@mokersel
@mokersel.bsky.social
📤 906
📥 919
📝 76
archaeologist, adventurer, follower of pots and neolithic masks
If you are on the Southside of Chicago and have some spare time this evening. Drop by the Institute for Ancient Cultures. 🕖📕🏺🧿
14 days ago
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Ancient Desert Death Trap | NOVA | PBS
share.google/5PwBj9xBNlVn...
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Ancient Desert Death Trap
Explore mysterious 9,000-year-old Stone Age megastructures found in the Arabian Desert.
https://share.google/5PwBj9xBNlVnG8oSe
24 days ago
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#louvrehiest
hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-...
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The Louvre Heist Was a Colonial Wake-Up Call
The stunning theft reveals more than a failure of security: It lays bare how austerity, neglect, and unresolved colonial legacies continue to haunt the museum.
https://hyperallergic.com/1051113/the-louvre-heist-was-a-colonial-wake-up-call/
29 days ago
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🏺“Israel and the settlers whom you have joined have weaponized archaeology in Jerusalem and the West Bank, using it as a lever to dispossess Palestinians,”
www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologis...
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Archaeologists dig in against antiquities bill aiming to deepen Israel’s hold on West Bank
A push to shift oversight of excavations in the territory to a civilian authority sparks worries of creeping annexation, with researchers fearing they'll bear brunt of any backlash
https://www.timesofisrael.com/archaeologists-dig-in-against-antiquities-bill-aiming-to-deepen-israels-hold-on-west-bank/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMWoStjbGNrAxagz2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeV4mQQhOmaqMREcj6AHgcD0kGJktzGVX_eB9BzchF07t-TbCogeRclhEXil4_aem_jBo3x6cyg1DFIMvQgg7DYQ
3 months ago
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✒️🏺new special thematic issue - Caring for Culture.
#openaccess
#archaeology
#heritage
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
🏺👏
3 months ago
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@jebarr.bsky.social
ricochet.media/indigenous/d...
I'm sure you are watching this contemporary "department store" sale
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Despite requests from Indigenous leaders, HBC artifacts will not be returned
Those interested in the items have been required to sign non-disclosure agreements
https://ricochet.media/indigenous/despite-requests-from-indigenous-leaders-hbc-artifacts-will-not-be-returned/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwMIAnFjbGNrAwgCZmV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEe5WKMdugQNfl69tiZzSzrNrbQ5uaJDk2fPN_CWZNwCqlOjiYBmgdYp3cscF4_aem_wwaYJdgpn-97ubX3WkRbBQ
3 months ago
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Good read
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Advances in Archaeological Practice
5 months ago
“Laws are living documents that should change with the times,” write Tess Davis &
@helenaarose.bsky.social
. In AAP’s latest FirstView piece, they examine the roles of the CPIA in combating the
#illicittrade
& propose strategies to improve current practices for safeguarding
#culturalheritage
.
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Antiquated Policy? Rethinking Cultural Property Agreements with Foreign Governments under US Law | Advances in Archaeological Practice | Cambridge Core
Antiquated Policy? Rethinking Cultural Property Agreements with Foreign Governments under US Law
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-archaeological-practice/article/antiquated-policy-rethinking-cultural-property-agreements-with-foreign-governments-under-us-law/9E1EFF014A146C0BD08EF8FE81D8E37E?fbclid=IwY2xjawLKqYFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETF3UWJieDZmOHQzMHhrUnhqAR4k6k-50V973qtQC8LtNNhS-r8AvCU3RwoqPfG83a2kjqsh-YJYNMvDAVZoRw_aem_ykKp9AEAFh7cl6nORjOawA
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reposted by
@mokersel
plundered art
5 months ago
If this article is accurate, the EU does not sweat the "small stuff", viz., antiquities that are worth less than 18,000 euros and are 200 years or older and not produced within the EU.. Most plundered objects fall under this value exception. Ergo...
news.artnet.com/multimedia/a...
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Antiquities Face More Red Tape | Artnet News
New import regulations in Europe are compounding an already confusing trade landscape. Plus, what are the art hot spots this summer?
https://news.artnet.com/multimedia/art-market-minute-jun-9-2653576?utm_content=from_www.artnet.com&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=06/09/25%20US%20AM&utm_term=US%20Daily%20Newsletter%20%5BMORNING%5D
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reposted by
@mokersel
Taylor Mitchell Brown
5 months ago
Archaeological looting is a common consequence of war. Recently I spoke with several experts to better understand this relationship at Khirbet Keila, a 4,000-year-old archaeological site in Palestine’s West Bank. New at
@science.org
🧪🏺
#Archaeology
#Gaza
#Paleosky
#AntiquesTrafficking
#Heritage
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As war rages in Gaza, archaeological looting in the West Bank has spiked
Economic collapse in Palestinian territories has led to illegal digs at prominent Bronze Age site, new study finds
https://www.science.org/content/article/war-rages-gaza-archaeological-looting-west-bank-has-spiked
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reposted by
@mokersel
Mark Boslough
6 months ago
“more is at stake than just this paper. Many of the authors of the work on Tall el-Hammam were involved in a 2007 paper, also published in a leading scientific publication, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences”
www.iflscience.com/tunguska-lik...
www.iflscience.com/tunguska-lik...
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Tunguska-Like Event May Not Have Inspired Biblical Tale Of Sodom and Gomorrah After All
The idea made for a hard-to-resist story, but the claims were built on sand in more ways than one.
https://www.iflscience.com/tunguska-like-event-may-not-have-inspired-biblical-tale-of-sodom-and-gomorrah-after-all-79359
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Happened on community archaeology in Greenwich Park
@uclarchaeology.bsky.social
6 months ago
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Walked the path of the ancient river Fleet
6 months ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Mark Boslough
7 months ago
Retraction Watch just announced the pending retraction of the Comet Research Group's Sodom & Gomorrah pseudoarchaeology paper. The authors are not taking it well.
retractionwatch.com/2025/04/23/s...
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Sodom comet paper to be retracted two years after editor’s note acknowledging concerns
The authors’ reconstruction of what the blast’s impact area may have been. Source Scientific Reports will retract a controversial paper claiming to present evidence an ancient city in t…
https://retractionwatch.com/2025/04/23/sodom-comet-paper-to-be-retracted-two-years-after-editors-note-acknowledging-concerns/
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reposted by
@mokersel
Art Collection Ethics
8 months ago
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced the return of 12 antiquities to Cyprus and a 6th-century Silver Medallion to Spain, recovered through investigations into illegal antiquities trafficking, including the case of convicted dealer Robin Symes. Read full story here:
bit.ly/4jelHbx
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reposted by
@mokersel
Michael Press
8 months ago
Laundering looted antiquities through the use of an old collection? Forged provenance documentation? I investigate the case of Cumberland Clark, a forgotten early 20th-century collector who has become relevant again
doi.org/10.1017/S094...
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Constructing Provenance with Old Collections: The Case of Cumberland Clark | International Journal of Cultural Property | Cambridge Core
Constructing Provenance with Old Collections: The Case of Cumberland Clark
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0940739125000049
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Using antiquities as decor. With a little Plato thrown in.
8 months ago
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Go see this film
9 months ago
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Further normalization of occupied archaeology.
arch-js.co.il?page_id=781&...
imagine presenting a keynote on Iraq and Syria in this context.
#archaeology
🏺
10 months ago
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Checking out Athena at Wrightwood659
10 months ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
The University of Chicago Legal Forum
10 months ago
@mokersel.bsky.social
and
@pgerstenblith.bsky.social
survey the legal changes since ISIL’s looting of cultural heritage sites in the 2010s and find that cultural heritage protection remains trapped in an inconsistent and reactive, rather than proactive, framework.
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The Battle to Protect Archaeological Sites in the West Bank
An archaeologist from Palestine is urgently working to assess archaeological sites in the West Bank devastated by destruction and looting amid Israel’s ongoing war in the region.
https://www.sapiens.org/archaeology/west-bank-heritage-looting-destruction/
10 months ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Elizabeth Marlowe
11 months ago
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
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reposted by
@mokersel
Judith Barr
11 months ago
Provenance friends at
#AIASCS
, there is non-stop provenance next Saturday from 11-5! Both workshops 5B and 6B will be hybrid and I will be around to applaud my MAPRA colleagues - come say hi! Learn more about MAPRA here:
www.mapralliance.org
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MAPRA - The Mediterranean Antiquities Provenance Research Alliance
https://www.mapralliance.org/
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Sotheby's sells 10 Commandments to the highest bidder for $4.2 million USD.
11 months ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Dr Rebecca Wragg Sykes
12 months ago
Great news! 🏺
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
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Talks over return of Parthenon marbles to Athens are ‘well advanced’
Exclusive: Keir Starmer reiterates support for British Museum reaching deal with Greek PM, who visits UK on Tuesday
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/dec/02/talks-over-return-of-parthenon-marbles-to-athens-are-well-advanced?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
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Penn Museum quietly shared this week that it had discovered another set of human remains that match records for Delisha Africa, the 12-year-old MOVE bombing victim. It had long denied possession of her remains.
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Penn Museum finds more human remains from MOVE bombing
The bones match records for 12-year-old Delisha Africa, who was among 11 people who died when police dropped explosives on a West Philly rowhome in 1985.
https://www.phillyvoice.com/penn-museum-move-bombing-human-remains/
about 1 year ago
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If you are interested in antiquities trafficking, provenance research, collecting ethics, repatriation issues this is for you
add a skeleton here at some point
about 1 year ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Times Higher Education (THE)
about 1 year ago
Is academia to blame for the bloody trade in antiquities? Papyrologist Roberta Mazza faced intimidation and legal threats when she blew the whistle on the multimillion-pound trade in illicit papyri. “Stolen Fragments“
#AcademicSky
#Highered
www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/academ...
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Is academia to blame for the bloody trade in antiquities?
Papyrologist Roberta Mazza faced intimidation and legal threats when she blew the whistle on the multimillion-pound trade in illicit papyri
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/academia-blame-bloody-trade-antiquities
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reposted by
@mokersel
Texas Observer
over 1 year ago
Our top story: As the researchers proceeded to search for textiles, they realized they had stumbled onto a crime scene. A massive theft of pre-Columbian art reveals troubling truths about Texans’ role in the illicit antiquities trade.
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Anatomy of a Pre-Columbian Art Heist in Fort Worth
A Texas Christian University professor and students probe the unsolved mysteries surrounding the 2001 thefts of dozens of artifacts.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-heist/
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"one stipulation — it must be made available for public display."
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Oldest Known Inscription of Ten Commandments Heads to Auction
The approximately 1,500-year-old tablet could fetch $2 million at Sotheby’s.
https://hyperallergic.com/966104/oldest-known-inscription-of-ten-commandments-heads-to-auction/
about 1 year ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
s. e. smith
over 1 year ago
Keep your eyeballs on the West Bank; the Israeli government has illegally seized 6,000 acres THIS YEAR. (gift link)
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Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state
Israeli land grabs, settlement expansion and demolitions in Palestinian communities mark the most significant territorial changes in the West Bank in decades.
https://wapo.st/4fIn7ud
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Great new open access resource
www.uclpress.co.uk/products/210...
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Methods and Methodologies in Heritage Studies - UCL Press
Methods and Methodologies in Heritage Studies offers succinct, easily accessible analyses of the disciplinary debates, intellectual legacies, and practical innovations that have led to understandings ...
https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/210473?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31c4Ci57MYA92GGDcfCkLnuqjUmaK_FlS3YvhcKbaO-zRYBJ4Tn_Xt4GA_aem_DjOR-U_vQvDZFLfrgiLh1Q
over 1 year ago
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New project alert:
@museumofloot.bsky.social
a virtual gallery to collect, display and study looted antiquities repatriated since 1950 – and the trafficking networks behind them.
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Museum of Looted Antiquities
The Museum of Looted Antiquities collects, displays and studies ancient art and artifacts that have been repatriated to their countries of origin since 1950.
https://mola.omeka.net/
over 1 year ago
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"As Chicagoans go about their daily routines and visitors go about their site-seeing, most are unaware or unconcerned with memento mori nearby." (Re)Visit the past ...
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(Re)visiting the Past in the Present: The Power of Place and the Malleability of Monuments
Archaeology aspires to reveal the layered meanings of ancient places. Can studying contemporary urban landscapes help us better understand monuments and the power of place in the Ancient Near East?
https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2024/05/revisiting-past-in-present?_zs=KbUgB1&_zl=vkXR7&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0evFXSOPfcU-cf34yaK7GcGQhxpO6dTbwZ_uGcezQXuBes3Dc9HOyrofo_aem_AXOa5nA9XxLfzYZYWCy58AAFOYJgvEyOcivXFGP9P-fxpd4KhYdrG2XRCCjcQerCJVAxtDaGuWUryztlbtL42dWi
over 1 year ago
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Archaeological land grab. Annexation in the guise of tourism.
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Israel appropriates 42 acres in West Bank’s Etzion Bloc, declaring it state land
Gush Etzion mayor hails move that will allow tourism development at Herodium site; Smotrich orders demolition of three illegal Palestinian buildings over terror shooting
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-appropriates-42-acres-in-west-banks-etzion-bloc-declaring-it-state-land/
over 1 year ago
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Dreams of rebuilding Gaza: five culture workers share their stories
The war in Gaza has resulted in catastrophic human losses. Behind the statistics lie the lives of individuals who have worked to preserve the exclave’s precious and often ignored heritage sites
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/02/29/dreams-of-rebuilding-gaza-five-culture-workers-share-their-stories?fbclid=IwAR311OwOgMbsSGo8BJygyhAP-S0spqqeGAPqTVIr2VW8cr5iBqkJR56HBtc
over 1 year ago
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"For experts in museum ethics, LACMA’s handling of the situation is unsurprising yet unfortunate. To them, the prevailing ethos is catch-me-if-you-can."
www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/ar...
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Does LACMA Have a Looted Art Problem?
Hollywood helped the institution build a world-class Asian art collection. But with scholars raising questions about the origins of some priceless works, curators are wondering how much they’ll have t...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/lacma-looted-art-problem-1235823663/
almost 2 years ago
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reposted by
@mokersel
Erin L. Thompson
almost 2 years ago
I cannot say if there is a divine world beyond our visible one. But I do know that Western publications and exhibitions of Himalayan cultural property are the visible manifestations of a whole hiddden universe of money, power, crime and loss. New piece here:
www.himalmag.com/culture/hima...
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The real secrets around Himalayan art surround those who collect it
Other people’s secrets are especially interesting. Their content hardly matters. Rather, the draw is the feeling of power that comes from knowing something that
https://www.himalmag.com/culture/himalayan-artefacts-theft-repatriation-western-collectors-john-loomis-rubin-museum
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Review of the contentious Stern Collection of Cycladic Figurines on display at the MET
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https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/arts/design/cycladic-art-stern-metropolitan-museum-greece.html?unlocked_article_code=1.T00.qYt4.GQgCxO3UxUyU&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=c-cb&fbclid=IwAR3nCBpqFIAeRaDXLm4wO25V6Uqbjd3qVY7J8JN3tFsoNmqGmc0A_NZ3KoY
almost 2 years ago
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On empty museum cases and leaving labels
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Return the Stolen Artifact, But Keep the Museum Label
Naming the wrongs of the past is hard, especially when the wrongs have not yet been entirely righted, but it's crucial.
https://hyperallergic.com/870144/return-the-stolen-artifact-but-keep-the-museum-label/?fbclid=IwAR0Ybg_rZgv9tosWOC56rfXpATR5u6bHw-LKbMCnvxuAFisjwqJsYWzCZ7s
almost 2 years ago
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Erin Thompson New York Times opinion on museums, objects, and repatriation.
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Opinion | Mighty Shiva Was Never Meant to Live in Manhattan
After decades of plunder, museums are coming in for a reckoning. They should be thrilled.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/04/opinion/museums-artifacts-stolen.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
almost 2 years ago
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"As it is, the bone lab operates within a liminal space between public access and secrecy."
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Inside the ‘Bone Lab’: Columbia’s Room of Human Remains - Columbia Daily Spectator
<i>Updated March 2 at 6:46 p.m.</i>
https://www.columbiaspectator.com/the-eye/2023/02/26/inside-the-bone-lab-columbias-room-of-human-remains/
almost 2 years ago
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Fascinating read with artifacts used in hostage negotiations.
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How a U. of C. Professor Wound Up a Prisoner of Iran
Archaeologist Abbas Alizadeh traveled to Iran for work. He ended up arrested, accused of espionage.
https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/february-2024/how-a-u-of-c-professor-wound-up-a-prisoner-of-iran/?fbclid=IwAR3ydvqaqdoej8bGQSBaVNxdqCpJ-5uSynJB8c1d7iFAPLC6zrkVLESSRjI
almost 2 years ago
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"Illicit actors target and destroy cultural heritage to further their propaganda, diversify their revenue streams, and systematically subjugate communities."
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Identities Destroyed, Histories Revised: The Targeting of Cultural Heritage and Soft Targets by Ill...
On May 27, 1993, a car bomb blasted through the side of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, killing five and wounding around thirty others, and destroying hundreds of priceless pieces of art in the...
https://thesoufancenter.org/research/identities-destroyed-histories-revised-the-targeting-of-cultural-heritage-and-soft-targets-by-illicit-actors/
almost 2 years ago
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A museum model for the future or a very effective laundering scheme?
www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/01/25/m...
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'An exciting new model for repatriation': rotating display of Cycladic treasures, on loan from Greec...
An innovative agreement between the Metropolitan Museum, American businessman Leonard N. Stern and the Greek government led to the new display of 161 Cycladic antiquities at the New York museum
https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/01/25/metropolitan-museum-bruce-stern-cycladic-art-collection?fbclid=IwAR0384KHHc7xJtcw6dEhF2wU5cXSpZgM9vdP_7YjnPfv9ZdOR6oEXouGOeA
almost 2 years ago
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Important read
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The Past Is Being Destroyed in Palestine — As Well as the Present
Amid widespread damage to historical sites, images of Israeli soldiers posing with ancient artifacts in Gaza highlight the risk to heritage beyond the bombs
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-past-is-being-destroyed-in-palestine-as-well-as-the-present/
almost 2 years ago
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"Egyptologist Monica Hanna carried out extensive research into how it was spirited out of Egypt and its links with the Nazi leadership which refused to hand it back."
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Queen Nefertiti bust 'should be treated as Nazi loot and returned to Egypt'
Artwork is on display in Berlin but Egyptologist Monica Hanna says its Nazi links make solid case for restitution
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2024/01/11/queen-nefertiti-bust-should-be-treated-as-nazi-loot-and-returned-to-egypt/?fbclid=IwAR1l-esX5j2JRiZcs7dzYSMII2oxDRa5QwhJ--asH3z-FttMU7o1eQPW7ls
almost 2 years ago
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Today! The next FOA Webinar, featuring Dr. Yorke Rowan, moderated by Dr. Chad Hill. Learn about life in the rural landscapes of Neolithic Jordan, as well as the surprising structures and petroglyphs uncovered. Register now!
buff.ly/48nO9To
almost 2 years ago
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