Review Article

The plundered past: deplorable present, dismal future?

Magnus T. Bernhardsson
Department of History, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA

Antiquity 81 no. 313 September 2007




NEIL BRODIE, MORAG M. KERSEL, CHRISTINA LUKE & KATHRYN WALKER TUBB (ed.). Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade. xiv+350 pages, 33 illustrations, 3 tables. 2006. Gainesville (FL): University Press of Florida; 0-8130-2972-4 hardback $65.

JULIETTE VAN KRIEKEN-PIETERS (ed.). Art and Archaeology of Afghanistan: Its Fall and Survival (Handbuch der Orientalistik 8). xxii+412 pages, 64 b&w & colour plates, 1 map. 2006. Leiden & Boston: Brill; 978-90-04-15182-6 hardback €89 & $116.




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The history and development of archaeology is filled with fascinating ironies and contradictions. Unlike many other fields, some of the more spectacular and ground-breaking discoveries happened early on in the history of the discipline when the scientific techniques were rudimentary compared to today's standards. Given the increased professionalism of archaeology and the immense public interest in most things archaeological, it would be logical to think that at the outset of the twenty-first century the outlook and state of the field would be positive, and that the various nation states, their museums and institutions would have taken concrete steps to protect current and potential archaeological sites to ensure that archaeology would thrive in the future. But, based on the accounts in the two books under review, nothing could be further from the truth. The outlook is bleak, posing serious and challenging questions to the field.

Archaeology, cultural heritage and the antiquities trade

The concepts of loss and destruction are central to the essays in the volume edited by Neil Brodie et. al. Covering many areas of the world (including Central America, the Middle East and South Asia), the contributors in this inter-disciplinary volume direct their attention towards the side of archaeology that has long been in the dark, on issues such as the illegal trafficking in antiquities and the looting and plundering of archaeological sites. Yet what makes this volume interesting is that it also problematises and raises serious questions about the legal antiquities market and how it is transforming the aesthetic and social values of archaeology.

Though most of the essays were specifically commissioned for this volume, a significant portion are expanded conference papers that were presented at the Fifth World Archaeological Congress in 2003. Neil Brodie's succinct and useful introduction draws attention to the fact that the international antiquities trade is 'booming' (p. 1) but that many of the antiquities are removed destructively and exported illegally from their countries of origin. This activity not only has obvious negative effects on archaeological sites but also a lot of valuable historical information is lost in the process. Brodie calls for more transparency in the antiquities trade market and issues a challenge to academics to study more carefully the 'social relationships that constitute the trade and its institutions' (p. 19).

The rest of the seventeen essays are roughly divided into parts. On the one hand there are those who take a macro view and discuss general legal, ethical and commercial dimensions. On the other, the authors take a micro view and offer an analysis of specific instances such as the plunder of the Ulúa Valley in Honduras. In the former group, prominent scholars such as Lyndel V. Prott, Patty Gerstenblith and Colin Renfrew offer up-to-date essays that focus especially on the legal framework and the role of museums. Prott´s essay on protecting cultural heritage in conflict is frustratingly short: it provides a brief overview of the 1954 Hague Convention and its succeeding and associated Protocols. It is in that context that she evaluates the effects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, noting that the various international agreements did little to stem the destruction of Iraqi heritage. Despite the limitations of international law, Prott nevertheless still believes that it is necessary to develop more effective legal frameworks to limit future obliterations of archaeological artefacts during war. Marina Papa Sokal´s essay on the legal structures that regulate the international trade in antiquities in the United States is more detailed, describing how the American legislation is tied to the various UNESCO Conventions. She maintains in the end that the goal of any international legislative effort should not be to keep every archaeological artefact in its country of origin but that the 'object is scientifically excavated, that its full context and history are recorded, and that the public and scholars have access to it' (p. 52). Renfrew´s provocative paper, which is largely based on his important book Loot, Legitimacy and Ownership published in 2000, focuses on the responsibility of museums, arguing that it is the museums that 'establish the ethos for the private collector' and that they are at the wrong end of the ethical spectrum (p. 256).

In the second group of essays, the authors consider looting and the antiquities trade in specific locales. Neil Brodie´s unusual and fascinating essay ties together the relationship between London´s antiquities market and Iraq´s archaeological market. In other words, he brings together the supply (Iraq) and the demand (England). Most other studies on this topic have focused on one or the other. Brodie demonstrates how British and American antiquities dealers have long objected to foreign patrimony laws that assign ownership of unexcavated antiquities to the state. Instead they favour common law regimes that vest ownership in the landowner. The latter arrangement is more conducive to the export of antiquities. Brodie is very critical of how British antiquities dealers have behaved relating to Iraqi artefacts and argues that they have disregarded their own ethical codes (p. 222).

It is very difficult to put together a thematic volume that has such a wide spread as this one. Such collections run the risk of being too diffuse and therefore of blunting their impact. But here the essays in the collection, though they are of varying quality, combine into a convincing argument; they argue that the current state of affairs is not merely deplorable because of its illegal and surreptitious nature, but also that once antiquities are deprived of their contextual relations, they are forced to 'conform to Western conceptions of artistic production and consumption' (p. 1). This volume is a valuable contribution to the field. As its own authors admit, this topic is very difficult to analyse, given the secrecy of much of the activity under consideration. However, they have provided a good basis for future scholarship.

Art and archaeology of Afghanistan

The second volume under consideration is more concentrated geographically and intellectually more focused. The theme of this book could be summed up in a photograph (Figure 64 in the book) that shows an inscribed stone in front of the National Museum in Kabul that states 'A Nation Stays Alive When its Culture Stays Alive'. This important and impressive book, which is well illustrated, chronicles through eighteen essays how the political and military struggles of Afghanistan have had a negative impact on its archaeology and art. This country has been through such unthinkable strain over the past 30 years, and inevitably its visual culture has suffered. The contributors are notable scholars from all around the world, in short the who's who when it comes to Afghanistan, each bringing to the table their diverse experience of that country's art and archaeology. It is striking, however, that there are hardly any Afghan contributors to the volume and the Afghani voice and perspective is sorely missing.

This factor does not detract from the generally excellent essays that this scholarly book contains. After a short introduction by the editor Juliette van Krieken-Pieters, the book is divided into four parts. The first section describes the experience of protecting Afghanistan's cultural heritage; the second, which is very valuable, focuses on fieldwork, both recent and past; the third situates the Afghan case within an international context especially as it pertains to law; and the fourth seeks to gain from lessons learnt in Afghanistan that are applicable to other parts of the world.

As could be expected, the bulk of the attention is on events of the last seven years, and the Buddhas of Bamiyan in particular. These are the subject of several essays including one by Kosaku Madea that describes the mural painting on the Buddhas and an intriguing contribution by Francesco Francioni and Federico Lenzerini that relates the Bamiyan Buddhas to international law. Taken as a whole, the book's primary emphasis is on what lesson could be learned from the Afghan experience, especially how to preserve cultural heritage in a war-torn area. In this regard, Kurt Siehr advocates the establishment of 'safe havens' (p. 334) for endangered cultural objects; these safe areas could be in the country of origin or abroad. He calls for the cooperation of national governments and international organisations to work together to coordinate this work.

A gloomy prognosis?

Both volumes offer sombre assessments of cultural heritage protection (or the lack thereof) and highlight in particular the destruction that has taken place since 2001 in Iraq and Afghanistan. The tone is of frustrated anger and desperation though there are occasional glimmers of hope. But a sense of exasperated pessimism pervades both volumes. How is it that, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the scholarly community, the international legal conventions, and scientific principles could be rendered so absolutely powerless to prevent this large-scale destruction of heritage? These two fine books are searching for answers and should act as encouragement that more needs to be done to prevent even more damage in the years ahead.


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