CBS News
Treasure trove recovered from ancient shipwrecks 5,000 feet underwater in South China Sea
Nearly 1,000 pieces of treasure — including copper coins and ornate pottery from the Ming Dynasty — were recovered from a pair of ancient shipwrecks discovered in the South China Sea, officials said on Thursday.
The yearlong retrieval operation came after the two shipwrecks were discovered in 2022 about 5,000 feet underwater near the northwest continental slope of the South China Sea, according to China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration. Archaeologists used a crewed submersible called “Deep Sea Warrior” to conduct the excavation, officials said.
The team of scientists recovered 890 pieces of artifacts from the first shipwreck, including copper coins, porcelain and pottery items, officials said. The second shipwreck yielded 38 relics, including lumber, turban shells and deer antlers.
The National Cultural Heritage Administration released images of the recovered treasure as well as photos of the submersible retrieving artifacts from the ocean floor with a robotic “claw.”
National Cultural Heritage Administration
While the shipwrecks and their treasure hold obvious cultural value, they also reinforce China’s political objectives of asserting territorial claims over the region. Beijing claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea under its “nine-dash-line” policy and has tried to leverage those claims with China’s historical presence in the region.
In 2016, an international court ruled that major elements of China’s claims in the South China Sea were unlawful, but Beijing says it does not recognize the ruling.
Six countries have claims to parts of the sea — China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, and Malaysia — and the stakes are high. Trillions of dollars worth of trade pass through the South China Sea each year, and there is a massive amount of oil under the seafloor.
And then there is also shipwreck treasure, which China uses to amplify its contested claims.
“The discovery provides evidence that Chinese ancestors developed, utilized and traveled to and from the South China Sea, with the two shipwrecks serving as important witnesses to trade and cultural exchanges along the ancient Maritime Silk Road,” said Guan Qiang, deputy head of the NCHA, said Thursday.
National Cultural Heritage Administration
China’s Ming dynasty, which stretched from 1368-1644, was “a period of cultural restoration and expansion,” according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum said vast landscapes and artwork featuring flowers and birds “were particularly favored as images that would glorify the new dynasty and convey its benevolence, virtue, and majesty.”
The news of the shipwreck treasure comes just weeks after an iconic U.S. Navy submarine that was sunk during World War II was located 3,000 underwater in the South China Sea off the coast of the Philippines.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.