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“Responsible Stewards” of Classical Antiquities?

The Society for American Archaeology's “Statement on Collaboration” and Non-American Material Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2022

Elizabeth Marlowe Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth Marlowe [Opens in a new window]
Elizabeth Marlowe*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of Ancient & Medieval Art and Director of the Program in Museum Studies, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY ([email protected])
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Abstract

This article considers the relevance of the Society for American Archaeology's 2018 “Statement on Collaboration with Responsible and Responsive Stewards of the Past” for imported antiquities (specifically, “classical” ones—that is, from Mediterranean regions). Various practical, legal, and ethical differences between collecting imported versus domestic objects make it difficult to identify “responsive and responsible stewards” of the former. An obstacle to responsible stewardship of privately owned classical collections—and to collaboration between classical archaeologists and collectors—is the 2008 acquisition guidelines issued by the two leading professional organizations in the museum field. I argue that the best home for unprovenienced and poorly provenienced antiquities collections is in university museums, where their complicated object biographies can be fully researched, taught, and displayed.

Este artículo considera la relevancia de la “Declaración sobre colaboración con administradores responsables y receptivos del pasado” de la Sociedad para Arqueología Americana de 2018 para las antigüedades importadas (concretamente, las “clásicas”, es decir, las procedentes de regiones mediterráneas). Varias diferencias prácticas, legales y éticas entre la recolección de objetos importados frente a los nacionales dificultan la identificación de “administradores receptivos y responsables” del primero. El obstáculo principal para la administración responsable de las colecciones clásicas – y para la colaboración entre arqueólogos y coleccionistas clásicos – son las directrices de adquisición de 2008, publicadas por las dos principales organizaciones profesionales del ámbito museístico. Yo sostengo que el mejor sitio para las colecciones de antigüedades sin procedentes y con procedentes mal registrados son los museos universitarios, dónde sus complicadas biografías de objetos se pueden investigar, enseñar y exponer en su totalidad.

Keywords

1970 UNESCO Conventionantiquities collectingart marketcultural propertylootingmuseum ethicsmuseum policiesobject biographyprovenanceprovenienceuniversity museumsConvención de la UNESCO de 1970coleccionismo de antigüedadesmercado del artepropiedad culturalsaqueoética museísticareglamentos del museobiografía del objetoprocedenciaprovenienciamuseos universitarios
Type
Article
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 10 , Special Issue 3: Professional-Collector Collaboration: Global Challenges and Solutions , August 2022 , pp. 249 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology

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