• bean@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I mean. It’s not doing anyone any good just sitting there rotting away. If I had the chance to recover it, I’m not sure I’d really be swayed by its archaeological significance. It’s 300 years old. Not 3,000. Idk. Am I an asshole?

    • Transporter Room 3@startrek.website
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      11 months ago

      On the one hand, just because it’s “only” 300 years old doesn’t mean it’s not significant.

      On the other hand, consider where the stuff came from, and where it was headed. I’m a lot less inclined to be respectful toward colonial shit.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 months ago

      This is heresay and supposition but… I suspect the Columbian government is trying to figure out how to secure the value represented by the find, and the archaeological angle is one way to do that.

      I don’t know anything about Columbia but I assume there’s some corrupt government officials there somewhere. Billions might not be a lot when talking about a country’s budget, but this isn’t part of their budget. Any gold that makes its way into someone’s pocket is fair game.

      Again supposition but… I wonder whether Spain would have any claim on it if it wasn’t considered archaeologically significant.