📚 I’m thrilled to share that “Researching a Rigged Game: Digital Approaches to Tracing the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects”, edited by @dremilinesmith.bsky.social and myself, is now published and available as Open Access via @springernature.com. 🔗https://lnkd.in/gBCv2KDH

“The old arguments against return are crumbling,” @monicahanna.bsky.social The new museum, she argued, was a signal to the world: “Egypt possesses the capacity, the will and the world-class facilities to house its own heritage.” www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/a...

In an era marked in Canada by systems of forced conversion and the moral scourge of residential schools, this Inuvialuit kayak serves as a reminder of colonialist iniquity and Indigenous resilience. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/11/06/v...

A really interesting read about rare book thefts www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

Excited (and relieved!) to share that I have officially submitted my doctoral thesis: “Tut on Tour: 30 Years of Demand Creation through Blockbuster Exhibition” at @uclarchaeology.bsky.social I’m grateful to my supervisors, colleagues, friends, and family for their unending support throughout!

'ChatGPT’s interpretation of contested memoryscapes favours the voice of current governments, capitalism and the far-right'. Our new article, led by Tania Gonzáles Cantera, is out. It is an outcome of Tania's visit to the #HeritageMindsLab @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social last yr doi.org/10.1080/1352...

On top of the valid points made by Morgan, this is an example of broadcasting a list of sites exact locations without protections in place, literally providing potential looters a map to sites that are not protected. All as a publicity stunt. #dobetter

The Met using its go to line of “you never owned it anyway” to not return something, even to the Rolling Stones 😂

Anytime something is linked to the “time of Tut”, that object skyrockets in market value. This publicity around the grasshopper is bound to increase its sale price. Was This Artifact From King Tut’s Tomb? It’s for Sale Anyway. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/a...

News | Man charged after glass case holding Stone of Scone is broken – ‘no damage’ to artefact after incident forced @perthmuseum.bsky.social to evacuate visitors

The presence of the mosaic in Germany only came to light after the relatives of the deceased contacted Italy’s Carabinieri cultural heritage protection squad in Rome and asked how to return it to the Italian state. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...

Concerns around loans from private collections meeting the new regulations standards and how that could impact museum loans; however, if private owners can't prove good-title than it shouldn't be shown in a museum anyway www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/06/26/w...

My heart breaks for this violinist 🎻 www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

250 members of staff at the British Museum have written to the institution’s leadership criticising the decision to hire its galleries to the Israeli embassy in London artreview.com/british-muse...

I mostly post about heritage related issues but this is an incredibly insightful read about the normalisation of atrocities and the need to stay informed and vigilant: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/o...

👏👏👏 This is an excellent read and a much needed counter to the absolute out of touch drivel that the BM's newest director was spouting in their recent interview with The Times. Museums have a responsibility to explain the realities of their collections 👏👏👏 www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/22/a...

Full house: Exploitation of #Indigenous land and destruction of #CulturalHeritage, all spiced up with a pinch of cultural chauvinism that calls into question #Aboriginal authorship of these sites in the first place ... 🏺 www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05... via @abcaustralia.bsky.social

Oops 😬

Moreover, what can students in Iraq learn from these antiquities? I assume nothing, because they don't get to engage with them. It is much easier to get Iraqi antiquities into the US (or UK, or anywhere in Europe), than Iraqi researchers.

Oh hey, it's my thing! Looted text finds from recent war zones! You know, the thing I've been thinking about for, uh, *checks notes* about seven years now! I haven't found an easy answer that lets me sleep soundly, but apparently, some people have. Good for them. Allow me to add some thoughts.🧵

Pallot told the court that their scam started in 2007 as “a joke”, a challenge to see if they could dupe the best experts. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/05/e...

If you're in Glasgow next week, please pop by to hear from our valued Universitas Gadjah Mada visitors! #epistemicinjustice #Indonesia #IPDF #UGM @uofgsps.bsky.social @thesccjr.bsky.social @uofgsociology.bsky.social @uofgartshums.bsky.social

Just imagine the headlines if this happened in the global south instead of the Louvre.... www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/05/05/l...

Sotheby's is about to auction off remains of the Buddha taken by colonial officials from India in 1898. "For the Buddhists who deposited them-as for Buddhists today-the gems, & his bone & ash, all belong to the Buddha & shouldn’t just be sold to the highest bidder." religionnews.com/2025/04/22/a...

In the latest court ruling in London on 11 April, the judge gave summary judgment against Phoenix, the brothers & a retired Swiss antiques dealer Roland Ansermet, in relation to the Nike statue for the claim based on fraud, dishonesty and fraudulent misrepresentation www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

The scale of his thefts became apparent in 2012 when a researcher saw a reference to an item he thought may have belonged in Scotland and raised concerns. NRS archivists went on to discover 2,900 items which had been stolen by Macmillan then gifted after his death www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

A useful read for anyone researching the field of cultural heritage crime and a necessary read for those who see the field as a pet project with no need for in-depth theoretical or methodological understanding. Great work @dremilinesmith.bsky.social and Michelle D. Fabiani! shorturl.at/KNYVk

Facing pressure to scrub its website of diversity and inclusion references, a JANM leader says the museum will ‘scrub nothing.’ 👏👏👏 www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Now Sotheby's is doing holiday tie-ins: This is from their announcement of the supposed oldest known kiddish cup, to go on display later this month and be auctioned off in October. www.sothebys.com/en/digital-c...

Further scrutiny of the recent return by the Art Institute of Chicago and what information was (and perhaps should have) been included in the process. I agree that more transparency in these processes is needed, however we also have to be realistic. www.propublica.org/article/art-...

"Right-wing collectors were fueling an online market for Nazi-era paraphernalia, and the workers feared that looters might sneak into the site at night looking for trophies" Very interesting read but caution that there are several images of human remains

👏 This is what responsible metal-detecting looks like 🥳 After Mr. Heads stumbled on a few pieces of ancient metal, his decision to immediately notify local historians allowed them to quickly protect the site and begin moving the discovery through the legal process. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/w...

✅ Leverhulme Phd Opportunity ✅ "Collections, Conviviality, Culture Wars: post-colonial redress from 1997 to the present" looks at the intersection of museum practice, parliamentary policy, community organising, & public debate relating to colonial redress and reparation www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/...

According to legal sources, Simonian has not responded to French summons to return to jail in Paris. It now remains to be seen if France will renew an arrest warrant and, if so, how German authorities will react. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/03/27/s...

@summeraustin.bsky.social and I wrote up a little piece on our visit to #TEFAF #Maastricht this week for @hyperallergic.com - Despite efforts to improve vetting procedures, the persistence of vague ownership points to an industry still grappling with its past #provenanceproblems

@dremilinesmith.bsky.social and I give some of our thoughts on the provenance of lots offered at TEFAF this year hyperallergic.com/997650/champ...

There is so much to unpack from this article but in the end, it comes down to the need for transparency from the Met if the public, communities, and researchers are to be confident that actual change is happening vs just business as usual with the veneer of change. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/a...

“Given the violence and racism that led to their acquisition, it would be unacceptable for these ancestral remains to be used for research, teaching or exhibitions purposes. www.abdn.ac.uk/news/24212/

The cost of fighting lawsuits and responding to an influx of inquiries has made the museum increasingly resistant to authentication requests. Without its imprimatur, however, large auction houses are unlikely to sell something attributed to van Gogh. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/a...

In response the White House said France should remain “grateful” to America for the country’s intervention in the WWII. However they failed to mention France’s key role in supporting the US during its war for independence from the UK in the 18th century. www.thetimes.com/us/american-...

Trotta was the main burglar of the group but turned govt witness against the group. Trotta previously pleaded guilty to one count of theft of major artwork. In addition to prison time, Trotta was ordered to pay over $2.7m in restitution. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/03/17/m...

Police detained Papadopoulos, a member of the right-wing ultra-religious Niki (Victory) party, for several hours before releasing him, he was reportedly charged with “a misdemeanour for minor property damage”. www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/03/12/p...

A measly $31,500 fine after the company pleaded guilty to unlawfully carrying out work at a sacred site for over 13 years www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03...