Look like coin collector in Kuala Terengganu (state in Malaysia), were digging their own ancient coin for this past few days. A news by the star newspaper reported that some ancient coins and artefact's found in Terengganu’s Chinatown work site. Earth-works for the new ring road and sewage system in Terengganu Chinatown here have uncovered hundreds of ancient coins and other artefact's. There is also concern that workers at the site and the public may have been quietly digging up these items to sell.
Site manager Omar Mahmod said many items might have been sold before he realised that his work site contained buried treasures when he uncovered a porcelain vase that he believed was from ancient China. He questioned his workers and discovered that many items had been found at the site. Many of these artefact's were found when they started earth excavation in February last year, but the workers concealed their find from management. Realising that the items were being sold off on the quiet, he directed the workers to declare any artefact's found from the site.Since discovering the porcelain vase, Omar has dug out coins with early Jawi writing, Arabic script and ancient Chinese emblems, ancient Indian ornaments and Chinese jars, plates and vases.
An Indonesian worker from the site who requested anonymity said he surrendered most of the artefact's to his superior but admitted he had sold some to collectors.
“Such coins are collectors’ items some of which I will take back to Surabaya,” he said.
State MCA chief Toh Chin Yaw said the items were priceless and part of the state’s history. He said the contractor had been asked to declare any future discovery of artefact's. “We want to preserve valuable items extracted at the site for our future generations,” he said.
Toh said he had informed the relevant authorities to visit the site and claim any artefact's found.
Sound to me that Department of Museum Malaysia a bit late on handling this matters. The treasure hunting had been going on for almost a year now and nobody stop the illegal digging. This is national treasure, they should act fast to stop people from doing the illegal treasure hunting. I can see that man in the picture is holding some pitis coins, Chinese Tin cash coin and some coin that look like a Spanish coin. This is the first time an ancient coins found in Malaysia reported by a news this year.
Source: The Star.com.my
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3 comments:
If you found an artifact while digging, I suggest that you immediately inform the authority so they can perform a proper method of digging. Because some artifact become very fragile when buried in a long period of time so it need special technique to dig it up.
The question is if you found it on your own backyard, what should you do? Do you have the right to keep it or you must hand it to a place like museum?
I ask my friends once about this…some said they had the right to keep it because it was found on their property. Some said you cannot own it and you should hand it to the government because an artifact is assumed as a government’s property no matter where you found it.
There also a debate that should ancient artifacts return to their origin? Even before the word "archaeology" was invented, people have been removing artifacts from their original context - or location. Objects have been taken to be sold for profit, saved as souvenirs, and put in museums. Often, historically important artifacts that have been placed in large, national museums have become points of national pride.
In the past few decades, some governments have politely asked for objects that they feel have been pillaged from their countries to be returned. During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece attempted to pressure Great Britain for the return of the displaced Parthenon or "Elgin" marbles by announcing the building a brand new museum for them, the Acropolis Museum. Italy recently returned an obelisk that was taken from Ethiopia just before World War II.
I’ve read that a museum sue each other because there is a museum refuse to send an artifact back to their origin..
Lastly, here is the best comment that I would like to share that link to this matter :
“I disagree that the artefacts should be returned home to conditions they wouldn’t possibly be able to survive in. For example if we sent home wooden african figures to their original context they would soon decay in the humid conditions. The protection of these artefacts is also questionable in countries in financial difficulty. The temptation could be too much. Also nobody has absorbed the point that by spreading artefacts around the world, in relation to their origins, we are reducing the understanding of civilisations our future generations will have.”
Urm..
are you saying that we cannot simply dig out treasures?
why?
what if I dig out a treasure and still it is in one piece, can I actually keep it?
Must I hand it over to the authority or something?
If we found the artifacts in our own land, can we keep it? Why do we have to hand them in to the authorities? Will the authorities give us rewards if we hand in the artifacts to them?
p/s : If I found the artifacts and they worth millions, I will definitely sell them to the collectors. LOL
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