
Looting Matters
903 FOLLOWERS
Discussion of the archaeological ethics surrounding the collecting of antiquities and archaeological material by David. David Gill is Professor of Archaeological Heritage and Director of Heritage Futures at the University of Suffolk
Looting Matters
2w ago
Fragment of plate
formerly in the Michael C. Carlos Museum
In 1979 the J. Paul Getty Museum acquired ‘a large collection of fragments of Corinthian pottery (79.AE.110) and Italian imitations of Corinthian wares (79.AE.111)’. A similar batch of material was purchased by the Archäeologische Institut der Universität Bern. As a result of research by Vera Uhlman several joins between the two collections (‘primarily from alabastra and pyxides’) were established, and a ‘set of fragments of Corinthian vases and local Italic imitations of Corinthian pottery’ were exchanged (83.AE.276). In add ..read more
Looting Matters
3w ago
Source:
Michael C. Carlos Museum
The Michael C. Carlos Museum has handed over ownership of two Laconian cup fragments that had been donated by Dietrich von Bothmer in 2006 [press release]. The fragments were acquired from Ines Jucker in 1985. The pieces fit excavated fragments from Francavilla Marittima.
Fragments of a Wild Goat plate (acquired in 2005) have already been repatriated from the Carlos. Several thousand fragments from the same site have been returned from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Institute of Archaeology in Bern.
In November 2024 the Carlos announced that ..read more
Looting Matters
3w ago
Portrait of woman. Source: Manhattan DA
Among the antiquities being returned to Türkiye today are several bronzes associated with the Sebasteion at Bubon ("D.A. Bragg Announces Return of 41 Antiquities To The People of Türkiye", December 5, 2023; see here). It is reported to have been handled by Robert Hecht. Among the other pieces are two bronze heads of Caracalla, one from Fordham University, and the other that had been seized from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Two pieces have been returned from Boston's MFA: the head of ruler, and the right leg (perhaps linked to a stat ..read more
Looting Matters
2M ago
Septimius Severus. Source: Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek
It has been announced that the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen will be returning the bronze head of Septimius Severus to Türkiye ("The Glyptotek returns Roman bronze portrait to Türkiye", press release, November 26, 2024). It forms part of a series of imperial bronze statues from the sebasteion at Bubon: the press release notes Bubon returns from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fordham Museum of Art, Worcester Art Museum, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Shelby White Collection. The head was a ..read more
Looting Matters
3M ago
(2024)
When you go to a museum to see an exhibition of ancient artifacts you expect them to be … ancient. You have been enticed into the show to see a carefully selected group of objects that are supposed to inform you about the past … and you are left wondering if they are indeed just modern interpretations.
Individuals working on the reconstruction of the Minoan Palace at Knossos on Crete are known to have worked on making elaborate forgeries. One of the most fascinating accounts of a death-bed confession is provided by Sir Leonard Woolley in his wonderfully named autobiography, A ..read more
Looting Matters
3M ago
Amphora illustrated in
the Schinoussa archive
Source: Christos Tsirogiannis
Archaeological contexts matter.
This may sound like stating the obvious. But walk into a museum that displays, say, Greek or Roman archaeological material and you may start to ask questions that the object in itself cannot answer. Take an Athenian black-figured amphora. The label will probably tell us that it was made in Athens but we probably want to know where it was found. It is fairly large, and not the sort of object that is found in the cemeteries of ancient Athens. It is fairly complete an ..read more
Looting Matters
4M ago
Source: Manhattan DA
A bearded head from the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (inv. 1971.51.2) has been returned to Türkiye [press release]. The head was included in Cornelius Vermeule's list of figures associated with Bubon (F). Mario A. del Chiaro dated it to the late third century CE, and noted that it came from Türkiye ("Western Asia Minor"). The press release added this information:
Bearded Head of a Man, dating to the 3rd century C.E., was looted from Bubon in 1966 and smuggled out by Turkish traffickers for Robert Hecht. The Bearded Head of a Man was ultimately sold by New York ..read more
Looting Matters
5M ago
Reconstruction of Statue Base from Bubon
The looting of the series of bronze imperial statues from the sebasteion at Bubon in Türkiye was shocking. Yet more than half a century on the authorities in Türkiye are achieving the gradual return of the statues, or parts of the statues, that were identified and discussed (among others) by Cornelius C. Vermeule and Arielle P. Kozloff. The display of the statues as originally intended will move a little closer.
The returns include statues of Lucius Verus, the possible leg of a statue of Commodus, Septimius Severus, Caracalla, as we ..read more
Looting Matters
5M ago
Source: J. Paul Getty Museum
The J. Paul Getty Museum has decided to return bronze kline to Türkiye [press release]. This was acquired from Nikolas Koutoulakis in 1982.
The kline and other objects seemingly derived from Türkiye have been discussed elsewhere (Gill 2019).
It is even suggested that the bed or kline ‘probably entered the antiquities market as the result of illicit excavations’ (Baughan and Özgen 2012, 63). It may even coincide with a bronze bed that was reported to have been looted in 1979. Interestingly it was claimed that the bed had passed through the S ..read more
Looting Matters
5M ago
Sources: Hellas et Roma; Hellenic Ministry of Culture
The Hellenic Ministry of Culture has announced that part of a fourth century BCE Attic marble stele has been returned from an anonymous US private collection [Press Release]. The relief featured in an advertisement for the gallery Palladion Antike Kunst that appeared in the back of a 1982 exhibition catalogue produced by the Swiss-based organisation Hellas et Roma. (The Ministry of Culture press release misleadingly suggests that the relief appeared in an exhibition catalogue implying that the stele was displayed.) A parall ..read more