SAFE Global Candlelight Vigil.

[sechan19]

April 10-12, 2008 marks the five-year anniversary of the looting of the Baghdad Museum. All over the world, organizations are holding candlelight vigils in support of spreading awareness about this important problem. Saving Antiquities for Everyone has a page full of information and suggestions for anyone interested in participating (in ways large and small) in commemorative activities and also some great videos about the issue.

I attended a colloquium on the looting the Baghdad museum on Wednesday. I've been so busy with everything, but it seemed far too important to miss. Museum ethics and the practices of collecting have been issues of great interest to me over the years, and I was curious what the local archaeology and museum community had to say about the problem.

There were three speakers who discussed looting from three perspectives--from that of legitimate researchers, from that of civilian looting populations, and from that of museums who must deal with potentially black-market goods.

One speaker made the quite intriguing, and radical, suggestion that the only way to stop the black-market antiquities trade would be for museums to stop collecting. He suggested that the modern museum really has no further need for "new" pieces, and that any institution looking to fill a particular gap should work with the organizations that already have them--to help foster profitable exchange (technological or training assistance in exchange for the loan of pieces, for example)--rather than attempt to keep building up their collections, so much of which are kept in storage most of the time anyway.

The idea has merit, but of course it fails completely to speak to the fact that most collectors these days are private, and that there's no stopping them from buying illicitly gotten items and then one day down the road donating them to a museum.

The issue persists in being complex, and there are few answers. But at least folks are thinking about it - which is always a good place to start.

And also, the cutest looting song ever:

Yo soy un huaquero viejo,
que vengo de sacar huacos.
Huaquero, Huaquero,
Huaquero vamos a huaquear!
Cova, cova, cova al amanecer;
cova, cova, cova al anochecer...

"I am an old looter
who has just come from stealing ritual objects.
Oh Looters, oh Looters,
Looters, let's go rob some graves!
Dig, dig, dig until the dawn;
dig, dig, dig until the dusk..."

~ Old Peruvian Folk Song (translated, horribly, by yours truly)

Comments

[lordameth.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing out this link. I'm eager to explore the articles on that site...

I really miss having the opportunity to go to such colloquiums, lectures, etc. There was a very interesting one at the British Museum last year which I went to...

Some commentary from an archaeologist

[pukwudgie.livejournal.com]

Hi Reteva -
I wandered in from a link in foxxydancr's journal (I'm her sister). At any rate, I wanted to comment on the post b/c this field (studies on the economic and social relationship between looting, collectors, and museums) is huge. There is a ton of literature out there, mostly in archaeology and museum studies on all aspects of this subject, a lot of it discussing the questions of what museums should or shouldn't acquire, the relationship between museums and collectors, the US and international laws on the subject, etc. I'd be happy to direct you to as much literature as you like or to get into a discussion of this. As an archaeologist, I really want the people most likely to be in the museum field (you art historians) to at least hear the archaeological side of the argument.

I'm suggesting one reference off the top of my head if you're interested in following this up in the literature, but feel free to contact me through email as well (fd can give you my address).

Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade edited by Neil Brodie et al. is a relatively recent volume with case-study based chapters on a number of relevant issues. You can see a review of it here:

http://museumanthropology.net/2007/04/24/mar-2007-1-18/

This book will have a ton of bibliography that can direct you in any direction you may be interested in.

The idea that museums should stop acquiring objects without a good context has been around for a while and has been incorporated in a number of museum's acquisition policies (esp. University of PA Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology). Much of this stemmed from a 1970 UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property. Everyone is aware that most of the actual purchasing is being done by private individuals, but the idea is that the private collectors gain a certain amount of cultural cred/ legitimacy from being able to donate to museums, have their name of museum plaques etc., so the archaeological perspective is that museums shouldn't acquire from these folks either. It's kind of like the campaign being waged against ivory or blood diamonds - get some institutions and organizations to make it uncool to have these things and that will have eventual reverberations in the private markets.

-hope you don't mind the unsolicited commentary!

Re: Some commentary from an archaeologist

[reteva.livejournal.com]

I don't at all mind the unsolicited commentary - in fact, I welcome it. Thank you so much for pointing me in the direction of some useful information, and for giving me some inside information on the tactics currently being employed by cultural institutions to address the concerns associated with private markets.

I'll have a look at these links when I have a free moment (someday in a far off, idyllic future, ha!) and perhaps we can have a more in depth discussion then. I would very much enjoy that. Museum ethics is a subject that I am very keen on.

Thanks again for the commentary, and very nice to meet you, too.

Best...
Teva.

[pukwudgie.livejournal.com]

Or for a more general overview, short essays, written for a more general audience, covering more topics, very engaging essays, see the second edition of Archaeological Ethics,
table of contents here:

http://www.altamirapress.com/Catalog/TOC.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=075910963X&thepassedurl=[thepassedurl]