The finds were discovered by a private citizen who, during a dive, noticed some metallic remains at a shallow depth, not far from the coast. The following day the underwater archaeological unit of the Superintendency of archaeology, fine arts and landscape of Sassari and Nuoro together with the Carabinieri of the Unit for the protection of cultural heritage of Sardinia and the Underwater Carabinieri Unit of Sardinia carried out an initial reconnaissance in the stretch of sea concerned, with the collaboration of the diving unit of the Carabinieri of Cagliari and that of the Fire Brigade of Sassari, together with the State Police, the Financial Police and the Port Authorities.
How on Earth did it take one day for some random citizen to report something and then for like 50 institutions to all collaborate with each other to launch a gigantic coordinated effort? This is just insane. I'm absolutely calling BS.
This is talked about peripherally in How Big Things Get Done.
If you are a construction crew in Great Britain, you have an archaeologist on staff. Someone who is already recognized by the governmental agencies responsible for the Heritage rules for that jurisdiction. So you have one on staff who can swoop in at the first pottery shard and expedite an extraction or declare a detour.
And if you are a construction company, you realize that you can find multiple sites in the same month on different projects. So you have every other archaeologist in your contact list on retainer, so you can get one in as backup.
Not quite the same situation here, but it shows that people who want to GSD have ways to do it when governments are involved.
Diver sees something and calls a museum. Museum sends down an archaeology diver next day who confirms that there's something there and then 48 other groups collectively take credit for political purposes.
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How on Earth did it take one day for some random citizen to report something and then for like 50 institutions to all collaborate with each other to launch a gigantic coordinated effort? This is just insane. I'm absolutely calling BS.
This is talked about peripherally in How Big Things Get Done.
If you are a construction crew in Great Britain, you have an archaeologist on staff. Someone who is already recognized by the governmental agencies responsible for the Heritage rules for that jurisdiction. So you have one on staff who can swoop in at the first pottery shard and expedite an extraction or declare a detour.
And if you are a construction company, you realize that you can find multiple sites in the same month on different projects. So you have every other archaeologist in your contact list on retainer, so you can get one in as backup.
Not quite the same situation here, but it shows that people who want to GSD have ways to do it when governments are involved.
Sardinia is small. All the pro drivers probably know each other. This sounds like a curiously exhaustive list of people that came to a beach party.
Diver sees something and calls a museum. Museum sends down an archaeology diver next day who confirms that there's something there and then 48 other groups collectively take credit for political purposes.
Or maybe I'm just jaded...
I bet they figure they can balance the budget with a great find :)
Literally : money.