GHA Priority IIA: Promote reasonable due diligence.

GHA Priority II: Promote responsible collecting and stewardship of archaeological and ethnological objects.

 A. Promote reasonable due diligence.

GHA encourages all collectors, dealers and museums to exercise reasonable levels of due diligence before purchasing archeological or ethnological objects. Generally speaking, lack of documented provenance is not an immediate indication that the object is illicit. Many objects appear on the market without a detailed collection history. In many cases, this is because objects have passed through numerous hands and previous owner(s) did not receive, lost or threw away relevant documentation and/or did not believe that it was important to retain. Given this reality, due diligence for new acquisitions will depend on several factors, including the value of the object, how common it is, and its potential origin. Every reasonable effort should then be made to ensure any provenance information about the object is transferred along with the object.

GHA also indicates that it will examine the feasibility of creating databases of archeological and/or ethnological objects which will help transmit their collecting history.

Quite obviously the emphasis here is on the notion of what is reasonable. As every collector knows, many objects appear on the market without a detailed collection history and this is not an immediate indication that the object is illicit.  The principle of 'innocent until proven guilty' must apply and is so often forgotten. The onus is on the accuser to demonstrate that an item is indeed illicit.


While the notion of databases of archeological and/or ethnological objects which will help transmit their collecting history.is in principle a good idea, it must be a voluntary scheme. While museums must be included, few private collectors would welcome governm,ent agencies or other bodies haviong the right to inspect what they have and hold in their own homes. There must also be a mechasnism in place to guarantee collectors that objects on US soil and made visible on such a database are exempt from seizure by federal authorities or foreign governments who may spot them and attempt to claim them.