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Loot, legitimacy and ownership : the ethical crisis in archaeology / Colin Renfrew.

By: Renfrew, Colin, 1937-Material type: TextTextSeries: Duckworth debates in archaeologyPublication details: London : Duckworth, 2000. Description: 160 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cmISBN: 0715630342Subject(s): Archaeology -- Moral and ethical aspects | Archaeological thefts | Excavations (Archaeology) -- Law and legislation | Antiquities -- Collection and preservation -- Moral and ethical aspects | Cultural property -- Protection -- Moral and ethical aspects | Cultural property -- Protection | Cultural property -- Protection -- International cooperation | Cultural property -- Protection (International law) | Art theftsDDC classification: 930.1 LOC classification: CC135 | .R46 2000X
Contents:
Introduction -- The destruction of the past -- Unprovenanced antiquities: the role of the private collector and the dealer -- Causes for concern: illegitimate acquisition and reluctant restitution -- A universal problem: Asia, Africa, America -- Ineffective safeguards and evolving moralities -- Antiquities in Britain: the local view -- Envoi: the past has an uncertain future -- Appendices: Conventions, Resolutions, Documents -- The UNESCO Convention (1970) -- The Unidroit Convention (1995) -- The Philadelphia Declaration (1970) -- International Council of Museums, Code of Professional Ethics (1995) -- Policy Statement by the Trustees of the British Museum (1998) -- Resolution by the Council of the British Academy (1998) -- Writ of Summons in the Sevso Case, London (1991) -- The Treasure Act for England and Wales (1996) -- European Council Regulation on the export of cultural goods (1992) -- The Cambridge Resolution (1999).
Review: "The world's archaeological heritage is under threat as never before, and the ultimate culprits are those very parties who claim to value the past: the museum and the private collector. In this account, Colin Renfrew illustrates how the most precious product of archaeology is the information that controlled and well-published excavations can give us about our shared human past. Clandestine and unpublished digging of archaeological sites for gain - i.e. looting - destroys the context and all hope of providing such information. It is the source of most of the antiquities that appear on the art market today." "Professor Renfrew reviews some prominent recent scandals: the Lydian Treasure, returned to Turkey by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Getty Kouros; the Wearly Herakles, which the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston still refuses to return to its country of origin; the Salisbury Hoard; the Sevso Treasure." "The illicit antiquities trade has turned London along with other international centres into a 'thieves' kitchen' where greed triumphs over serious appreciation of the past. Unless a solution is found to this ethical crisis in archaeology, our record of the past will be vastly diminished. This book lays bare the misunderstanding and hypocrisy that underlie that crisis."--Jacket.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books The BIAA David H. French Library
Shelf 66 - Reading Room 		G2f RENFR 30736 Not for loan BOOKS-000000023636

Rev. version of a lecture originally delivered at the Stichting Nederlands Museum voor Anthropologie en Praehistorie, Amsterdam, Oct. 15, 1999 and published in their series as the 21st Kroon-voordracht.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 151-156) and index.

Introduction -- The destruction of the past -- Unprovenanced antiquities: the role of the private collector and the dealer -- Causes for concern: illegitimate acquisition and reluctant restitution -- A universal problem: Asia, Africa, America -- Ineffective safeguards and evolving moralities -- Antiquities in Britain: the local view -- Envoi: the past has an uncertain future -- Appendices: Conventions, Resolutions, Documents -- The UNESCO Convention (1970) -- The Unidroit Convention (1995) -- The Philadelphia Declaration (1970) -- International Council of Museums, Code of Professional Ethics (1995) -- Policy Statement by the Trustees of the British Museum (1998) -- Resolution by the Council of the British Academy (1998) -- Writ of Summons in the Sevso Case, London (1991) -- The Treasure Act for England and Wales (1996) -- European Council Regulation on the export of cultural goods (1992) -- The Cambridge Resolution (1999).

"The world's archaeological heritage is under threat as never before, and the ultimate culprits are those very parties who claim to value the past: the museum and the private collector. In this account, Colin Renfrew illustrates how the most precious product of archaeology is the information that controlled and well-published excavations can give us about our shared human past. Clandestine and unpublished digging of archaeological sites for gain - i.e. looting - destroys the context and all hope of providing such information. It is the source of most of the antiquities that appear on the art market today." "Professor Renfrew reviews some prominent recent scandals: the Lydian Treasure, returned to Turkey by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Getty Kouros; the Wearly Herakles, which the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston still refuses to return to its country of origin; the Salisbury Hoard; the Sevso Treasure." "The illicit antiquities trade has turned London along with other international centres into a 'thieves' kitchen' where greed triumphs over serious appreciation of the past. Unless a solution is found to this ethical crisis in archaeology, our record of the past will be vastly diminished. This book lays bare the misunderstanding and hypocrisy that underlie that crisis."--Jacket.