Archaeology and Dictatorship

As wild claims continue to be made about alleged connections between Western collectors and Middle Eastern terrorists, there has been far too little academic interest about the far more direct and verifiable links between dictatorships and archaeologists. Certainly, prominent American archaeologists acted as apologists for Saddam Hussein's Iraq, and more recently they also have supported a proposed import ban on cultural goods on behalf of Egypt's generals

Peter Tompa rightly argues that there is a great need for some interest in this important topic. The connection between retentionist dictatorial regimes and the archeological lobby is leading to regrettable restrictions on the ability of ordinary Americans to gain access to common historical artifacts. This in turn has also:

skewed our view of history as these regimes select what parts of the archaeological record to highlight or even erase to suit their nationalistic purposes.