A date has now been set for the return of some of the Vindolanda Tablets to the museum at Vindolanda in Northumberland, following an announcement this week that the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund is to donate £4 million towards the costs. The date now set for some of the tablets to be housed at the Vindolanda museum is spring 2011 – they will come on loan from the British Museum for a period of five years, after which the loan can be renewed.
The tablets – a collection of 1,600 documents etched on thin wooden boards – represent the earliest forms of written language in Britain. The Latin incriptions were found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in 1973 and include records of the Roman army’s expenses as well as personal letters.
This good news comes three months after North East One pledged £1.8 million towards the funding of the display of
some of the Vindolanda tablets at their place of discovery – however, the substantial boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund has meant the project has been given the green light and a date is now set for the return of some of the tablets.
Patricia Birley, director of the Vindolanda Trust, told Journal Live “To have the letters back on public display would be wonderful and we are very excited. Negotiations with the British Museum have been excellent and they are fully supportive of our efforts to get tablets back to Vindolanda.”
Also Homeward Bound?
The Vindolanda Tablets will not be the only ancient objects from the British Museum that will soon be making their way northwards – it was announced on Thursday last week that the Lewis Chessmen, carved ivory 12th century chess pieces found on the Isle of Lewis, will also be leaving the British Museum on loan to join several other pieces from the chess set in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
And so the repatriation debate continues – should heritage objects be kept at the location where they were found, or at least in their country? Or is there a strong case to make for holding precious antiques where they are thoroughly protected and looked after by teams of restorers, historians, scientists and curators? In the case of the Elgin Marbles, it looks like the British Museum is sticking to its guns – and won’t let them go. For other objects, which however go out on loan (which makes a significant difference) and within the British Isles, the BM seems happier to oblige.
It seems that Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities can well identify with the Greek authorities when it comes to grievances against Western European museums hanging on to ancient Greek and Egyptian heritage. Dr Zawi Hawass said in August that he is compiling a case against Berlin’s Altes Museum concerning the Bust of Nefertiti. In an interview with Keith Payne, Dr Hawass said: “I will reveal [the evidence] in October when I write the letter to the Berlin Museum for the return of the piece, because it left Egypt illegally.”
Whatever Hawass’s letter contains, the repatriation debate is set to continue for a long while yet.