Archaeologists Debate Whether to Ignore the Pasts of Relics

New York Times ^ | May 2, 2006 | Hugh Eakin

[SunkenCiv]

As scholars grapple with the reality that a growing number of important works -- like the Ur-Nammu tablet and the recently unveiled Gospel of Judas -- lack a clear provenance, those ethics policies are the focus of heated debate. On one side are archaeologists and other experts who say that most objects without a clear record of ownership or site of origin were looted, and that the publication of such material aggrandizes collectors and encourages the illicit trade. On the other side are those who argue that ignoring such works may be even more damaging to scholarship than the destruction caused by looting... In recent days more than 100 scholars in the United States and Europe have signed a controversial statement asserting that the publishing restrictions are forcing them to "close their eyes to important information." The statement was drafted by Lawrence E. Stager, an archaeologist at Harvard University, and has been posted on the Web site of Biblical Archaeology Review, a journal that does not have restrictions on unprovenanced works.

[SunkenCiv]

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Jordanian officials seized these cuneiform tablets from smugglers. [Ali Jarekji/Reuters]

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[SunkenCiv]

Publication of Unprovenanced Artifacts Statement of Concern
Biblical Archaeology Review

We are archaeologists and scholars who deal with archaeological materials from the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean basin. We wish to express our concern at a movement that has received much publicity lately that condemns the use of unprovenanced antiquities from consideration in the reconstruction of ancient history. On the contrary, a history of this region cannot be written without the evidence from unprovenanced antiquities...

[SunkenCiv]

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[Little Ray]

Archeologists are just peeved that they didn't get to the loot first.

[ApplegateRanch]

the publishing restrictions are forcing them to "close their eyes to important information."

Sounds similar to the big bioethics fight many years ago over whether or not to make life saving use of "tainted" knowledge gleaned from Nazi "experiments" in hypothermia; or to ignore the body of data, until it could be recreated by conducting humane, ethical research in the area, while allowing people to needlessly die.

This bears keeping an eye on it.

[SunkenCiv]

Removing relics vs. preserving history (op-ed)
Christian Science Monitor | May 17, 2006 | Randy Salzman
Posted on 05/17/2006 11:48:46 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1633768/posts

Director of Getty Is Unrattled by Claims of Italy and Greece to Antiquities
New York Times | May 15, 2006 | Hugh Eakin
Posted on 05/17/2006 11:53:13 AM EDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1633771/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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