The Tang Treasures is one of the exhibitions at the new ArtScience Museum, displaying the spectacular treasures from the Tang Dynasty recovered from the Belitung Shipwreck a little over a decade ago. This editorial from Wreck Watch talks about the significance of the discovery, and also how the wreck, its recovery and the exhibition is a symbol of cross-border dynamism and cooperation.

The Belitung wreck is not just a cracking discovery, it is also a symbol of cross-border unity, which I find uplifting and encouraging: an ‘Arab’ ship sailing from China to the Islamic Middle East excavated by a German company under Indonesian license, whose crucial wood identification was achieved by a Jew in an Israeli university laboratory. Doesn’t that sound like a fitting definition of Rule 8 of the Annex of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, whereby “International cooperation in the conduct of activities directed at underwater cultural heritage shall be encouraged in order to further the effective exchange or use of archaeologists and other relevant professionals”?

Read the full editorial here. The editorial covers the history of the Belitung shipwreck, its findings and discusses some key issues regarding the recovery of underwater heritage.