Posted on 11/10/2012 7:20:49 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The National Museum of Denmark regularly receives objects that appear to be stolen goods from the Viking Age. Shouldn't these objects be returned to their original owners?
Ranvaik's golden chest was made in Ireland or Scotland toward the end of the eighth century and originates from a church or a monastery.
"Ranvaik owns this shrine" the inscription on the bottom reads, as a strong indication that it later came to belong to a noble Viking lady named Ranvaik.
Archaeologists believe that the shrine, which can be admired at the Danish National Museum, is stolen property from the Viking Age.
"Viking Age objects that come from churches and monasteries can best be explained as loot from the raids which made the Vikings notorious in the Christian world," explains Maria Panum Baastrup, an archaeologist at the National Museum's Prehistoric Collection.
"We know that the original owners of these things associated them with holiness, so it's unlikely that they could be described as commodities."
The National Museum's Prehistoric Collection receives its largest contribution from Danish amateur archaeologists and it's currently enjoying a growth of ecclesiastical objects such as fragments of crosiers, sacred vessels and church silverware, which have been found in Danish soil.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenordic.com ...
Made in Scotland or Ireland toward the end of the eighth century, the original purpose of Ranvaik's chest had been to house the bones of a Christian saint. (Photo: National Museum of Denmark)
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
Thanks Renfield. |
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I have some things I’d like to return to their point of origin....
...anybody got a map to the Garden of Eden?
A church???
It must be transferred to the nearest mosque immediately!!
Political correctness once again. The people the item was stolen from are long gone. The artifact belongs to whoever it ended up with, in this case the Museum of Denmark. Let them display it with the usual historical commentary on where it probably came from. It amazes me (but doesn’t surprise me) that people are so silly these days.
It would be a fine gesture to return it if the entity from which it was stolen if such can be identified and still exists. 0therwise it is where it should be. It should not be “returned” to an entity that never owned it in the first place i.e. a nation or city. “Returning” Sumerian treasures to Iraq is not appropriate. Sumer and Iraq are separated by many other nations and cultures in time. Returning items to Egypt, maybe, though the Moslem conquest seems to have separated the original Egypt from the present nation with the name.
It’s Carrie Bradshaw’s purse!
We’re obviously not talking Super Bowl rings here....
Ireland wants its stuff back.
It’s not stolen, it’s liberated.
That is the long lost jewelry box my foremother left behind she they emigrated to Vinland. I’d like it returned, if you please.
Superb craftsmanship.
All valuable things are merely in transition from one owner to another.
Get Off This Estate
Get off this estate.
What for?
Because its mine.
Where did you get it?
From my father.
Where did he get it?
From his father.
And where did he get it?
He fought for it.
Well, Ill fight you for it
- Carl Sandburg
:’)
Absolutely should be returned. To the culture that created it.
Shameful that Brits hold looted treasures of Greeks
...dittos for Germans...Americans etc.
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