structure.
So here's to those guys and gals in those publicly funded jobs operating on funds supplied by taxpayers and publishing papers that no one ever reads out there protecting their collective resources.

 

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[Terry Soloman]

Is the article factual? Do you dispute the numbers they share? Treasure Hunting is a horrible gamble. In my personal experience it pays off less than 5-percent of the time.

 

[Booty Salvage]

I guess my odds are better than yours.

 

[Jolly Mon]

Continuing in their long tradition of biased "Viewpoint journalism" Bloomberg (German for bull$hitter) brings us this piece of propaganda from some propagandists-in-training direct from that wellspring of capitalistic productivity- Academia!
Treasure Hunting Is the World's Worst Investment - Bloomberg View

The disconcerting part is this bit about England - Anyone think there is not a good bit of orchestration between the governments that rule us?
"
Additionally, the U.S. Navy plans to redefine the Sunken Military Craft Act to include everything from historic galleons to Merchant Marine vessels from World War I and II. That may be the biggest blow to the treasure-hunting industry. The change would “make it practically impossible to salvage those vessels,” Kim Fisher, chief executive officer of Mel Fisher Family Enterprises, told the Florida Keys News. Last week, the U.K. navy followed suit and declared that all sunken Royal Navy ships worldwide are now protected by sovereign immunity."

This article was written by a couple of doctoral students in Europe who have just made their name in the "Let it rot in place" society. Let us all remember that the academics are the ones who advised the US government into it's present state. An academic is merely a bureaucrat in a university's political structure instead of in a local/state/federal governmental structure.
So here's to those guys and gals in those publicly funded jobs operating on funds supplied by taxpayers and publishing papers that no one ever reads out there protecting their collective resources.

Most American archies are bad, but the Euros are even worse. The whole continent is infected with a scary, socialist ideology. Not just the archies, but much of the population as well. Things aren't looking good long term for Europe.
Thanks for the article link. I have a fascination with propaganda. When I was young, I used to listen to Radio Moscow out of Havana...hilarious, scary stuff.

 

[Jolly Mon]

I guess my odds are better than yours.

Congratulations on your recent successes.
Using the best equipment sure helps.

 

[ropesfish]

As long as the odds may be on a treasure hunting investment, I have to say that backing an archaeologist is a 100% sure thing that you will never see a penny returned and little useful information will result.

 

[Au_Dreamers]

The article is horribly written.

"When Mel Fisher found the wreck of the Atocha, a 17th-century Spanish galleon that sank off the Florida Keys, he estimated that the cargo was worth $400 million. Sales of recovered artifacts suggest a value of $13 million to $24 million, or no more than 6 percent of the original estimate."

[FONT=Tiempos-Regular, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Because artifacts that were sold were the only basis for a valuation? [/FONT]
[FONT=Tiempos-Regular, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]What about artifacts that weren't sold? Many unique items went to investors to include the "Mel Fisher Center"[/FONT]

The silver coins and silver bars have an approximate value of $100,000,000[FONT=Tiempos-Regular, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif] -$200,000,000
The silver bars alone are valued at near double of the total valuation in the article.
Gold chains
120+ gold bars and disks
2,900+ emeralds
The mind boggling JEWELRY!!

So if the Atocha search cost $58,000,000 I'd say they did O.K.
[/FONT]

 

[austin]

I like archies. Almost married one. She still lets me read her papers and journals. I got my degrees in History. Libraries are air conditioned, heated and the chairs are very comfortable...

 

[hobbit]

Treasure Hunting is not the world's worst investment.

Pursuing a degree in Archaeology is the world's worst investment.
No. 1: Anthropology And Archeology - In Photos: The 10 Worst College Majors - Forbes

The median income for an Archaeology graduate is LESS than the median income for someone with nothing more than a High School diploma.
That's right, income wise, obtaining a Bachelor's in Archaeology is worse than not going to college at all.
Amazing, but true.

I have nothing but respect for the knowledge gained through the science of applied anthropology, but make no mistake, professional archaeologists are, for the most part, a bunch of elitist snobs sucking from the teat of the government.

If they truly cared about the conservation of cultural resources, they would be doing everything in their power to monitize archaeological excavation.
Instead, they would rather see priceless items rot at the bottom of the sea.

 

[TXPIRATE]

Most Archaeologist I would save plunder a lot of treasure for there own little displays.

 

[Vox veritas]

These arguments can be applied for a Spanish galleon, where 90% of the load was silver (rods, cones, coins, etc..), But for a Portuguese shipwreck, everything changes.
The speech is not so much the monetary value. The bottom line is the philosophy of dogmatic archaeologist, who will not recognize the profit motive not even for cultural purposes ..
So far, few Portuguese shipwrecks have been removed and recovered and many are lost.

 

[The_Colonel]

We've got good laws here in Aus. Wreck plundering was made illegal in the 1970s - I'm glad to see it stay that way!

 

[Bum Luck]

Treasure Hunting is not the world's worst investment.

Pursuing a degree in Archaeology is the world's worst investment.
No. 1: Anthropology And Archeology - In Photos: The 10 Worst College Majors - Forbes

The median income for an Archaeology graduate is LESS than the median income for someone with nothing more than a High School diploma.
That's right, income wise, obtaining a Bachelor's in Archaeology is worse than not going to college at all.
Amazing, but true.

I have nothing but respect for the knowledge gained through the science of applied anthropology, but make no mistake, professional archaeologists are, for the most part, a bunch of elitist snobs sucking from the teat of the government.

If they truly cared about the conservation of cultural resources, they would be doing everything in their power to monitize archaeological excavation.
Instead, they would rather see priceless items rot at the bottom of the sea.

Even with a Master's degree, you are nothing. You need a PhD to teach or write, and that process is very incestuous and dogmatic. Deviate and you are ostracized.

They are probably responsible for the saying, "Academia makes progress one funeral at a time."

 

[: Michael-Robert.]

I still believe in "finders keepers". Possession is 9/10th's of the law. This should be looked into and maybe stat a petition to our Senators and Congressman to stop such a thing. Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting should not be stopped.

 

[Darren in NC]

Or you can move to South Carolina, where their laws are similar to the UK's Dive all you want, keep what you find, and report your finds.

 

[teklord]

I smell a rat. This article came out just after Odyssey Marine came in with gold coins and bars from the SS Central America. A hedge fund who is trying to drive the share price to zero in a short attack was posting everywhere and anywhere that the news was reported in an attempt to counter it. If the stock price of Odyssey goes up they are exposed to unlimited losses. Half the posters in the " comments " section to the article are the same person under various names. Could be just a coincidence, but
the timing says not. I have respect for genuine students of archaeology in the pursuit of knowledge, but none for hedge funds trying to destroy a company.
A recap of names Meson may be posting under:
Pirate
Pirate 72
seadog
seadog20
treasure hunter 81
John Steve
matey yarrr
mateyyarrr

Sometimes these come up one after another as on BloombergView, But they always seem to be followed by the same crapulous eructations on site after site. Remarkable no one has the time to update the bullet points regardless of how discredited they have become.

 

[Bum Luck]

I still believe in "finders keepers". Possession is 9/10th's of the law. This should be looked into and maybe stat a petition to our Senators and Congressman to stop such a thing. Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting should not be stopped.

Archaeology aside:

The Straight Dope: What does "possession is 9/10ths of the law" mean?

Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theft-related

Just because you dig something out of the ground does not make it yours. Nor does believing something make it true.

There needs to be a reasonable system in place to be an incentive for discovery (and recovery).

Here's a story to consider, again in England:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/26/english-treasure-hunters-celtic-coins_n_1629128.html