Abstract
This chapter discusses situations in which the authors have had to deal with things that the field of archaeology and overall study of the past would really prefer not to exist – the “problematic” side of archaeology. For Pettigrew, this is the topic of treasure hunting and the video about Odyssey Marine Exploration’s (OME) finds that he posted on The Archaeology Channel and which caused an extraordinary amount of dispute about the rights and wrongs of the work of organizations such as OME. For Balachandran, this is the study of issues of treating the sword that she described in her article in Archaeology Magazine. The authors frame their discussions in terms of the topic of artifacts and money: in other words, in addition to their “priceless” value in representing the past, the place that archaeological artifacts also have in terms of monetary value, how the authors have encountered this aspect of archaeology/study of the past in their work (i.e., your given situations above), and what dilemmas – and solutions to these dilemmas – that this financial reality has presented.
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Notes
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I have had several conversations with conservators who found that the objects they were asked to consider for acquisition or which were already part of the collection raised serious questions about provenance or indicated that they were recently looted. However, it was often beyond the conservators’ authority to suggest that these materials be de-accessioned or otherwise removed from the museum.
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Pettigrew, R.M., Balachandran, S. (2011). The “Other” Meaning of Value in Archaeology: The Uncomfortable Topics of Money, Looting, and Artifacts of Questionable Origin. In: Rockman, M., Flatman, J. (eds) Archaeology in Society. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9881-1_10
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