survey

The results of the 'What value do replicas hold?' Heritage Key survey are in! Everybody agrees that a replica - regardless of how real it looks - can only ever be a duplicate. Yet the vast majority (79.28%) of those who took our 'What value do replicas hold?' survey see good use for these clones, in educations, research, protection from damage and saving on travel costs.

The Heritage Key team wishes you an amazing holiday and great - virtual and real - experiences for 2010 AD. We'd appreciate it if, during the holiday period, you could spare a few minutes of your time to fill out our survey on the value of replicas. The results will be published in our first 2010 newsletter and on the Heritage Key website.

Replica artefacts are becoming more and more of an issue nowadays, as countries race to preserve some of their highest prized treasures from the perceived ravages of mass tourism. Travel to Las Vegas and you'll see entire cities re-spun in the middle of the desert. Egypt is even planning a replica Valley of the Kings. But how far would you go without seeing the real thing? What value can a replica ancient wonder ever have?

The big Museums have the greatest advantage when it comes to the artefacts that the UNESCO heritage sites and others want back -- the big Museums have possession.  Further, the Museums typically reside in the countries that made the laws governing repatriation. But as cultural tourism continues to be a growing and massive business, the UNESCO sites are making their own big Museums and are able to hire their own lawyers to defend their interests (check Zahi Hawass' Most Wanted List).  The complex battle for who controls artefacts is really heating-up now. Perhaps the issue of who owns antiquity is possibly less urgent than who controls it.

According to the NY Times, an official from the Neues Museum in Berlin is headed to Egypt to discuss Dr. Hawass’s demand for the Neues' star attraction, the bust of Nefertiti. If it were up to you, where would the famous bust be returned or stay in Germany? Would you ship back the Rosetta Stone to Egypt? Return the Eglin Marbles to Greece so they can be reunited with the ones that Lord Elgin left behind? Take our survey now!

They claim the crisis affects us all, but did it influence the funding of archaeological excavations, conservation and research? The BBC reports it does, stating the consequences will be felt as far as property development: "The job losses in archaeology could threaten the start of recovery for the building industry as any site with historic significance has to be excavated before development can begin."