The Finlandisation of archaeology goes on with more kowtowing to the object-fetishists....
Bonnie L. Pitblado, Matthew J. Rowe, Bryon Schroeder, Suzie Thomas and Anna Wessman (eds) "Professional–Collector Collaboration Moving beyond Debate to Best Practice" Advances in Archaeological Practice Cambridge University Press: 24 February 2022.
"Moving beyond Debate to Best Practice" oh. Where was this "debate" then? Where was the "debate" on what actually is or even can be "best practice" when dealing with collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record? Is this kind of collaboration in site trashing really an "advance in archaeological (sic) practice", Cambridge? The abstract:
This article introduces the first of what will ultimately be two collections of case studies in archaeologist–responsible/responsive artifact collector collaboration. Focused on the United States, the articles in this issue of Advances in Archaeological Practice share the thoughts and experiences of archaeologists representing diverse employment sectors (compliance, agency, museum, and university), artifact collectors, and members of descendant communities. Research areas extend from California to Virginia and from Ohio to the Texas/Mexico border. The breadth of the writers' backgrounds and their focal regions reinforce the wide applicability of collaborative best practices. Every author explicitly treats two subjects: (1) the intersection of their work with the Society for American Archaeology's (SAA) recently published guidelines for ethical professional–collector collaboration, and (2) their own practical suggestions for establishing and nurturing those relationships. This introductory article provides an overview of each of the other contributions, notes how the contributions articulate with the SAA guidelines, and offers its own, mostly philosophical suggestions for prospective members of professional–collector collaborations.The rest of the article then follows on. There are undoubtedly those among this text's audience that feel that there is more to world archaeology than some parochial "SAA guidelines" and there is also more than one type of legislation than that of the two countries (USA and UK) where pro-collecting views are strongest. Who is a "responsible" or "responsive" artefact hunter in Greece, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland, China, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia? Can the five authors explain how their collaboration model works there?
The SAA defines “responsible and responsive stewards” as private individuals who legally collect or own artifacts and who share archaeologists’ desire to learn about the past, rather than exploiting the material record for personal gain. The latter point is crucial, because it recognizes that collectors are not a monolithic subculture of evildoers. Rather, they collect for diverse reasons that are not necessarily antithetical to archaeological and even Indigenous goals and values [...]. Conflating and construing all collectors as “looters” is unproductive and fundamentally nonanthropologicalIs it? Perhaps the issue here is of focus. The authors are confusing agency with effect. The looters of Isin or el Hibeh, Apamea, Dura Europos, Wanborough and elsewhere may be jolly good citizens, caring fathers, brothers and boyfriends. Some of them may also be history lovers, coin collectors and birdwatchers. Whatever their motives and background, from the archaeological and conservation point of view, it's the holes they dug and dig that is a problem. And that is irrespective of whether they dug those holes because everybody else in the neighbourhood was and they enjoyed the company, and were curious about what they could find, rather than going to "exploit the archaeological record for material gain". In any case, what does that mean? If holes are dug and material things taken out and kept, that is indeed material gain. The collector has gained a collectable (and got it without paying a dealer for it). Is that not too "material gain", whether or not the collector then reads a few online articles pages to help narrativise it?
These five authors accuse those who question what they are saying as engaging in "oversimplified debate" without wanting themselves to actually debate the fundamental concepts they are glibly skipping over. They declare themselves ready to "move beyond" something they apparently consider to be beneath them to discuss in detail.
1 comment:
"Archaeologist–responsible/responsive artifact collector collaboration" is clearly always going to always a minority phenomenon. See Britain after 20 years of such talk, one in nine.
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