<”...Don’t point fingers at the Americans...you’re... falling into the propaganda...TRUST ME...archeologists from America have Puerto Ricans best interests at heart...”>
This isn’t about my trusting you or believing propaganda. The ethics of archaeological excavating as espoused by international agreements backs me up on this; to steal another people’s national archaeological treasures is just plain wrong. We may negotiate an arrangement by which we borrow them for a short period of time for exhibition purposes after they are processed and evaluated here in the U.S., but the items belong to the country of origin. It is only right.
Ethics in archaeology has dramatically changed from a century and a half ago. When the British removed marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, they assured themselves they did it for mankind. And it was fortuitous. The old temple, virtually intact into the 19th century, was used to house gunpowder during a conflict between Greece and Turkey. A lucky shot blew it into the sad ruined state we see today. The Elgin marbles are now housed in the British Museum and the Greek government wants them back. How will it be resolved? I don’t have a clue.
I’m an Art Historian by education and training. The ethics of archaeological endeavors no longer are in the Indiana Jones, drag-it-home-and-sell-it-to-a-museum, mindframe. Other nations may not have our resources or expertise, but they can learn.
The artifacts are on loan for study in Georgia(which took multiple agencies to clear), from what I understand. But, anyone else, from any other country doesn’t have to deal with the permits that are required. I do agree that PR needs to have the artifacts and not the US, but PR just needs the facilities to handle that instead of the dumpsters that they eventually put their history in. If tourism isn’t involved, most archeologists there couldn’t care less what happens to them there. It’s real sad. Pisses me off everything I learned there. European Universities pillage PR and no one seems to care, even though it’s common knowledge. Yet, mention someone from America borrowing artifacts, and everyone there gets possessive about the fact it belongs to the people of PR. Huge double standards regarding the US. Look up the Universities in Holland(i think). They publically sell PR artifacts on the web. They make no bones about where they came from either, or, how they got them. It just infuriates me. BTW - You DO understand that I fully agree with you, right?