Pre Lab 9 Archy 205 - Kiara Anderson

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Arts Humanities

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Jan 9, 2024

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ARCHY 205 NAME Kiara Anderson Winter 2023 SECTION AC LAB 9: ARCHAEOLOGICAL ETHICS – PRE-CLASS RESEARCH People have long been interested in selling artifacts for profit. Today, sales of illegal antiquities total at least $7.8 billion annually. Artifact sales comprise the third most profitable black market in the world (ranked behind only drugs and weapons). Artifacts pass through international networks of plunder: people purchase archaeological artifacts in shops, on the Internet, and at private and public auctions. Buyers rarely know or care how a $2.99 Native American arrowhead or a $75,000 Egyptian sarcophagus managed to come into their possession. Your job is to find an artifact for sale on the internet. Try to find an artifact from a famous site that you have heard of in this class or sites that you have read about elsewhere. You can use any website that sells objects. You might try: http://www.artemission.com or www.ebay.com (try https://www.ebay.com/b/Ethnographic- Antiques/2207/bn_1865604) (Note: try to find something other than an arrowhead and feel free to look for artifacts in various regions around the world!) Attach a photo of your artifact to this worksheet, answer the questions, and bring them to your lab section. Print this assignment if possible, but if not please have it ready on your device in class. You will submit this assignment on Canvas by Sunday, March 5th. There will be a separate group assignment in class. 1) What type of artifact did you find and how much does it cost? Viking Solid Silver “Hammer of Thor” or Mjölnir Pendant, c. 11th Century A.D.
$1400 USD Where did you find it? https://www.artemission.com/viewitemdetails.aspx?ItemNumber=32.37019&page=1 Who is selling the artifact? Are they located here in the US, or in another country? Do you trust the site of the seller? Why or why not? Provenance: Private UK collection, acquired prior to 2002. I do not really trust the website, only because they did not give any sort of authenticity guarantee, or any sort of specific information on where how, or when this artifact was collected. While it does say it was acquired from a private UK collection, personally I feel that that is very “fishy” and therefore does not create a lot of trust between me and this seller. They said it's from the 11th century but a simple google search states that the original legend of Thor's story is from the 11th century, so it just seems a little right on the nose. 2) What kind of background information was available about the artifact (does the website talk about a particular culture or where the artifact was recovered?)? The website description was simply, “Thor hammer or Mjölnir, made of silver and decorated with typical square and round punching as well as fine dots marks.” Furthermore, they stated that “Thor, a major Nordic god associated with thunder. The hammer of Thor is distinctively shaped, Mjölnir is depicted in Norse mythology as one of the most fearsome weapons, capable of levelling mountains. Though generally recognized and depicted as a hammer, Mjölnir is sometimes referred to as an axe or club.” 3) Does the web page present substantial information about the artifact’s provenience/context? What information is missing that will make it hard to create interpretations of the artifacts and the sites they came from? It only says it's from a private seller in the UK. this to me is a red flag, because they have conveniently stopped any form of the trail to follow by saying it is a private seller. They also said it was acquired prior to 2002, meaning there was less technology, and more likely a paper contract, making it even harder to follow a lead. 4) Is it possible that this artifact is a forgery or reproduction? What kind of information about authenticity can you find on the page for this artifact? I see no authenticity guarantee. My first thought was that someone could have easily made this today, and just outdated it a little bit to make it appear older than it is.
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