Archaeologists as Looters

Kent Flannery once likened the archaeological process to ethnographic work where the informant is killed after fieldwork so that no one else could get to the information. It is because of this that archaeologists are so protective of the material record to which they have access. In recent years, perhaps because of the current condition of Iraq, the issue of looting has come to the forefront of these concerns.

Five Years Gone

Today is the anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States.  Because of this, there has been a decent amount of attention given to the looting of the Iraqi Museum that followed.   This event is one of great interest to me, and is probably one of the reasons I am an archaeologist [...]

Breitenwinner Cave Giants, One More Time

Ok, without a doubt, one of the most popular topics on this blog has been Breitenwinner Cave and the video posted by three US soldiers of their time spent in the cave hunting for human remains.
All along, my position has been that, their destructive exploration and looting of what they believe to be a human [...]

Archaeology Links Rundown

There is a lot of interesting news out there in the archaeology world, and much of it has nothing to do with the Talpiot Tomb.
First, Maney Publishing is offering a thirty day free access period to a variety of archaeology periodicals online. This is a good chance to look over some journals you [...]

What’s In a Name

It used to be the case that any man could get a fast horse, head to the holy land, purchase a wonderful item used by Christ in his ministry, and bring it back to Europe to ensure a heavenly afterlife. Thankfully, we live in a more rational time today, or [...]

A Collection of Articles

Just a run down of some of the more interesting articles from the past few days.
First, the Prague Daily Monitor has a brief piece on a large collection of looted objects found in a  house by firefighters.  Local authorities blame the collection, spanning the neolithic to modern times, on coin and antiquities collectors.
Next, Nature has [...]

Arhcaeological Context Articles

Two interesting articles tied to the context of archaeological sites have hit press from Europe.
First, Iran has gotten their case reinstated against a British antiquities collector over eighteen items claimed to have been looted from Iran. Unfortunately, they face a somewhat difficult task in proving their actual provenance, necessary to win the case. [...]

Archaeology News Updates

Just a couple of recent news stories on archaeology

Police in Belize stopped a car only to find that the owner was transporting tens of thousands of dollars worth of Maya artifacts of about 1300 years old.
In England, a curse charm was found targeting the the emperor by an amateur metal detector. Of particular interest [...]

Baghdad Museum, Open to Visitors?

This article, titled Iraq’s national museum remains shut — and counting its losses discusses a recent press and VIP visit offered to 36 people by the Baghdad Museum in Iraq.  It also discusses some of what is being shown and what has been recovered, but there is some more to tell than this.

Archaeology Article Round Up

Two interesting articles about archaeology and looting in N. America:
First, an Ohio man found a Clovis point in a local field, and it has subsequently been dated to 15,000 YA.  While I am no expert,  the article I linked to yesterday from the AIA about Clovis points, does state that they no farther than about [...]