Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:57:54.642Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The World of Tuscan Tomb Robbers: Living with the Local Community and the Ancestors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 September 2010

Diura Thoden van Velzen
Diura Thoden van Velzen
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, Dept. of Archaeology, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3D2, England, Tel: 01223-333520
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Grave robbers, we all know, loot tombs for material gain. Recently, however, Italian tomb robbers, or tombaroli, have sought public attention by publishing their biographies and appearing on television to present an entirely new image of their métier. They depict themselves as heroes who bring the treasures of the past to the public and boast of an expertise, which remains unrecognised by official archaeologists. Rather than merely dismissing these stories as a justification, or glorification of an illegal activity, a more careful reading reveals many issues, which are of considerable importance to heritage management and archaeological research. These accounts contain a wealth of information on the identity of the people who loot tombs; their backgrounds, motivations and attempts to legitimate their actions. Moreover, they provide a unique insight into the relations between tomb robbers and the communities within which they operate. It is well known that public opinion in Italy and elsewhere to some extent sanctions illegal digging and, in my view, changing these attitudes could prove to be one of the most important steps towards a more effective policy of protecting the cultural patrimony.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1996 , pp. 111 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © International Cultural Property Society 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appadurai, A. (ed.). 1986. The social life of things. Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cecchelin, R. 1987. Omero: La mia vita con gli Etruschi. Roma: Edizioni Mediterranee.Google Scholar
Cleere, H. 1984. World cultural resource management: problems and perspectives. In Cleere, H. (ed.) Approaches to the Archaeological Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 125–31.Google Scholar
Cleere, H. 1993. Managing the archaeological heritage. In Antiquity Vol. 67: 400–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cristofani, M. 1983. La scoperta degli Etruschi. Archeologia e antiquaria nel' 700. Roma: Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche.Google Scholar
D'Agostino, B. 1984. Italy. In Cleere, H. (ed.) Approaches to the Archaeological Heritage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 73–81.Google Scholar
Early, A. M. 1989. Profiteers and Public Archaeology: Antiquities Trafficking in Arkansas. In Messenger, P. Mauch (ed.) The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property. Albuquerque: New Mexico Press: 39–50.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M. (ed.). 1990. Global culture: Nationalism, globalisation and modernity. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Hauschild, T. 1992. Making history in southern Italy. In Hastrup, K. (ed.) Other Histories. London: Routledge: 29–44.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, E. (ed.) 1983. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Knoop, R. 1993. Public Awareness, Archaeology and the Voluntary Sector. In Antiquity Vol. 67: 440–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerici, C. 1962. Italia Sepolta. Milano: Lerici Editore.Google Scholar
O'Keefe, P. 1993. The European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage. In Antiquity Vol. 67: 406–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perticarari, L. and Giuntani, A. M. 1986. I segreti di un tombarolo. Milano: Rusconi.Google Scholar
Pina-Cabral, J de. 1987. Paved roads and enchanted Mooresses: the perception of the past among the peasant population of the Alto Minho. In Man Vol. 22: 715–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pina-Cabral, J de. 1992. The gods of the Gentiles are demons: the problem of Pagan survivals in European culture. In Hastrup, K. (ed.) Other Histories. London: Routledge: 45–61.Google Scholar
Thoden van Velzen, D. 1994. Etruscan rites for the dead: modern myth and ancient practice. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Vickers, M. 1986. Imaginary Etruscans: changing perceptions of Etruria since the fifteenth century. In Hephaistos 7/8: 153–68.Google Scholar