Overview

The exploitation of archaeological sites for commercial gain is a serious problem worldwide. In peace and during wartime archaeological sites and cultural institutions, both on land and underwater, are attacked and their contents robbed for sale on an international 'antiquities' market. Objects are excavated without record, smuggled across borders and sold for exorbitant prices in the salesrooms of Europe and North America. In some countries this looting has now reached such a scale as to threaten the very survival of their archaeological and cultural heritage. Museums and religious monuments too are condemned to suffer continuing vandalism and theft as the search for saleable antiquities intensifies. The histories of many peoples are destroyed in the process, and their religious and cultural traditions disfigured. The tragedy is made worse by the conscription of local people who are often forced by their poverty to participate in the destruction of their past. This volume highlights the deleterious effects of the trade on cultural heritage, but in particular it focuses upon questions of legal and local responses: How can people become involved in the preservation of their past and what, in economic terms, are the costs and benefits? Are international conventions or export restrictions effective in diminishing the volume of the trade and the scale of its associated destruction? This work will be an extremely useful resource for museum professionals and archaeologists who are trying to curtail the present-day destruction of our archaeological heritage. It also provides an indispensable text for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on archaeology and cultural heritage management covering as it does a wide geographical area and with contributions from museum professionals to field archaeologists, many of whom have been actively involved in the political processes described in this volume.

Full Product Details

Author:   Neil Brodie ,  Kathryn Walker Tubb
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.20cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.589kg
ISBN:  

9780415233880

ISBN 10:   0415233887
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   22 November 2001
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction Neil Brodie 2. Greek Vases for Sale: some statistical evidence Vinnie Norskov 3. Walking a Fine Line: promoting the past without selling it Paula Lazrus 4. The Concept of Cultural Protection in Times of Armed Conflict: from the Crusades to the new Millennium Patrick Boylan 5. Law and the Underwater Cultural Heritage: a question of balancing interests Sarah Dromgoole 6. Negotiating the Future of the Underwater Cultural Heritage Patrick O'Keefe 7. Perceptions of Marine Artefact Conservation and their Relationship to Destruction and Theft Amanda Sutherland 8. Metal Detecting in Britain: catastrophe or compromise? Peter Addyman and Neil Brodie . 9. Britannia Waives the Rules: the licensing of archaeological material for export from the United Kingdom Neil Brodie 10. Mexico's Archaeological Heritage: a convergence and confrontation of interests Enrique Nalda 11. What's going on around the corner? Illegal trade of art and antiquities in Argentina Danial Schávelzon 12. Looting Graves/Buying and Selling Artefacts: Facing reality in the United States Hester Davies 13. Reducing Incentives for Illicit Trade in Antiquities: the US implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention Susan Keech McIntosh 14. The Rape of Mali's Only Resource Téréba Togola 15. Dealing with Dealers and Tomb Raiders: the realities of the archaeology of the Ghor es-Safi in Jordan Konstantinos Politis 16. Plunder of Cultural and Art Treasures: the Indian experience S. K. Pachauri 17 Point, Counterpoint Kathryn Walker Tubb

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Author Information

Neil Brodie is an Archaeologist who since 1988 has been Coordinator of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Cambridge. Kathryn Walker Tubb is an Archaeological Conservator and Lecturer at the Institue of Archaeology, University College London. She has co-organized a major international conference entitled 'Conservation and the AntiquitiesTrade' in 1993 for the UK Institute for Conservation Archaeology Section.

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