The Southern Hemisphere is an area that (at least from the perspective of a northerner) has remained somewhat on the margins of the antiquities debate, even though comparatively large amounts of both ancient European and Middle Eastern antiquities "surface" unprovenanced on the market there, alongside SE Asian types. This seems an area too where some of the justifications offered by dealers and collectors for their activity can be examined in another environment where the post-colonial modern nation is a "melting pot" of emigrant groups from all over the Old World, but differing from those of the more vociferous Americas in several important respects. There seems therefore to be scope for some useful debate and observations here, but so far this has been little touched in the discussions in the northern hemisphere of the antiquities trade.
It is therefore an extremely welcome development that Damien Huffer, an American PhD candidate at the Australian National University, who has recently contributed a few posts to SAFECorner on the antiquities market in the Southern Hemisphere has begun a new blog, It Surfaced Down Under! Subtitled "An archaeologist's tracking of the Southern Hemisphere illicit antiquities trade". A handsome black and white starkness with two posts and the promise of more soon. I look forward to reading these contributions and following Damien's trail as he explores the shadowy world of the illicit antiquities trade down under. Welcome to the portable antiquities blogosphere Damien.
1 comment:
Why thank you Paul! Mightly words of encouragement indeed, that I shall do my best to live up, posting as regularly as I can manage (or as there are relevant events/updates to post about). Let's see where the rabbit hole goes, eh?
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