Reposting mostly so I can find; this reading list would make for a great freshman seminar!

Is anyone troubled by the fact that this is standard *fresco* imagery that has been translated to *mosaic*? That is a common practice of forgers (familiar iconography, fancier medium). Non-mythological erotic scenes in mosaics are extremely rare (I know of only 1 other example & it is questionable).

Horrifying, but NYT fails to mention the sculptor's ties to the KKK and also the desecration this monument represents to the Lakota Sioux at what had been a sacred site. These facts should be part of the conversation whenever we talk about this monument. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Bubon fans: the Babesch organization kindly published the text of the talk I gave last month in Leiden about the looting and circulation of the statues, in which I also imagined how they might have been arranged and rearranged on the pedestals in antiquity. www.babesch.org/byvanck-lect...

Obviously the seller has made a deeply unethical choice, but let's not overlook how unconscionable Sotheby's behavior is here too in agreeing to handle (and legitimize) this sale. www.bbc.com/news/article...

This statue is back on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art for a few months before its July repatriation to Turkiye. Sadly, the CMA is STILL trying to spin the story, refusing to admit they knew all along ... (1/12) hyperallergic.com/1006670/a-lo...

Looking for a thoughtful essay comparing the current U.S. moment and the end of the Roman Republic. Anyone know of anything? I promised my Roman Art students something along these lines but all I'm finding are lots of facile pieces comparing Trump to Nero.

In this article from 2019, I reminded the Met that its bronze griffin head was stolen from the archaeological museum at Olympia. Their response (included at the end of the article) was simply to sniff that the head "has never been the object of a claim." www.theartnewspaper.com/2019/01/15/t...

Cleveland Museum of Art finally admitting what they knew all along and doing the right thing with their statue looted from Bubon manhattanda.org/manhattan-da...

Brilliant essay; well-worth your time. 10 out of 10. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Important & meticulous corrective by Staffan Lunden on Dan Hicks' much-praised 2020 book _Brutish Museums_ about the 1897 looting of the Benin bronzes. I am among the many who uncritically accepted Hicks' unsubstantiated claims about the staggering ... 1/3 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Just dropped: major article on the outrageous "fragments scheme" whereby (evidence suggests) D. von Bothmer, curator @metmuseum1870.bsky.social conspired with antiquities traffickers like Giacomo Medici & Robert Hecht to get around export laws by BREAKING INTACT ANCIENT VASES INTO FRAGMENTS ... 1/3

Here's me doing my favorite thing last week: talking about the looting (and return!) of the Bubon bronzes, a story I have been researching, writing, and speaking about since 2012. www.npr.org/2024/12/08/n... 1/5

Gorgeous, new-to-me, 3rd- century gold glass family portrait in the Vatican.

To honor the passing of Colin Renfrew I'm revisiting some of his important work on the illicit antiquities trade over the years. A thread...

An extraordinary story out of Italy: five previously unknown silver objects were intercepted by the Carabinieri. It is claimed that they belong to the same set as the famous Morgantina silver purchased by the Met in 1982. www.archaeoreporter.com/it/2024/11/2... (in Italian)

A haiku for the season's first snowfall: Branches weighted down Spring up when the snow slides off, Scaring the puppy

Mesmerizing video footage of (unseen) cryptobros' mass insanity, driving the price to ever more ludicrous heights. The slow pans down the shaft of the banana are the best part.

Intact Etruscan tomb group, very nearly dispersed by looters.

Please art historians: someone do some sort of commentary on all the special rings, knives, jars, locks, etc that function almost like characters in the movie Conclave. The plot is whatever but that movie is a feast of material culture in action!

Added a photo of some of the looted Roman statues I work on to my profile and got a "non-sexual nudity" label slapped on my account. Fair I guess?

I bought this painting at a flea market in Berkeley in 2000. It is called "Water Dwellers." The artist is Chui Faising, who died in 2022. He painted it in 1970. Just sharing because I think it's beautiful.

The problem is that we have no idea how many of these are already out there circulating on the market. And with the closure of IFAR earlier this year, there is no reliable, disinterested body that can do the work of ferreting them out.

This thread 🧵 collects all the #archaeology 🏺 starter packs Share far & wide. We could all use a little more archaeology in our lives @cjfrieman.bsky.social made the OG Archaeology and heritage list with first wave Twitter refugee scholars & orgs. Go follow Catherine now! bsky.app/starter-pack...

Am about to delete my account on the Other Site. Did anyone do anything about saving some of their posts there before leaving?