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- QUESTIONS AND ISSUES:
- Whose responsibility should it be to decide on authenticity: a curator of the institution purchasing the piece, other art historians, scientists, the museum board of trustees, or the public?
Should a museum be considering a piece with little documentation, or does that lack mean it may be looted or stolen material?
If an object is known to be looted, should the museum return it to its county of origin, even if they did not know it was looted at the time of purchase?
By studying and publishing unexcavated objects (not from controlled archaeological excavations), do we support and encourage looting and plunder of artifacts?
Should a researcher (whether art historian or scientist) accept funding from a person or organization who has illegally collected objects in the past and still retains that collection now?
Who owns the archaeological record? Individual landowners, descendants of those who created it, the nation, or the world?
Should all artifacts go to museums, or should individuals have the right to excavate for profit or their own collections?
- REFERENCES:
- Bernstein, B. and E. Ladd
- 1991 Whose is it Anyway? Collaborative Strategies for Preservation. AIC Abstracts: 18-19.
- Greenfield, J.
- 1989 The Return of Cultural Treasures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Isler-Kerenyi, Cornelia
 1994 Are Collectors the Real Looters? Antiquity 68: 350-52.
- Muscarella, Oscar White
- 1984 On publishing Unexcavated Artifacts. Journal of Field Archaeology 11(1): 61-66.
- UNESCO
- 1976 1970 UNESCO Agreement: “Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Cultural Property.” Journal of Field Archaeology 3:217-226.
- Warren, K. J.
- 1989 A Philosophical Perspective on the Ethics and Resolution of Cultural Property Issues. In The Ethics of Collecting Cultural Property, ed. By P. M. Messenger: 1-25. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
- Wiseman, James
- 1984 Scholarship and Provenience in the Study of Artifacts. Journal of Field Archaeology 11(1): 67-77.
- ADDITIONAL INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTS
- 1. The Conservation of Artistic and Historical Monuments, 1931
2. Hague Convention, 1956
3. Recommendation on International Principles Applicable to Archaeological Excavations, Adopted by the General Conference at its Ninth Session, New Delhi, 5 December 1962
4. Recommendation Concerning the Safeguarding of the Beauty and Character of Landscapes and Sites, 1962
5. International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites, 1984
6. Recommendation Concerning the Preservation of Cultural Property Endangered by Public or Private Works, 1968
7. European Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, 1971
8. Convention Concerning the Protection of the world Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972
9. Recommendation Concerning the Protection, at National Level, of the Cultural and Natural Heritage, 1972
10. The Australian ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Places of Cultural Significance (The Burra Charter), 1987
11. ICOMOS Charter for the Conservation of Historic Towns and Urban Areas
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