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| Fragment of an Assyrian-era relief shows the image of a genie holding a pine cone at the ancient site of Nimrud that was destroyed by Islamic State group militants near Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo) |
Iraqi Vice Minister of Culture Qais Hussein Rasheed says he hopes the liberation of Mosul's airport will soon reveal what has become of the vast areas across the river that IS has held for over two years. Rasheed says Iraqi forces have found in areas already liberated tunnels where extremists stashed looted artifacts with plans to sell them.
A new campaign is backing a bid to see a Viking treasure hoard discovered in Dumfries and Galloway go on display in the region. The Galloway Viking Hoard Campaign (GVHC) wants to see the items put in a new Kirkcudbright art gallery. Dumfries and Galloway Council is attempting to secure the treasure for the region. The GVHC said it was concerned a bid by National Museums Scotland could see the items end up in Edinburgh. The final decision on where the artefacts are diplayed lies with the Treasure Trove Panel. Cathy Agnew, who chairs the campaign which launched this week, said:
"This is a time for Scotland to take the lead. The Galloway Viking hoard is quite extraordinary and should have pride of place in a specially created exhibition space in the new Kirkcudbright art gallery. Remarkable finds have so often been whisked away from the communities where they were discovered only to become a small feature in a large national museum. This is a very old-fashioned approach and in 2017 we should be making sure that regions fully benefit from their cultural riches."She said the collection could be a "powerful magnet" to bring in visitors. David Devereux, GVHC vice chair, said: "Some of the items in the hoard are of breathtaking beauty and could become icons for the region, spurring people across the world to discover more about its distinctive past - and the people, lives, cultures and kingdoms that existed before Scotland was born." [...] National Museums Scotland has described the find as of "considerable national and international significance". It said that if it acquired the hoard it would save it for the nation and ensure it was seen by "people from Scotland, the rest of the UK and internationally".
Hi, I am not sure where you think he ‘diverged from the party line’, it was surely the same old, same old crap. That talk would basically have looked the same in 2003 in its basic aspects.The ‘achievements’ presented are object-centred kossinnist retro-culture-historical archaeology. I note with amusement how he dropped the tone of his voice reverentially whenever he quoted a big number. Its all about numbers innit? The ethics of collecting is nowhere touched upon. I note that he says that commercial artefact hunting rallies are a ‘nightmare’, not because of the issues related to commercial collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record but because of the work involved in FLOs getting to all the finders in time.
What a cheek mentioning the Lenborough hoard in such a context without commenting on how it was dug by the FLO (and tipped out on a tabletop) and then a bit later discussing the Frome one and the prehistoric hoards and gaily mentioning that they are ‘structured’ and should be recorded accordingly. I noted that there was a total lack of a critical approach to themselves – totally in character for the Bloomsbury boyz, sadly.
This was all very revealing about the intellectual fruits of twenty years liaison with collectors – I would say small berries rather than water melons. He says we should be ‘grown up’ and wait longer for us to ‘get there’ – hmm. Twenty years of a failed social experiment is not enough to see where it is going? As an archaeological presentation, pretty annoying fluffy spin – as usual from the dumbdown PAS.Paul
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| Original surface zapped to death |
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| No, it is not the 'corrosion' that has damaged this coin, it is the way that corrosion was simply stripped off by some ignorant selfish brute that has totally knackered this object |
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| Another artefact destroyer at work |
electrolysis strips nothing away from a coin or artifact it simply stabilizes the metal which is in a volatile state ... If you spent 1 minute on your research you would have easily figured that out .. [...] 30 years of research and study with a IVY LEAGE University 12 museums and 100 archaeo and salvage vessels using this technology say youre wrong ... [...] some of the most well preserved artifacts in the world are in that state because of electrolysis ...a 5000 year old process developed by primitives who apparently have more of a grasp of the scientific method than you sirHmm. The comment of course was unsigned, but originates from Trump's America.
"FLO -we currently do not have one visiting and instead have to offer a courier service for the top 20 recordable finds, to Gressenhall Museum. They then return as one lot two months later."This begs the question how many other artefacts are found and simply kept by the artefact hunter with no record being made because he cannot be bothered himself to meet the liaison officer face to face (surely a contradiction of what the PAS was set up to do in the first place). In this situation, who decides which 20 would be 'top' for the FLO and what happens to the rest? It should be the PAS who decide on archaeological (not a collector's) criteria what what to record and not delegate the decision to anonymous unqualified hoikers. How much cultural loss does this amount to? Are the resulting 'data' archaeological data about the sites exploited by these collectors? (In case anyone is in doubt: No, obviously not).
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| Beeston Castle |
Petition: Save Canterbury Heritage Museum http://ipt.io/bdrvw[there is a sneaky bit at the end where ipetitions tries to cadge a donation from you, if you feel disinclined to play along with them, just close the window, your signature is already recorded].
Among those calling for amendments to the bill, were members of the art trade who had called for changes including clarification of the definition of “cultural property” and the meaning of the phrase “having reason to suspect” in the wording of the clause relating to “dealing in unlawfully exported cultural property” [clause 17.1 of the bill]. [...] However Tracey Crouch MP, the under-secretary of state for Culture, Media and Sport, who steered the bill through parliament, said: “Dealers should always be concerned to ensure that any objects they deal in have good and lawful provenance.” She said issues in the art market around provenance “will not be solved by watering down this bill”. She added that after consulting with the art trade there was "no clear evidence... this bill would create an insurmountable problem for the art market or increase the amount of due diligence that the dealers need to take. It will however provide a deterrent for those unscrupulous dealers who might be tempted to deal in unlawfully exported cultural property".So once again, antiquities dealers were trying to stall a cleaning up of the market by raising (US lobbyist style) pretended difficulties which in fact do not exist in any licit business. In fact the Bill cites the seminal definition of ‘cultural property’, as defined in The Hague Convention 1954 (so antiquities dealers have had ample time to consider, and challenge if they see fit, this notion - but then these atavistic milieu tends not to prioritise any form of forward looking considerations).
Absolutely, that is how it should be. When will dealers realise that the outside world expects would-be respectable dealers to handle only material which can be shown on the basis of proper business documentation not to be potentially tainted - and in the British situation that means complying in full with the terms of the 2003 'Dealing in cultural property ((offences) Act' - also in force long enough now for the dealers concerned to know its wording and act accordingly in filling their stock rooms.
Rebecca Davies, chief executive of LAPADA, said [...] As things stand, and without clear guidance on this, art market professionals will face the choice of ignoring the unsubstantiated claim [on an object they were handling] and risk prosecution or accept that any claim, regardless of merit, would create grounds for suspicion under the terms of the act and effectively taint the object while exposing them to the risk of prosecution if they ignored the claim.”
When voters feel democracy is not serving their interests, freedom starts to falter (Gideon Rachman, 'The authoritarian wave reaches the west' Financial Times, 20th Feb 2017): [...] This authoritarian wave threatens to undermine comfortable assumptions about how politics works. The belief that the politics of the rich, established democracies of the west are fundamentally different from those of Latin America or Asia may need to be rethought. The idea that the middle-class and the young will always be the most stalwart supporters of democracy is also looking increasingly rocky.It seems not to be being noticed that the assumptions concerning 'western' attitudes to cultural heritage may be yet another casualty of the new times we seem to be entering.
A Bill to enable the United Kingdom to implement the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 and the Protocols to that Convention of 1954 and 1999definitely not before time...
A policeman who found £15,000 of gold coins with his metal detector has been sacked for cheating the landowner out of a share of the treasure. PC David Cockle last month admitted theft and keeping the proceeds of the sale of coins found in a Norfolk field. A misconduct hearing was told Cockle had agreed to a 50:50 split with the famer of anything valuable he found. Norfolk Chief Constable Simon Bailey, who dismissed Cockle, said it "was one of the grossest breaches of trust" [...] Cockle, 51, who now lives in Leigh, Lancashire, will be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court next month after criminal proceedings were brought against him by the Norfolk force. As well as pleading guilty to theft, Cockle faced three counts of handling criminal property.BBC 'Policeman sacked for keeping metal detecting gold coin proceeds' 20th Feb 2017.
IUn what way is flint knapping, a manual dexterity and hand-eye-coordination activity an 'archaeological' one? Rubbish. and 'metal detecting'? That's what they do in airport checkins, isn't it? Wjhy is that 'archaeological'? How about enrolling for a course advertised by clueless morons?We've got a packed programme of archaeological activities coming up on Sat - from flint-knapping to metal detecting http://ow.ly/Jg15308L4xI
The beeb world service reporters were on the foreshore back in the 80s trying to get voice recordings ..But I told em to P**s off as did other diggers at the time ..Why would we want to advertise our hot sites which are now picked clean as a buzzerds (sic) bones ..(post by 'Targets' Sat Feb 18, 2017 12:02 pm my emphasis)
