Museum Repatriation : The Egyptian Revolution

In 2007, exactly 85 years after Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb, the pharaoh went on display in his tomb at Luxor. The mummy was wrapped in linen and was moved from his golden sarcophagus to a climate controlled box. This special box was designed to prevent decomposition during visiting hours of his tomb. King Tut’s tomb was robbed at least twice but after extensive research and based on the items taken it seems the robberies occurred within a few months of the initial burial- oils and perfumes were the main items taken from the tomb. Because they robbed so soon after the burial they were caught by workers of the Valley before making it from the antechamber to the interior chambers (History.com). With time however, the exact location of the tomb was lost due to being buried by stone chips and rocks from other tombs, as well as huts being buried over top for workers of the

Museums are filled with unique,historical artifacts that are precious to our history throughout the world. These “traveling exhibits” give people around the world an opportunity to see how our ancestors lived in many different regions of the world. Many artifacts are far away from their country of origin 7.In the articles “Bring Them Home”and “Museums Preserve the Cultures of the World,” people argue that museums should return certain artifacts to its original country, while others believes it’s only right to keep them considering the originating country rightfully sold those artifacts.In my opinion, countries should bring some artifacts back to their originating country.

In Sharon Waxman's article, “The Show-Biz Pharaoh of Egypt’s Antiquities” (June 13, 2005) She teaches readers about Dr. Zahi Hawass and his findings as an archaeologist. Waxman guides the readers to look beyond someone's work and look at their persona. She first displays this by using media understanding in contrast to co-workers opinions of Hawass’ attitude during his projects. To demonstrate this Waxman additionally asserts her claim again with Hawass’ feelings of himself. Furthermore, she showcases his careless attitude towards other opinions to portray more of his personality. Waxman uses an informative and conflictive tone to illustrate that she wants her audience of archaeologists to look deeper at the people around them and for them

In the end, Lubar concedes that this idea “probably goes too far” (146). In reality, it would not be as easy as it sounds and it would not be an easy solution to museum storage issues. However, in the book’s closing Lubar draws on the example of Robert Fontenot’s show Recycle LACMA (2009), which repurposed items that the museum had deaccessioned and gave them new life (325). This example proves that it is possible for museums to clear out their storage and at the same time be apart of creating something

The United States and its allied partners have made good progress in their efforts to control terrorist activities in many parts of the globe, but these efforts can only yield results if the substantial funding sources of Da'esh and similar groups aren't curbed immediately. They must focus efforts on adopting proactive measures that curb the market of looted and stolen antiquities and artifacts by terrorist organizations. Blood antiquities serve as a major means of funding terrorists ensures their continued existence and the possibility for future expansion. The Middle East is an exceptional archaeological and art-historical palimpsest of vanished and still existing civilizations as illustrated with an array of sites and monuments spanning

There are many similarities in the ethical statements/codes of the SAA, SHA, AIA, and RPA. The ones that pertain to this case are as follows: it is the responsibility of archaeologists to work for the long-term conservation and protection of the archaeological record (SAA 1, AIA 1, RPA 1.1-e). The buying and selling of objects out of archaeological context is contributing to the destruction of the archaeological record around the world, and these items should not be traded, sold, bought, or bartered as commercial goods (SAA 3, SHA 6, AIA 2, RPA 1.2-e). Within reasonable time, the knowledge archaeologists gain

There are events occurring because of the theft that should not be happening. It may be hard to imagine why anyone would do this terrible crime. If you are like me, I was wondering what was their reasoning behind it? Could it be for themselves, to sell, to keep others from experiencing it? Because of these occurrences where the theft happened, ISIS has been profiting off of the antiquities. This means that there has to be a market for it. Although it is uncertain as to how much money they make, it is estimated to be between $4 million and $7 billion. That is a huge range, but either way, they make loads of money in which they should not be making. This is an even bigger issue than just historical or economical, it goes beyond that. The people who are committing these crimes are dangerous and could cause harm to others. They are using it to their benefit to pay for their attacks. The process of how ISIS makes these profits is pretty simple and divided into three stages. “A dig permit is secured from ISIS authorities, unearthed artifacts are evaluated and artifacts are moved out of the Islamic State into the international market.” One may question as to how do these people not get caught? These people know they are in the wrong, keep quiet, and cheat the system. In a perfect world, they would get caught and they would get no profits, but unfortunately, that’s

From what I learned from the past assigned readings and class discussions, one of the difficult decisions that museums have to make is do they return their objects/artifacts back to their original countries or cultural group. This issue is an ethical dilemma because, would it be the museum to legally keep the objects because of their belief that they can protect and use these items (Warren 1999: 1-20). Or, would it be ethical for the museum to return the items that were previously removed from their country or place of origin. Based on my lecture notes and discussion for this week’s class, one of the ways which many countries and cultural groups are able to acquire back their objects/artifacts legally is through the process of restitution and

On March 19, 2003 Baghdad was under fire. Three weeks later, American tanks roll into the Iraq capital scenes of triumph replaced by chaos. The US Military wasn’t prepared for citywide civilian crisis and eventually everything went up for grabs—even the treasures of the Iraq museum. The Iraq Museum have object materials from about half a million years ago – carvings, statues, and pottery. All the archaeological data was housed

Jan Nikolai Nelles and Nora Al-Badri, two artists, made headlines last month for announcing that they had sneaked into the Neues Museum in Berlin. They did not make the headlines for just sneaking into the museum. They had with them a hacked Kinect Sensor with which they performed an unauthorized 3D scan of the bust of Queen Nefertiti. If you have never heard about the iconic bust of Queen Nefertiti, you probably should read this. It is the most iconic artifact of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. It is 3,300 years old and is made of limestone and painted and coated with stucco.

Is it ethically right for museums to be able to take cultural artifacts from their country of origin? Antiquites should be to their country of origin because in cultures such as Native American tribes described in “Passage 1: Returning Antiquities to Their Countries of Origin in paragraph 4 written by Joyce Mortimer” some of their artifacts are now on display in museums for anyone to see, even though these objects were to be kept private and for religious ceremonies, not for the public eye to see. By museums taking away these objects from such tribes, they now lose a crucial part of their culture which really depicts their qualities and beliefs.

Recent radar scans in Luxor show evidence of two previously unknown chambers that connect to the tomb of Tutankhamun. The scans suggest this with 90% certainty, and they also suggest that the chambers contain organic matter and metal. While the prospect of fresh tombs that have been untouched for millennia already arouses excitement among anthropologists, archeologists, and many more, there is speculation that Queen Nefertiti's remains may be found in one of the chambers. While Dr. Mamdouh Eldamaty, Egypt’s antiquities minister, suggests that the remains could also be of the young pharaoh’s mother or sister, he says that this could still be the discovery of the century, much like Tutankhamun’s tomb was in the 1900s. Still, there is debate

The Middle East has faced many controversial topics over the last few decades. A recent problem has been the looting of artifacts and artwork from many different museums and important sites. During and after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, people broke into the National Museum of Iraq and stole thousands of artifacts, resulting in damage to not only the museum, but also the lives of Iraqi citizens. The looting in this museum caused it to close for many years, and many of the artifacts were never found. Although the looting of artwork in the Middle East is not a popular topic in the United States, it has been an ongoing controversy over the last decade, causing many problems for the people of Iraq and the culture.

Of the many crimes that are present in this day and age, one that not only vandalizes the property, but as well as historical background is that of art theft. A crime that has taken away the sanctity of churches as well as many other religious and historical sites. Thefts have ranged from WWII (World War II) to the times of the Holocaust. Of the items that were taken from the churches, relics were items of great priority. These items not only had great value to the churches they were stolen from, but a great value to relic collectors. Most of the items taking during these times were either sold or placed in underground storage. Most of these items that were place in these secret places were never to be seen again. From the

One artifacts that can be found on eBay is listed as a “rare Ancient Egyptian Middle Kingdom serpentine stone shabti.” A shabti is a funerary figured used in Ancient Egypt and was believed to be imbedded with magic that allowed the figure to come to live and work on behalf of the owner in the next world. This four and three fourths of an inch stone shabti is dated to be from the middle kingdom, more specifically from dynasty XII and had been estimated to have been made in 1750 BCE. An artifact of this stature is listed at the hefty price of $34,500 and being sold from the Harer family trust collection. Upon further research of the Harer family trust, it can be seen that they have donated many Egyptian artifacts from this similar time period to California State University at San