Spartan phalanx

An exceptional image of a Spartan phalanx by artist, Cliff Nielsen

Blaming Antiquities Collectors

An impossible situation for museums and collectors,

"to be blamed...for owning objects with provenance issues, while simultaneously denied the ability to confirm whether those objects passed through the hands of these dealers.”

Tsirogiannis: Master of the Blame-Game Goes After Frieze Masters

Patriotic collectors boost market for ancient Chinese artifacts

Even objects previously considered inauspicious,
such as archaic jade from tombs, are being
sought by Chinese buyers.

Patriotic collectors boost market for ancient Chinese artefacts, The Financial Times

 Following the fashions to buy western art and classic wristwatches, historical Chinese artefacts are now the must-have item for the country’s wealthy collectors who are snapping up [...] objects that have been in foreign hands for often hundreds of years. Interest in Chinese artefacts has intensified since President Xi Jinping began pushing to highlight the role of the country’s heritage in the national narrative [...] The buying spree is supported by China’s government, which is backing a $450m branch of Beijing’s famed Palace Museum being constructed in Hong Kong, among other initiatives. “It’s about the emergence of China,” Mr Stone says. “The government sees art and culture as a key industry. It’s part of the strategy for the development of China.

It's great the Chinese public is getting in touch with past, but makes no sense to restrict American collectors from buying what Chinese collectors can readily buy.

Medusa Close-up

The underlying beauty of the Gorgon, Medusa is visible on the sarcophagus from the Hellenistic city of Aphrodisias in Western Anatolia. What occurred following her transformation.... one of Greek mythology's feared creatures.

Reclining Griffin from Megiddo.

This reclining griffin carved in relief is perhaps one of the most famous images from Megiddo.

Archeologist advises dig be stopped on Oak Island after ‘artifact’ found

Archaeologist advises dig be stopped on The Curse of Oak Island after 'artifact' found - The treasure hunt by the Money Pit on Oak Island (History Channel) faces being shut down by spoilsport archeologists after “alarming news”.  Culture and Heritage has mandated that archeologists be involved with any digging and now the archeologist is stopping the digging (Julian Cheatle, "Archaeologist advises dig be stopped on The Curse of Oak Island after ‘artifact’ found" Monsters and Critics 20th November 2017)

A dig on The Curse of Oak Island is brought to a halt by an archaeologist in a new sneak peek for Season 5 Episode 3 — after what appears to be a significant discovery. Laird Niven, an archaeologist who has previously worked with Rick and Marty Lagina and the team on the series, is shown telling Marty as he uproots trees using an excavator: “I think we have to stop.” It comes after Laird appears to see something in the ground that is being dug up. Marty, who is at the controls of the excavator, asks him: “You strongly suspect this is an artifact?” Laird says: “Yes, I do.” Footage then shows a close-up of some sort of debris before Laird is seen looking through the dirt that has been dug up [...]  It also sees the team find “hard evidence” of a European presence on the island — thought to be a coin — more than a century before the Money Pit was discovered. Meanwhile, Rick Lagina recently gave a big hint that this season the team uncover evidence of some sort of link on the island to the Knights Templar. 

As has many times been pointed out, all that archeologists are concerned with is exercising control.  

VICE: Indonesia Can't Stop Its Illegal Treasure Hunters

The illegal antiquities trade is robbing the country of millions of dollars and no one seems to have a plan to stop it. (Adi Renaldi, "Indonesia Can't Stop Its Illegal Treasure Hunters" Vice, Nov 20 2017)

Indonesia's lost treasures keep going missing. Conservations say that a flood of illegal treasure hunters are digging up artifacts in rice paddies in the Central Java district of Sukoharjo—a region hundreds of miles outside Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta—and selling the valuable items on the black market. Local officials declared a site in Sukoharjo's Joho village a conservation zone three years ago after evidence of an ancient Buddhist temple was discovered nearby. But the classification has only increased the appetite of looters who are willing to pay local farmers as much as $222 a day for the right to dig for buried treasures under the cover of darkness. "We haven't calculated it, but if this has been happening since the 1990s, then we have lost so much money," Darno, the head of the local culture and heritage foundation, told VICE. "The government doesn't seem to realize the potential of historical sites." The money is a vital resource for the village's rice farmers, who would typically make nothing off their paddies during the dry season. But it's also proven to be a difficult crime to prosecute. And with little risk of being caught, there are few reasons for farmers in Joho village to not offer their fields up to treasure hunters who are willing to pay cash up-front. "I know nothing about the heritage," one farmer, a man named Mariman, told the Jakarta Post. "Someone says they want to rent my field... I just allow them.

If the foreign government cannot look after its past, then why should collectors here tke the blame for their omissions?