NoRedInk
The Chilling History of How Hollywood Helped Hitler
This is an interesting story with links to movies that the Nazis loved and hated. Here's an interview with the writer. My thanks to my colleague, Jeff Feinstein for sending me the link.
Interactive National Geographic Maps
So in the fall I may have my students use this to understand longitude and latitude as well as different types of maps.
How Scientists Solved the Longitude Problem
Open Culture put these videos on their site showing how scientists in the 18th century finally solved the longitude problem. In 1714, Open Culture notes, the British government opened an office to study the problem and offered an award to the first person to solve it. If you go the Open Culture site, you'll find a couple of more videos describing how the problem was eventually solved. This might be interesting for AP Human Geography and even World History.
Incan Child Sacrifice Victims Fed Drugs and Alcohol
Incan child sacrifices were fed alcohol and drugs months and weeks before death, according to tests on mummies. You can read the story here at this BBC Science and Environment site. Thanks to F.C.Tymrack for tweeting the link.
Republic of Ireland Publishes Guidelines on Use of Metal Detectors
In the Irish republic, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, TD, today (31 July 2013) published new guidelines for the public on the use of metal detection devices in Ireland - Advice Note on Metal Detection NMI NMS. The guidelines are being posted on the websites of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the National Museum of Ireland and will also be distributed as soon as possible in leaflet form to public offices where members of the public are likely to seek advice about metal detecting.The Minister said that the guidelines were being issued “in response to growing numbers of reports being received by my Department and the National Museum of Ireland - borne out by evidence on the ground - of increasing levels of unauthorised and illegal use of metal detectors, often on important archaeological sites”. While the legal position in relation to metal detectors is clearly set out in legislation, the Minister said there was a need for comprehensive guidance that would be “clear and understandable to the public”. The Minister said that there was also evidence from internet sites and elsewhere of “illegal treasure-hunting and export and sale of unlawfully retrieved archaeological objects”. The intention of the guidelines, the Minister said, was “to clear up any confusion that may be leading to unintentional breaches of the law, to provide individuals and groups with an unambiguous statement of the statutory provisions surrounding metal detecting and archaeological finds and to spell out the consequences of contravening the law”. The guidelines will also alert the public of the potential damage that can be caused to archaeological heritage by random unauthorised metal detecting.Like they have in England and Wales.
The Minister said that he hoped the publication of the guidelines would bring about a greater understanding of the potential damage that can result from what many would regard as “a harmless hobby” and why there is a need for strong and effective statutory controls. “Archaeological objects must be excavated in a structured scientific manner, with careful recording of their association with other objects, structures, features and soil layers. Failure to expertly record the context from which an object has been removed results in an irreplaceable loss of knowledge of the past”, the Minister said. He added that “random searches with metal detectors cannot determine whether a find is of archaeological importance or if it is a recent discard. The result in either case is that the soil is greatly disturbed and any non-metallic evidence and objects are likely to be destroyed”.At its nearest, the distance [edited]-- from Ireland to England and Wales -- [edited] is only 90 km, but its a whole load more intellectually from the land of the PAS-partnership of insanity.
Minister DeenihanPublishes Guidelines on Use of Metal Detectors Date Released: 31 July 2013
PAS Misleads....
See here: 'Republic of Ireland Publishes Guidelines on Use of Metal Detectors'. Nice to see the Portable Antiquituies Scheme keeping their eye on the ball there and keeping the public so well informed... Thanks to Nigel Swift of Heritage Action for pointing this error out. When the BM gets lost, it's good to know there is somebody knows what is going on.
Scattered in Private Collections
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| Detail of cup. Centre piece in Villa Giulia; outer fragments from Bothmer collection. Identification: Christos Tsirogiannis. |
The composite picture provided on looting matters is an excellent illustration of the damage to knowledge that is caused by the scattering of evidence through the illicit market and private collections. The Bothmer collection was put together before the 1970s and 1980s donations to the Met. All that time the connection was not made between the scattered fragments. So what about all this guff about private collectors of dugup antiquities "studying" the objects they hoard and thereby "enriching our knowledge of the past"? It certainly enriches nothing at all if greedy selfish oiks simply sit on the stuff which they've acquired no questions asked. The Bothmer collection numbered over ten thousand sherds like this. What on earth would a collector do with that amount of hoarded stuff, except brag about it and gloat over it?
See also: Chasing Aphrodite blog, 'The Met’s Von Bothmer Collection May Be Evidence In Princeton Criminal Case', January 26, 2012.
Old Town Scavenger Hunt
Today we spent the morning wandering around Alexandria searching for clues about George Washington! I made the boys use directions-like head West on Cameron Street until you see the White Clap Board House. They even had to use the compass on my phone. Alexandria is such a quaint old town and we love spending time there. The day was such a success, I might have to plan a few more hunts before summer's end.
We visited Wise & Gadsby's Tavern. Wise's Tavern is where Washington was first referred to as Mr. President, which is a moniker that has stuck with each succeeding president. Gadsby's is an Inn that Washington frequented and where Thomas Jefferson held his Inaugural Ball.
We visited Washington's Town Home and even sat in his Pew at Christ's Church. The kids especially loved walking through the cemetery in the churchyard. They were morbidly fascinated with the graves, some of which even explained in detail how the person had died nearly 300 years earlier.
Today's Meet for Large Class Discussions
Reading the Bhagavad Gita Today
The Gita is a drama that pits Arjuna in battle against his cousins and teachers for control of the kingdom of Bharata in northern India. The moral dilemma that this causes Arjuna is the subject of the book as he debates what he should do with his charioteer, who also happens to be the god, Krishna, in mortal form.
Arjuna ultimately decides to wage war against his relatives. Martin suggests that "Krishna’s reasons are deeply set in Hindu doctrine and practice: as a member of the warrior class, Arjuna has a duty to wage war, and it would be shameful for him to turn away from his responsibility."
Martin sees a number of lessons that Gita still has to teach us.
- One is that we should always live our lives deliberately. “Better to do one’s duty/ ineptly than another’s well,” Krishna tells Arjuna.
- One must act without concern for loss or gain
- Don't follow. Instead lead with responsibility and not out of fear
Here is a link to a lesson I usually do with Hinduism that asks students to think about the moral dilemma Arjuna faces and what he should do.
You can find other posts about religion on my World Religions blog here.
You can find other posts about religion on my World Religions blog here.
Focus on UK Metal Detecting: The Profits to be Made from Commercial Metal Detecting Rallies"
On an anti-archaeological metal detecting blog near you: "why not drop a line to your local National Farmers Union office and explain the about the profits to be made from metal detecting rallies which the CBA is cunningly steering farmers away from [?]. Tell them too about the runaway success of the Portable Antiquities Scheme"It probably would be expecting too much for the semi-literate kneejerkers to actually see what the concern is. The BBC programme which certain artefact hunters found so offensive was about "farming's role as custodian of the past, as we explore the balance between growing crops and preserving the archaeology which lies beneath them". An entirely laudable topic to be discussing with farmers, as I am sure any truly responsible artefact hunting partner of archaeology would admit.
It is interesting to note that artefact hunting PAS-"partners" see conservation as something farmers do only when paid (from RU funds for the most part) to do it, and if someone comes along willing to pay them not to do it, they will willingly give up their land to rape and pilfer by strangers.
The National Farmers Union is for, or against conservation?
NBCT Media Relations Webinar
Iraq: ICE "Cultivated Sources"
After the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, a whole load of stuff "found itself" in the USA:
In 2008, 2010 and 2011, ICE repatriated to the government of Iraq a collection of cultural objects including Saddam Hussein-era paintings, AK-47 rifles, ancient tablets, clay statues, ancient gold earrings, coins, a Western Asiatic necklace and terra cotta cones, all illegally imported into the United States from Iraq. Through HSI’s cultural property and antiquities investigations, a team of HSI special agents recovered Iraqi treasures, and investigated the looting of the Iraq National Museum following the fall of the Hussein regime. The team volunteered to lead this mission, and scoured Baghdad in search of more than 17,000 items that chronicled the region's 7,000 years of civilization. HSI special agents electronically scanned the museum's inventory lists and manifests to determine which items were missing, and quickly determined that most of the museum's artifacts had been hidden. Eventually, they were able to recover many of the items that were looted by cultivating sources. Agents were also able to send information about looted artifacts to other countries to help recover them if they crossed their borders.The question is whether the "sources" were waterboarded or otherwise "persuaded" of course.
ICE Press release: 'ICE returns Saddam Hussein ceremonial sword to Republic of Iraq' 29th July 2013.
USA Hands Back Illegal 'War-trophy'
Among the items that "found itself" in the USA after the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a sword stolen by somebody (unnamed) from Saddam Hussein'soffice and smuggled into the United States by U.S. military personnel (ICE Press release: 'ICE returns Saddam Hussein ceremonial sword to Republic of Iraq' 29th July 2013). Ten years later the sword was returned to the Republic of Iraq. The object had been sold in October 2011, presumably by the bloke that took it, to the Amoskeag Auction Company (AAC) in Manchester, N.H., it was advertised in their Jan. 7, 2012, auction catalogue as having been:
removed from Hussein's personal office in the Iraqi military command complex in Baghdad by the U.S. Army 126th Military History Detachment after the regime fell in 2003. The catalog also said that the consignor was attached to the unit as a combat historian, that the sword was not claimed by the U.S. government and that the consignor was granted permission to keep the sword as a souvenir. In January 2012, HSI special agents in Manchester learned that it was being auctioned and initiated an investigation [and] coordinated with the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) regarding the validity of the sword’s importation into the United States and the regulations surrounding the importation of war trophies from Iraq. It was determined that this ornate ceremonial sword cannot be considered a modern battlefield weapon and is therefore not eligible to be exported as a war trophy. Additionally, the import of this historic sword was prohibited by DOD’s Office of Foreign Assets Control pursuant to an executive order which prohibits trade or transfer of Iraqi cultural property.The sword was seized by HSI special agents seized as a possible Iraqi cultural artifact. It had by this time already been sold (for $15,000) by AAC but the buyer had not paid and the object was still with the auctioneer. On April 30, 2012, the sword was administratively forfeited. Fourteen months later the handover ceremony was staged, a private ceremony held at Iraqi Ambassador Lukman Faily’s residence in Washington.
“Cultural property -- such as the sword being returned today to the people of Iraq -- represents part of a country’s history that should have never been stolen or auctioned,” said HSI Associate Director James Dinkins. “We will continue conducting these types of investigations to ensure that current and future generations aren’t robbed of their nation’s history.”Note the sense of entitlement embodied in the statement: "the sword was not claimed by the U.S. government and that the consignor was granted permission to keep the sword as a souvenir". Why should the US Government have any claim on any personal property in the invaded country? The very idea. Also WHO (name, rank, authority) "gave permission" to steal it? One of the commanding officers of the U.S. Army 126th Military History Detachment (the what?) maybe? What else did he give his men "permission" to half-inch? Has there been an official enquiry?
Cooking with my MINIONS
I love cooking with my kids. I think it is a fantastic learning experience for them and an amazing way for me to develop my patience. I saw a picture of these adorable Minion cupcakes and thought it would be a great summer afternoon activity. (SHH! The kids think I am totally amazing and that I had the idea all by myself!!)
The best part about these treats is that there are enough steps to keep each kid busy throughout the entire process.
Atley's job was to follow the directions on the cake mix and make it entirely on his own. Of course this job included licking the beaters.
Nash was in charge of opening and cutting the Twinkies in half and helping me ice the cooled cupcakes.
Harley had to line the cupcake pan, sort the Smarties, and then add/eat the blue sugar sprinkles on the iced cupcakes. Meanwhile the boys decorated the Twinkies to look like Minions.
They were so proud of their finished product that they opted not to eat any until their dad got home. At first I thought, what a tender little sacrifice but then I realized they actually weren't eating them because they were already too full of batter, Twinkies, Smarties, icing and sugar sprinkles to find the cupcakes in the least bit appetizing.
Guatemala: "Almost all archaeological sites have suffered looting say experts"
During the XXVII Archaeological Research Symposium held in Guatemala from July 22, experts have been discussing discuss measures to prevent and eradicate the looting of archaeological sites. The director of the Cultural Heritage, Oscar Mora, reported that the country has more than four thousand archaeological sites, almost all have suffered looting. Experts agree that the looters are from the villages near archaeological sites. It is believed that the heaviest looting occurred in the early 1970s, when the illegal sales may have totalled about U.S. $ 13 million a year.
In March this year the auction house Sotheby's, in France, auctioned a batch of 300 pre-Columbian artifacts from Mexico, Central and South America. Guatemala demanded the return of 13 of them."Casi todos los sitios arqueológicos han sufrido saqueo, dicen expertos" Prensa Libre, 25/07/13. (via Donna Yates)
Syrian Looters in Bulldozers Seek Treasure Amid Chaos
The no-questions-asked antiquities market has a lot to answer for:
Looters in bulldozers armed with automatic weapons are exploiting the mayhem of Syria’s civil war to seize sites [...] “It’s tragic, objects from archaeological sites risk being lost without us ever knowing they existed,” said Jonathan Tubb, keeper of the Middle East department at the British Museum. “It can be callous to talk about this in the face of appalling human loss, but Syria’s cultural heritage is of such great importance to our understanding of human history that it’s only right we’re concerned.”[...] while antiquities officials have started local initiatives that include watch groups of tribal elders and civilians to protect sites, they’ve been confronted by gangs of heavily armed men and earth-moving equipment.[...] The sort of prize looters seek would include bronzes and ancient tablets inscribed with religious or economic text, which can fetch 300 to 400 pounds ($460-$610) each and are often found in stashes of several hundred, he said. Most looted objects end up in Turkey or Lebanon, according to [Mamoun ] Abdul-Karim [head of Syria’s Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums].Caroline Alexander and Donna Abu-Nasr, 'Syrian Looters in Bulldozers Seek Treasure Amid Chaos', Bloomberg.co, Jul 29, 2013
One Way of Eliminating the Problem
Somebody who I bet did not vote for the Republicans ("Revolution Solutions" 14 hours ago) wrote a comment to the above article asking who will buy looted artefacts:
The one and only enemy of you ,me and all the normal [...] people,who want to share the planet with the rest of humanity, is greed. And at least for now, the greedy ones with power are few, who control the world. They are the enemy. the rich who will buy these artifacts. the private collectors. these are the people we need to eliminate from our society if we are to progress to another way of life[...].
Pin-tastic Carpet Cleaner
The highlight of my weekend was cleaning the carpet in the kid's bedrooms. Lest you think I am being facetious, I am not. I used a cleaning recipe I found on Pinterest and it worked like a charm. The carpets look brand new! So, exciting.
Combine 2 parts peroxide and 1 part Dawn Original Blue Dish Soap in a spray bottle. Spray stains or entire carpet. Let set for a couple of minutes and wipe/brush away stains.
Flipped Learning Network
For those of you who are flipping their classes a great resource is the Flipped Learning Network which has over 5000 teachers signed up to discuss items, links to tons of groups of teachers such as math, social studies, forums, videos, and a lot more. Above is a short video tour of the site.
Egypt: Government deposed, looting continues
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In Egypt the government was deposed over three weeks ago, many people have been killed and injured, thousands of archaeologists are running around protesting meanwhile looting of archaeological site continues.
Vignette: Egyptian archaeologists shouting
In Egypt the government was deposed over three weeks ago, many people have been killed and injured, thousands of archaeologists are running around protesting meanwhile looting of archaeological site continues.Looting Update: Illicit digging is being carried in full speed in the area of Dahshur, and Lisht, where the pyramid itself is being looted. The looting is also done in several villages in Giza and Mit Rahina as well as Abu Sir el-Maleq, Akhmim ٍSheikh Ibada and Tuna el-JebelThe international trade needs to be extra vigilant to stop this stuff coming onto the market.
Vignette: Egyptian archaeologists shouting
Wiki Summarizer
Focus on UK Metal Detecting: Making Responsible Statements
Ton ("a British responsible detectorist") writes:Mr. Barford, [...] Since he lives and works in Poland, perhaps [...] ought to focus his energy and anger towards tackling the ransack of huge amounts of roman coins from that country ending up on EbayShocking eh? Huge amounts? Now I am just an archaeologist, but it seems to me that this would be very odd. Poland was not IN the Roman Empire (I'd of expected anyon passinitly intrestid in 'istry to no that)... but then if a "responsible metal detectorist" responsibly asserts that it is the case that huge numbers of Roman coins are being looted in Poland and exported out of the country via eBay, well, we'd better take a look. After all Mr Ton, being a responsible guy, would not have made an irresponsible claim, would he?
Obviously the point being made here is that if this is true, I would be victimising UK detectorists (collectors love playing/depicting themselves as the victim) and being inconsistent because I'd be protecting the dugup antiquities industry in Poland, while attacking that elsewhere. Metal detectorists love talking about the characteristics, foibles, attitudes and genitals of the people criticising them rather than actually listening to what the points made actually are and addressing them. Is it therefore true that there is a "ransack" (sic) of "huge amounts of Roman coins from [Poland] ending up on Ebay"?
Searching for both "Roman coin" and "Poland" on eBay.com at the moment we come up with a dozen or so coins. One is an overpriced Sigismunt III being sold from the USA and two equally overpriced near contemporary coins from London and New York. There ARE 14 heavily stripped Late Roman Bronzes on offer from Ilawa, Poland. These most likely originated as a bulk lot from the Balkans, perhaps imported directly or through western markets. If we look on the UK eBay (where "Ton" is) we do not even find them in a search. If we turn to the Polish eBay website we find the 14 noted above plus five more offers (one containing five circles of metal the seller insists were once Roman coins before the collectors got their hands on them). These coins all look like "Balkan bulk buy" types.
And that's it. When you look, there is no evidence whatsoever of any "ransack of huge amounts of roman coins from that country [Poland] ending up on Ebay". This turns out to be another piece of deceitful writing from the collectors' lobby trying to deflect discussion from the real issues.
So, once again we see UK metal detectorists making claims they cannot substantiate and which turn out to be smoke and mirrors deception, as is the case time and time again. "Ton" either did not check that he knew the difference (about 1000 km) between Poland and Bulgaria and misled us all, or he thought nobody would actually check his glib statement (as if!) and he'd get away with misleading us all.
Vignette: Damaging inability to stick to the truth - UK policies on metal detecting ARE damaging the archaeological record.
CBA Director on Metal Detecting Rallies
Mike Heyworth of the Council for British Archaeology ( Farming Today, Radio 4, 6.00 minutes in) is beginning to take a less ambivalent approach to artefact hunting than he was a while ago. Here he is on commercial artefact hunting rallies:“you can get hundreds if not thousands of metal detectorists converging on very sensitive archaeological sites and that can cause a huge amount of damage to that archaeology and that information is completely lost …. I’d like to see much more of a clampdown on those sort of rallies because I don’t think they’re in the public benefit"I think the question is broader, whether in the long run current British policies on artefact hunting and collecting are "in the public benefit". In fact they only benefit a selfish exploitive minority many of whom basically could not care less about the long-term and overall effects of what they are all doing.
See Heritage Action: "At last! Paul Barford and Mike Heyworth in total agreement!" 28/07/2013.
Let this go on record, in the first half of the previous decade, when I took part in forum discussions on UK heritage policy and metal detecting in particular, I was fairly frequently getting emails from Mike Heyworth asking me to tone down my criticism of artefact hunters who were (he argued) just a different way of manifesting an interest in the past, and as such had a place in the general picture of British archaeology. I have no idea to what degree he himself sincerely believed what was, after all, the official [post Denison and Dobinson report] CBA position on artefact hunting a decade ago. I am glad to see that a decade on, he is coming out and from time to time can be heard more frequently expressing mild exasperation with the situation - which is as it should be. Things were probably not helped much by the fact that, despite the detector-tolerant policies of the CBA throughout the first decade of the 21st century, there were frequent attacks on the CBA by the metal detecting community. Clashes over the "Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales" in particular became rather nasty (the Code is today almost universally ignored). Perhaps the CBA realised that they were getting British archaeology nowhere trying to pander to these people, and their "partner' the PAS. The latter put the CBA in a really stupid position with the non-collaboration over the issue of best practice in "Britain's Secret Treasures" (it seems from the preliminary announcements that the CBA will not be in the projected second series).
Sacred Statue Looted, Replaced by Fake
Chasing Aphrodite blog: 'At Looted Temple In India, Locals Unwittingly Worship a Fake', July 24, 2013 make the point:The case shows once again that today investigators and journalists around the world are doing the research that museums should have done years ago.and some of them are refusing to do even now.
US Lobbyist: Second Best Good Enough for Brown-Skinned Folk
Peter Tompa, Washington Lobbyist on behalf of the dugup and knocked-off antiquities trade, sent the following comment to the article on the "Chasing Aphrodite" blog "At Looted Temple In India, Locals Unwittingly Worship a Fake":
I’m not sure I understand the point of your headline. Presumably, the worshipers view the statue as a manifestation of God. Whether that statue was made 900 years ago or last week is likely of little relevance to them on that basis (July 24, 2013 at 8:27 am)So what he's saying is that, in his educated western opinion, the brown-skinned Worshipping Oriental Gentlemen of Vriddachalam temple in Tamil Nadu really should not even consider it at all disturbing that, in a distant secular and profane context to which many of them will never even have access, western tourists and connoisseurs are enjoying the original 'manifestation of god' removed from the sacral complex. I am sure the Washington observer would continue that they are after all only pig-ignorant, culturally insensitive idol-worshippers less worthy of great art than the white folk with their museums and different beliefs. That seems to me to be the train of thought revealed by that comment. Tompa assumes that "such people" should not even notice the difference, and have no claims on the object they lost - which now enhances the lives of others. This is exactly what Donna Yates was talking about in the context of the looted objects she studies:
The illicit antiquities trade is a prime example of neocolonialism. When objects are stolen from vulnerable areas of the developing world and moved into the hands of rich people in the developed world, we perpetuate an unjust imbalance. We keep people down.Tompa is engaged in keeping down the brown-skinned worshipping oriental gentlemen of Vriddachalam temple in Tamil Nadu, not leaving them the option of rising up and asking for their statue back. In the eyes of adherents of the neocolonialist model of knocked-off-art-appreciation, they are "ignorant natives" whose unsophisticated needs should be satisfied with second best.
Scandalous.
Donna Yates, Detroit and Rio Azul
While I welcomed Donna Yates starting her amazing video blogs (please, more, more!) I was rather apprehensive that this would mean she'd stop doing the written one (Property of an Anonymous Swiss Collector). Fortunately I was too pessimistic, the blog is continuing. The latest post from her ("The looting of RÃo Azul and the "looting" of the Detroit Institute of Arts", July 27, 2013) is a masterpiece of the genre illustrating why the cessation of her blogging would be a tragedy. It's a fantastic piece of writing which entertains, informs, moves and shocks all in one breath. Highly recommended.
Iraq, US reach deal on stolen artefacts: official
A senior Iraqi official said on Friday that Baghdad has reached an initial deal with the US on the return of more than 10,000 artefacts stolen from Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion:
"We have reached an initial agreement... on returning more than 10,000 Iraqi artefacts that are in the United States," by August 2014, senior ministry advisor Baha al-Mayahi told AFP. But there are still details that need to be worked out, and the artefacts must all be registered in an electronic archive at Cornell University in the state of New York before they are returned, Mayahi said. The two sides agreed not to go into details about how the artefacts came to be in the United States, he added. He said the US was cooperating with Iraq on returning stolen artefacts, and that over 1,500 had been brought back to Iraq from the United States so far."Iraq, US reach deal on stolen artefacts: official", AFP July 26, 2013
UPDATE 15th August 2013: There was a lot of confusion about these "artefacts", it now seems likely that it was this Jewish archive that was being discussed. Michael E. Ruane, "Archives readies a schoolgirl’s records and a trove of Jewish treasures for return to Iraq", The Washington Post August 13th 2013. This of course has been a long-running dispute.
Iraq Antiquity Thefts: al-Mayahi Summary of the Figures
In the article "Iraq, US reach deal on stolen artefacts: official", AFP July 26, 2013 we are told:
Some 15,000 artefacts were stolen from the national museum in Baghdad by looters in the chaos that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Mayahi said. More than 4,000 have been recovered. Authorities have recovered a further 130,000 artefacts stolen from elsewhere in the country, but there are still tens of thousands of pieces missing."
High Crimes: Studying the Illicit Antiquities Trade in the Bolivian Andes
Donna Yates, "High Crimes: Studying the Illicit Antiquities Trade in the Bolivian Andes", Day of Archaeology 2013 July 26, 2013:
The past is what we say it is, and we believe that the physical remains of the past are important. That they are worthy of being preserved as tools of both memory and identity. When they are ripped from their contexts and sold on the black market, everyone loses. We are all robbed because we will never get to know the information those objects contained. “Neocolonialism” is a word that is bandied about quite a bit in Bolivia: it is a word that even people with no education know. The illicit antiquities trade is a prime example of neocolonialism. When objects are stolen from vulnerable areas of the developing world and moved into the hands of rich people in the developed world, we perpetuate an unjust imbalance. We keep people down.All the time shielding what is going on by paternalistic platitudes about altruistically "caring for" what the (necessarily "corrupt" and "ignorant") Brown Folk of the ("under"-)developing world cannot.
DOA Uncategorised
Doctor Donna Yates took part in the Day of Archaeology 2013 and found to her surprise "the Day of Archaeology website doesn’t have a category for this post to fit into!" but then it's run by Dan Pett of the artefact hunters' partners" Portable Antiquities Scheme, so it wouldn't would it? Yet the 1970 UNESCO Convention has an Article 10, just somehow UK archies tend to want to forget that.
Lexington Metal Detectorist on Collaboration in Heritage Management
I did read, however, Mr Clark's transatlantic contribution with interest because as an example of the (US 'let's all work together') genre it is quite unusual. In the US, there is a rather superficial approach to this topic, seen well in the recent "discussion" between Stout and McIntyre discussed elsewhere here or the Butch Holcombe stuff. These people have not taken the opportunity to find out what the real problem is (the archaeologist in the trio has even not ever been metal detecting). As a result we get several themes gone over time and time again (metal detectorists taking part in archaeological projects, tekkies voluntarily showing archaeologists some of their pretty finds and documenting their findspots, "rescuing the past"). What we do not get from them is the setting of those elements in the wider issues concerning relic hunting and the archaeological record, or even any indication that they are aware of those issues.
Mr Clark, on the other hand, has been interacting with archaeologists and while working alongside them, has actually been listening to, and thinking about, the views of the heritage community on what the problems are. He has then set about thinking about concrete finding ways around them. While it is still in the realms of "wouldn't it be nice if...?", there are some good attempts to grapple with the issues which is the only way forward. Certainly an advance on the aggressive and confrontational Stout-Holcombe-Howland approach.
The problem is that in detecting, alongside the individuals capable of thinking and articulately presenting the position reached by reflection like Mr Clark and a number of like-minded individuals in the UK, there are a much higher proportion of detectorists, on both sides of the Atlantic, that do not have these abilities. They respond by knee-jerk reactions, they follow the crowd, engage in mobbish behaviour and simply do not understand how what they do fits into the wider scheme of things, moreover they adamantly refuse to even try to understand. The PAS tries to make out that the "metal detecting community" is for the most part composed of normal, concerned, responsible, intelligent folk engaged in a "study of the past", but who are just misunderstood. They need to because the government would not give them money otherwise.
The actual picture is far more complex, the thrusting on us all of the PAS one-sided rose-tinted spectacle vision totally obscures (and, shamefully, is meant to obscure) the huge element, an undercurrent, of individuals that are portrayed on this blog by the metaphorical device of the fictional Thugwit Brothers. These are the people we need to take into account whenever assessing the hobby, not the 20% who can be brought with varying degrees of success into the fold by persuasion and logic, but the 80% who are totally resistant to anything like that. Note that Scott Clark admits that his views on collaboration in heritage management has not won him many friends in the US metal detecting community.
With that in mind, I'd like to heartily recommend a reading of Scott Clark's text, he has some good ideas and appears to welcome further discussion. Mr Scott has a blog http://www.detecting.us. Readers might like to compare this with what is offered (ostensibly with the same aim) by "American Digger Magazine" (but do not say what you think too loudly, as the latter apparently tend to be very touchy about the issue).
Vignette: Lexington, Kentucky.
Propaganda: Power and Persuasion
Can propaganda be considered great art, or is it by its very nature inferior? Nazi Germany did a lot to promote the idea that it is inferior. "As minister of propaganda in Adolf Hitler’s government," notes Alastair Sooke writing for BBC Culture, "Goebbels did more than most to make that aftertaste as bitter as arsenic."
Sooke thinks propaganda may be getting a bad rap. He notes that much of the ancient art around today is a form of propaganda. He cites several examples including Trajan's column, the Parthenon Marbles, and the solid-gold mask of Tutankhamun.
How different are these examples of propaganda from the modern art commissioned by the US government during the Cold War? The State Department bought paintings from artists like Ben Shahn and Georgia O’Keeffe. "Art is rarely the unadulterated expression of an individual genius such as Picasso: usually it is ensnared within the agendas and demands of others, such as patrons who are also political rulers. In my heart I know that good art is a vehicle for self-expression. But my head tells me that art and propaganda do not have to make uneasy bedfellows."
You can see a great slide-show of propaganda like the example above and a link to the British Library’s exhibition "Propaganda: Power and Persuasion." And here is an excellent teacher site (Bill Chapman) on propaganda with great links. Thanks to F.C. Tymrak for tweeting the link.
Proculus Coin STILL Not in PAS Database
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The Proculus coin found mid-November 2012 which the PAS identified as an extremely interesting "fifteenth century forgery" which was brought in for recording by its finder STILL is not in the PAS database. Talk about a "backlog"...
Obviously for anyone wanting to study the reception of antiquity in Renaissance Britain, Camden and all that, this object would be a prime piece of evidence. So why is it not in the database? What else of importance has been omitted from this "database" through prejudice against the object or finder? Indeed, what kind of "data" are these if subjective factors are at work on what goes in and what is kept quiet?
The Proculus coin found mid-November 2012 which the PAS identified as an extremely interesting "fifteenth century forgery" which was brought in for recording by its finder STILL is not in the PAS database. Talk about a "backlog"...
Obviously for anyone wanting to study the reception of antiquity in Renaissance Britain, Camden and all that, this object would be a prime piece of evidence. So why is it not in the database? What else of importance has been omitted from this "database" through prejudice against the object or finder? Indeed, what kind of "data" are these if subjective factors are at work on what goes in and what is kept quiet?
Washington Nationals
Flying home and a couple of days later when I took the kids to a Washington Nationals baseball game, there was one comment that kept repeating. People would walk by and say, "Wow! You're brave." Like I was taking three baby grizzly bears out in public in hopes they wouldn't attack others when they got hungry. They are tiny HUMANS people! Sometimes their behavior is far from perfect but being in a public setting is a great place for them to learn and grow. Anyway, I'm off my soapbox. Now on to the fun we had at the game!
William Taft, aka Bill, won the President's race! Teddy biffed it at the finish line and I lost a dollar to the boys!
We ate at Shake Shack at the ballpark. My favorite, YUM!
Harley's first cotton candy EVER!!
Oh! The agony of being a sports fan. The Pirates scored 4 runs in the 9th inning to tie the Nat's 7 to 7!
"I see Bryce, but which one is daddy?"
Bryce Harper hit a home run in extra innings to win the game. It was such a perfectly lovely summer day! How can I make summer last all year?
Happy DANCE!
We're Back
It was hard to say goodbye to our friends and family in Colorado. Scott surprised us by showing up last weekend. It was great having him there for a few days. We had such a fun time. Here are a few random pictures of our adventures.
Harley playing with mommy and granny's old Barbie Dolls.
Swimming with cousins!
A night at the drive-in.
Tons of fun at the Carnival.
Plenty of trips to Sonic, where you can also take your horses through the drive-through.
A great visit with Scott's grandma. And although I somehow forgot my camera during each visit, we also spent a lot of time with my Grandpa and Grandma Edgar. Grandma made us cookies and lunch more than once. My kids are so lucky to have such amazing Great-Grandparents who they know and love.
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