Preserving the Artifacts and History of Our Past for All
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 8:17 am
Preserving the Artifacts and History of Our Past for Everyone
The original article can be found in the April 16, 2007 issue
of the Tompkins Weekly newspaper at http://www.tompkinsweekly.com
The history of early human civilization and the prehistory of our species were as rich and varied as our modern world. However, relatively few written records and images have survived from those eras to tell us about our ancestors.
Much of what we do know about those distant lives and times come from the physical remains of their societies. Archaeologists spend decades meticulously digging and sifting through the ruins of ancient buildings and villages, recording and analyzing everything about those places. They constantly search for the often rare and culturally invaluable pieces of the immense puzzle that is early humanity.
Our shared antiquity is also of great value to many types of collectors who search for any and all artifacts in these places, primarily for their monetary richness. In their quest for manufactured items of our past, these treasure hunters often damage and destroy sites that contain important physical information about the how and why of the artifacts they seek.
Dr. Malcolm Bell III, professor of Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Art, paid his first visit to Ithaca in late March to speak about “Modern Museums, Ancient Sites, and the Rights of Antiquities” at Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Bell was introduced to the audience of over one hundred people by his “old friend” Hunter R. Rawlings III, President Emeritus of Cornell and a professor in the departments of Classics and History.
Rawlings described Bell as someone who “confronted personally and professionally art theft and their reacquisition.” He also found Bell to be a person “as comfortable in the Nineteenth Century as in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries” in terms of his knowledge of the people, places, and objects of those times.
Bell, who teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Greek sculpture and painting, the Greek city, and the art and architecture of ancient Sicily, jumped right into one of the biggest problems being faced by the archaeological community.
“These issues are very difficult,” Bell said, referring to the plundering and selling of antiquities. “Artifacts are innocent. They have an aesthetic value within themselves. What are not always innocent are the issues surrounding their purchase and acquisition.”
Bell stated bluntly that antiquities found in the soil should be studied and preserved “by and for science, not money.” But many ancient artifacts have a monetary value that has lured nonscientists into conducting their own version of archaeology, one that is neither delicate nor considerate of the history surrounding antiquities.
Bell displayed a slide he took while working on the site of Apulia, an ancient coastal Italian city renowned for its painted vases. The photo showed treasure hunters using backhoes to dig into the ground searching for artifacts. The machine operators even waved at Bell, who could do nothing at the time to stop them from looting the site.
Such coarse searches for antiquities destroy the history of the sites, removing the few physical records that might tell a true archaeologist about the real story behind the artifacts and the people and culture that made them. Bell added that artifacts which are judged unmarketable are often broken and discarded, destroying their scientific value.
In the last few years, there has been hope for the preservation of what is left of humanity’s past, thanks in part to Bell’s direct actions. Some museums have begun to return artifacts to their countries of origin, especially those whose acquisitions were of a questionable nature.
Bell declared that museums and collectors should separate themselves from the market in antiquities. Not only do archaeological sites lose their scientific value when they are plundered, but the “local populations have educational and economic reasons for keeping antiquities at their places of origin.”
The professor from Virginia, who was inspired in his youth to study ancient history by his family pediatrician – who was also a serious archaeologist – proposed yet another way to defend antiquities for future scientific study.
“Imagine antiquities as individual living things with the same rights as living beings. Antiquities are infused with life from the people who made them. They are indeed living things that deserve to be protected.”
Bell’s talk was followed by a panel discussion of the issues raised that evening. The panel members included Bell and Rawlings, along with Johnson Museum Director Frank Robinson and Cornell anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjo.
Rawlings noted that one of the possible consequences of sending artifacts back to their places of origin could make it difficult for people to personally see art from a different country without having to actually travel there, a choice that would be impossible for many. Rawlings also wondered if these restrictions would halt the trade in all art except for very recent pieces. Bell responded that antiquities need to be seen in their entirety to know who made them and why.
Robinson described some of the Johnson Museum’s own experiences with art collections and their ownership, which included turning down an offer of 200 pieces of Nigerian art from the Nok culture by a Cornell alumnus. “I agree with the premises and conclusions made by Malcolm Bell,” Robinson declared. “I applaud him for sticking to his views on this matter.”
Fiskesjo said that while he was not certain if he agreed with Bell’s premise of treating ancient artifacts as living individual beings with rights, he was definitely intrigued by the concept.
Fiskesjo did support the idea of the sharing of antiquities between different nations both for preservation and to instill a sense of cooperation between countries all over the world, which he called a “joint pursuit of the past, one that belongs to humankind in common. Who would want their creations destroyed? They would much rather have them seen by posterity thousands of years into the future.”
The original article can be found in the April 16, 2007 issue
of the Tompkins Weekly newspaper at http://www.tompkinsweekly.com
The history of early human civilization and the prehistory of our species were as rich and varied as our modern world. However, relatively few written records and images have survived from those eras to tell us about our ancestors.
Much of what we do know about those distant lives and times come from the physical remains of their societies. Archaeologists spend decades meticulously digging and sifting through the ruins of ancient buildings and villages, recording and analyzing everything about those places. They constantly search for the often rare and culturally invaluable pieces of the immense puzzle that is early humanity.
Our shared antiquity is also of great value to many types of collectors who search for any and all artifacts in these places, primarily for their monetary richness. In their quest for manufactured items of our past, these treasure hunters often damage and destroy sites that contain important physical information about the how and why of the artifacts they seek.
Dr. Malcolm Bell III, professor of Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Art, paid his first visit to Ithaca in late March to speak about “Modern Museums, Ancient Sites, and the Rights of Antiquities” at Cornell University’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.
Bell was introduced to the audience of over one hundred people by his “old friend” Hunter R. Rawlings III, President Emeritus of Cornell and a professor in the departments of Classics and History.
Rawlings described Bell as someone who “confronted personally and professionally art theft and their reacquisition.” He also found Bell to be a person “as comfortable in the Nineteenth Century as in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries” in terms of his knowledge of the people, places, and objects of those times.
Bell, who teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Greek sculpture and painting, the Greek city, and the art and architecture of ancient Sicily, jumped right into one of the biggest problems being faced by the archaeological community.
“These issues are very difficult,” Bell said, referring to the plundering and selling of antiquities. “Artifacts are innocent. They have an aesthetic value within themselves. What are not always innocent are the issues surrounding their purchase and acquisition.”
Bell stated bluntly that antiquities found in the soil should be studied and preserved “by and for science, not money.” But many ancient artifacts have a monetary value that has lured nonscientists into conducting their own version of archaeology, one that is neither delicate nor considerate of the history surrounding antiquities.
Bell displayed a slide he took while working on the site of Apulia, an ancient coastal Italian city renowned for its painted vases. The photo showed treasure hunters using backhoes to dig into the ground searching for artifacts. The machine operators even waved at Bell, who could do nothing at the time to stop them from looting the site.
Such coarse searches for antiquities destroy the history of the sites, removing the few physical records that might tell a true archaeologist about the real story behind the artifacts and the people and culture that made them. Bell added that artifacts which are judged unmarketable are often broken and discarded, destroying their scientific value.
In the last few years, there has been hope for the preservation of what is left of humanity’s past, thanks in part to Bell’s direct actions. Some museums have begun to return artifacts to their countries of origin, especially those whose acquisitions were of a questionable nature.
Bell declared that museums and collectors should separate themselves from the market in antiquities. Not only do archaeological sites lose their scientific value when they are plundered, but the “local populations have educational and economic reasons for keeping antiquities at their places of origin.”
The professor from Virginia, who was inspired in his youth to study ancient history by his family pediatrician – who was also a serious archaeologist – proposed yet another way to defend antiquities for future scientific study.
“Imagine antiquities as individual living things with the same rights as living beings. Antiquities are infused with life from the people who made them. They are indeed living things that deserve to be protected.”
Bell’s talk was followed by a panel discussion of the issues raised that evening. The panel members included Bell and Rawlings, along with Johnson Museum Director Frank Robinson and Cornell anthropologist Magnus Fiskesjo.
Rawlings noted that one of the possible consequences of sending artifacts back to their places of origin could make it difficult for people to personally see art from a different country without having to actually travel there, a choice that would be impossible for many. Rawlings also wondered if these restrictions would halt the trade in all art except for very recent pieces. Bell responded that antiquities need to be seen in their entirety to know who made them and why.
Robinson described some of the Johnson Museum’s own experiences with art collections and their ownership, which included turning down an offer of 200 pieces of Nigerian art from the Nok culture by a Cornell alumnus. “I agree with the premises and conclusions made by Malcolm Bell,” Robinson declared. “I applaud him for sticking to his views on this matter.”
Fiskesjo said that while he was not certain if he agreed with Bell’s premise of treating ancient artifacts as living individual beings with rights, he was definitely intrigued by the concept.
Fiskesjo did support the idea of the sharing of antiquities between different nations both for preservation and to instill a sense of cooperation between countries all over the world, which he called a “joint pursuit of the past, one that belongs to humankind in common. Who would want their creations destroyed? They would much rather have them seen by posterity thousands of years into the future.”
