How many ancient artefacts are on show at the British Museum? Sounds like an easy question: after all, surely it’s just a case of finding the right person and writing down a figure, right? I mean, the British Museum is the second most visited museum on the planet behind the Louvre, and well over half the Louvre’s collection is non-ancient (for an explanation of what ‘ancient’ actually is check out Jon’s blog here) – someone must know how much stuff is on show. For the short story, the numbers and how I came to my conclusions click here. If not read on and suffer with me.
First port of call: the museum’s press office, who could only tell me the museum holds a total of around 6,000,000 artefacts. Around? It’s not a great omen if the press office doesn’t even know its own total collection, let alone how much of that has made it from storage into display cases. I was whisked off to another department:”We have around six million items in total, sir, but I’m not sure of the number on display – maybe one of our guidebooks has what you’re after.”
Sounds like an easy question, right? Wrong.
No other web source had the answer, unsurprisingly, so it was off to the BM itself, on a balmy summer’s afternoon, to find out for myself just what its magic number was. My first port of call was the information desk. By definition that was where I should be looking, right? Again, no. I had a very nice flick through some of the museum’s guidebooks, and a perfectly pleasant conversation, but no number. So armed with nothing but a phone, notepad and a C in GCSE Maths I set off in search of the British Museum’s magic number (see the British Museum’s top ten treaures here).
I quick foray into the Egyptian Gallery later I’d noted 160 Egyptian artefacts, alongside 100 Near Eastern pieces (I counted the Assyrian Lion Hunt as one item). There were even fewer in the nearby Greek marbles room – just thirty with the controversial Elgin Marbles counted as one. But these were three of what I’ve cleverly dubbed the BM’s ‘big’ rooms, the showcase bits with the headline treasures like the aforementioned marbles and the Rosetta Stone. On my reckoning there are eight of these, counting the famously beautiful stair wells.
That leaves another 87 rooms unaccounted for 85 when you consider that two of the rooms, ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Life and Death’ are non-ancient. So I headed up to some of the ‘small’ rooms to see what they would add to the number. ‘Greeks in Italy’: 740 (roughly, mind I couldn’t count each and every item individually). ‘Cyprus’: 400; ‘Tomb of Nebamun’: 100 and the upstairs Egyptian galleries a whopping 1,500 between the four of them. Based on that information, and by checking how large or small the rooms are, I finally found my (rough) answer: 43,000.
How did I get 43,000? I flattened out each ‘big’ room’s items at 100, and multiplied by six. I then added this figure to that of the smaller rooms, which I averaged at 500 items per room. I then rounded down ever-so-slightly, though I think this number is fairly accurate. Even if I’m a fair distance out my number betrays a massive discrepancy between the museum’s six million artefacts in total and what’s on show: less than one per cent. I think we’d all like to explore the British Museum’s vast archives, but judging by this you’d be dead before you made it halfway.
For me, the press preview of the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibition, which opened in New York today, was a momentous event because I’ve never met Dr. Zahi Hawass before, and I got to look him in the eye and shake his hand and even ask him a question. I’ll come to all that in a minute.
The exhibition is impressive. I can’t deny that. There was a moment when I actually stopped dead in my tracks, mouth open (soon to be hustled out of the way by a pushy New York journo). This happened when I came upon a huge bust of Akhenaten, King Tut’s autocratic probable Dad, high, high atop a great slab of honeyed stone, lit with a powerful spotlight, his face astonishingly realistic, the lips curved, cruel, sensual. I felt like Shelley’s “traveler from an antique land” finding the ruined statue of King Ozymandias in the desert:
“…whose frown And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed. And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'”
Indeed, if you’re not careful, you’ll leave this exhibition more interested in Akhenaten than in King Tut. The Boy King’s story isn’t short on drama, of course. He ascended the throne at 9 years old, 3,300 years ago, and died, with mysterious abruptness, at 19. He was buried in the somewhat hastily prepared tomb initially designed for his much-older, non-royal advisor, Ay, who then took over the rule of Egypt and was, ironically enough, buried in the tomb originally begun for Tutankhamun.
Meet the (Probable) Parents
King Tut did plenty during his short reign, but much of it involved sorting out the megalomaniacal mess left by his father, Akhenaten, who made the rest of Ancient Egyptian rulers look positively shy and retiring. Akhenaten tried to force his people to abandon the traditional roster of gods, worshipping only one sun god, Aten, and moved the capital from Memphis (Thebes) to Amarna. He even messed with art, as the arresting bust shows, encouraging a new, much more realistic style that showed the human face with curves rather than straight lines.
All of this turned out to be a public relations disaster to say the least, and King Tut quickly restored public confidence in the divine right of kings in the third year of his reign by moving the capital back to Memphis and restoring a nice juicy pantheon of gods to worship, as well as changing his own name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun to demonstrate his respect for the god Amun rather than Aten. (Names, as I’m sure you know, had all the power of magical spells in Ancient Egypt. A traditional saying spelled out high across a wall in the vast interior of the exhibition warns that to speak the names of the dead is to bring them back to life.) All in all, King Tut was a populist way before he caused Tutmania in the 70s during the famous tour of treasures from his tomb that changed museum-going forever. But Daddy. I mean, wow. He was quite something.
The Man Without the Golden Mask
In any case, this is really all about Tut, and the organizers hope it will bring a resurgence of the breathless enthusiasm about this most famous of Ancient Egypt’s kings that swept the nation 30 years ago. It may well do so, but that brings me to a crucial point. There’s a ton of fabulous stuff in this exhibition, but there are none of the golden coffins, or the iconic golden death mask that covered King Tut’s mummified head on display in the 70s tour.
Okay, if you read the small print, you find that the mask, in any case, has been declared a national treasure and is never to leave Egypt again. But the ads for the show and the posters outside – in fact, absolutely every piece of promotion for the show – feature, exclusively, an image that looks very much like that famous mask, and only those who have been to the exhibition or are true experts on King Tut treasures would notice that this is a big picture of a very small golden coffin made for viscera (this one held King Tut’s liver).
The exhibition that toured in the 70s most definitely included the mask, and several other headline treasures missing from here. While the exhibitors makes every effort to get you to “meet King Tut”, including showing an extraordinary replica of his mummified body, I can’t help feeling it would have been worth making a replica of some of the big-ticket items so that people got a real sense of the full scale of the grandeur of King Tut’s burial trappings. Instead, there’s a very impressive video running on the wall of the room most related to the actual tomb; an animated film stripping away the outer wooden boxes, then the golden sarcophogi, then the golden coffins, revealing the mask at last. But in the center of that room, there’s just a smooth plinth with a fuzzy image on it. Frankly, it feels like Elvis has left the building.
Does King Tut Exhibit Deserve the Met?
I can’t help wondering if this is why the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which hosted King Tut in 1979, declined this exhibition, and it ended up at this relatively new and somewhat less grown-up venue. Dr. Hawass certainly had some harsh things to say about the choice of venue. “I have to say, I am not happy to see Tutanhkamun next to 42nd Street and Times Square, because it’s very commercial,” he lamented at the press conference, on Wednesday.”I think King Tut deserves to be at the Metropolitan Museum. Priceless artefacts should be at the Met rather than in this hall.”
He went on to publicly press John Norman, president of Arts and Exhibitions International, which organized the exhibition along with National Geographic, for an answer to his disappointment. Norman, put on the spot, gave a rather rambling explanation about months of negotiation, 6 years back, with the Met’s then-director, Philippe de Montebello, that basically revolved around money. “We couldn’t make it work,” Norman finally said.
Indeed, the exhibition looked destined to skip the biggest US city entirely, until Norman got a call last year from the director of the Discovery Times Square Exposition, offering up the newly-opened 50,000 square-foot space for the Boy King. Promised climate-control and water-tight security, Norman and Hawass agreed, and they were able to expand the exhibition substantially, giving it a truly New York scale. It is, indeed, luxuriously laid out, with enough twists and turns to give you a sense of real discovery as you move through a maze of rooms, one more fascinating than the last. Don’t get me wrong, this is a thoroughly worthwhile exhibition, and it’s beautifully presented. It just avoids the central question – dude, where’s the mask? – and would have been much better off addressing it head on, as it were.
Dr Zahi Hawass Takes to the Stage
Dr. Hawass is certainly a flamboyant and entertaining speaker and, aside from thoroughly embarassing his colleagues with bringing up the business with the Met, stole the limelight by announcing that one of King Tut’s chariots was on its way from Egypt, traveling outside the country for the first time, to augment the exhibition in its last manifestation before returning (allegedly permanently) home. He also claimed that a substantial part of the family tree of King Tut would be worked out within a month thanks to DNA testing. Stay tuned for more on that.
Further, Dr. Hawass is not afraid of addressing the subject of money. The exhibition is expensive ($27.50 for adults), he says, because half of the profits go towards the fabulous new museum – the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) – being built in Cairo to house King Tut’s tomb treasures and other wonders. And how can anyone complain, after all, he argues, when coffee at his hotel that morning cost $13 before tip?
So far, in the last four years, King Tut’s travels have raised $100 million for preserving Egypt’s heritage, and the organizers hope this stint in the Big Apple will attract 1.5 million visitors more, producing another $20 million for the Grand Egyptian Museum‘s coffers. In an exhibition dripping with gold, and all the symbolic gravitas it brings, and was meant to bring, the subject of money feels totally relevant, and even refreshing. However, you’ll see the show does its best when it is extracting the less countable currencies of awe and respect.
I asked Dr. Hawass, if someone could take away one piece of learning from this exhibition, what would it be? He said he hoped that people looking on this “brilliant art work” would understand that they were in the presence of a golden age when rulers exercised their power with “mait” (pron. “might”), a word for justice and truth, he said. (Mait was an Ancient Egyptian goddess.) “We have to learn how to rule the world this way,” he declared.
No small ambition, there. Indeed, there is much to mull over in this exhibition about power and the way it is exercised. One way or another, we still live in the shadow of these ancient cultures, where arrogance, pride, and self-regard seem to have been given absolute free rein. Don’t forget the symbols of power carried by King Tut in nearly every representation: not just a crook to show he was the shepherd of his people, but a flail too. Those of us who don’t know better would do well to note that this was an instrument for removing human skin while the owner was still very much alive. They’re still making rulers like this. The human appetite for power remains undiminished, its ravening scope controlled, often solely, by what the ordinary masses are prepared to put up with. King Tut knew that. It’s worth remembering it now.
Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs runs at Discovery Times Square Exposition until 2nd January 2011. Click here for more details.
34 ritual figures were located in total inside KV62, which was first opened and investigated by Howard Carter in 1922. Their function? Protection basically, and ritual use and all those things that we dont completely understand, Kamrin explains to interviewer Sharif Soaier, whom shes seen guiding around the many King Tut exhibits at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. They all have to do with religion, and especially funerary religion.
These representations of Tutankhamun are loaded with meaning. For the ancient Egyptians, many animals were associated with gods of different omens good and bad. Basically hes showing himself as the guarantor of order, says Kamrin, the proper order of the Egyptian universe. And how he does that is that he defeats the forces of evil. The hippopotamus is the representation of the forces of chaos or evil.
Dude Looks Like a Lady
Another very interesting thing about these statues and a lot of the other pieces in the tomb is that they were not originally made for Tutankhamun, Kamrin notes. Whoever was responsible for stocking the boy kings tomb with ritual figures and other spectacular valuables after his death evidently wasnt too precious about what they were or where they came from. Hes using pieces from maybe a couple of other kings funerary assemblages, she adds.
Tut had rather effeminate features, as modern reconstructions of his face have shown. A few of the ritual figures have a highly androgynous quality; others, some experts speculate, may simply be representations of women that look like Tut. Its very hard to tell males and females apart in certain ways, says Kamrin (evidently shes too polite to just take a look up the statuettes skirts). There are some things the shape of the belly button and other details. But, in the faces, you can see that not all of them are Tutankhamuns face.
A King Among Kings?
The question of why Tut was entitled to not only a wealth of his own unique funerary treasures, but also the pick of other kings and dignitaries afterlife stashes is a question that has troubled many an Egyptologist, Kamrin included. It makes you wonder was there something special going on? she ponders. Was Tutankhamun especially honoured?
One scholar, Ray Johnson, has speculated that Tut for some reason possibly his restoration of the cult of Amun, whose symbols were defaced and whose priests were stripped of power during the reign of his father Akhenaten may have been uniquely venerated by Egyptian society in an unseen way. Its very interesting, comments Kamrin, [Johnson] has a lot of way off the chart ideas. Thats one of them that maybe they loved him so much because he brought back the worship of Amun.
The generally accepted perception of King Tut is that he was a relatively unimportant royal, and that his tomb merely seems so lavish because its the only one to date discovered almost fully intact (the reasons KV62 escaped plundering are discussed by Hawass in another video). Perhaps this is wrong, and Carter in fact got doubly fluky by locating not just the only royal tomb to date in the Valley of the Kings that has evaded robbers, but also the finest royal tomb of them all? Only the discovery of un-plundered burial chambers of royals whom we know to have been of especially high-standing such as Amenhotep I or Cleopatra (Dr Kathleen Martinez believes shes close in this video) will provide the necessary grounds for comparison.
Keep a look out for the final installment of King Tut’s Treasures, which is coming soon!
HD Video: King Tut’s Treasures: The Ritual Figures
Egypt will host an international conference next March for countries seeking the return of ancient indigenous treasures being kept in foreign museums, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA and deputy-Culture Minister, said the conference – with Greece, Italy, China and Mexico attending – would be a world first.
”We expect around 12 countries to participate, possibly several more,” Dr.Hawass told the Herald. ”There is a moral imperative for museums around the world to return certain artefacts to the countries they came from, and we are going to identify how we can help each other to increase the pressure on the keepers of those artefacts.” Dr. Hawass added, ”I am calling on all nations who want their important artefacts returned to attend the conference.”
Egypt is demanding the return of six iconic pieces that are among the world’s most famous archaeological discoveries. “We own that stone, the motherland should own this,” Dr. Hawass told an Al-Jazeera audience two years ago, referring of course to the Rosetta Stone that now takes pride of place in the British Museum. Dr Hawass lists a top five “objects that Egypt, the homeland of the pharaohs, does not have”: The Rosetta Stone and Nefertiti’s bust; the Dendera Zodiac in the Louvre; the Statue of Hemiunu (the architect of the Great Pyramid) in Hildesheim Museum and the Bust of Ankhhaf (architect of Khafre’s Pyramid) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Add to that the mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, purchased by the St. Louis Art Museum in 1984, and you have Dr. Hawass’ big ‘must have (back) six.
The standards of our new museums in Egypt are better than the standards of security at the British Museum and therefore I decided that we are not going to ask for a loan. We are going to bring it back for good.
As for the Rosetta Stone, Hawass first asked the British Museum to lend the Rosetta Stone to Egypt for a temporary display at the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. However, he was angered when the BM’s trustees asked him to provide assurances that the stone would be safe: “The standards of our new museums in Egypt are better than the standards of security at the British Museum and therefore I decided that we are not going to ask for a loan. We are going to bring it back for good,” said Hawass. He is unlikely to make a formal request for the permanent return of the stone until next spring.
With thousands of artefacts sold on the black market over the past 100 years, Dr. Hawass has tightened security at Egypt’s air, land and sea borders. The Herald also reports on new laws that come into force this month mean that anyone found guilty of trying to smuggle artefacts will face up to 25 years in jail – which makes me wonder; is that sign ‘smuggling drugs will cost you at least one hand’ still up at the Cairo airport?
Should the Rosetta Stone, the Benin Bronzes, the Elgin Marbles and so forth return ‘home’? Or do they have a more noble cause, as ambassadors for the nations they originate from? Join the discussion on Heritage Key!
Below is short slideshow of some of the objects we ran across in our short visit to the Louvre. It is a fairly random collection of artefacts from Assyria, Greece, Crete and Egypt. Mainly these photos are the images that were better lit. I hope I got all the titles right, even haven taken photos of the tags didn’t make it that easy to figure out what is what now that I am back in front of the computer. It is a bit of a wonder why they place these incredible things around the museum with such care, but don’t bother much helping you understand what you are looking. Is the purpose of a museum just to show stuff or to make sense of things? Anyway, these objects are certainly beautiful and proof that the ancient world continues to reach across time and mesmerize us.
I think the images are a lot sharper when shooting close with a wider angle on the zoom. I tried to adjust the distortion in photoshop as well as correct the lighting to get a more realistic white balance. Even with the auto white balance all the different lighting types scrambled up my light meter.
The Neues Museum re-establishes itself as one of the premier ancient world destination in Europe–and the world really– after being closed since 1939. The collection combined with the restored/re-imagined building delivers an experience that every real ancient world explorer needs to embrace.
You need to get straight to the Main Stairs to start your exploration of the Neues. Feel the vibrations of history from the not so old Soviet bullet holes that still pepper the structural walls nearest the windows to the romanesque columns and classical castings from the Parthenon. Use the modern stairs to transport yourself across time and history at the Neues.
I made a fast blast through the museum this week and here is my short list of 10 items not to miss when you make your visit. Ilisted them in a sort of random tour as well. It jumps you across the Museum, perhaps not in the most efficient manner, but if you are in a rush, well plan a better day out and take your time to breathe it all in. (Don’t worry I will also share more photos and comments about more of the collection as well).
The presentation of this artefact is stunning and impacts us to link the ancient with the modern world. I would go straight to this piece, via the main staircase, when first visiting the Neues and then come back again before you leave.
Helios
136AD – Lycopolis, Egypt (Room 2003)
Facing Nefertiti from the furtherest end of the Neues to the other is the roman statue of Helios discovered at Lycopolis, theGraeco-Roman name for the modern day city of Asyut.
Isuppose it is some sense of humor to have Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten–the Sun God/King, facing the Sun God.
5th to 8th Century BC, Discovery Site Unknown (Room 305)
Leap up and way across the 3rd floor to see the weird, shimmering Gold Hat. You can imagine how the archaeologists that discovered this artefact must have been thinking at first “what is this thing?”
700,000 Years Old Biface
700,000 years old (Room 302)
Let your mind loose to consider the ocean of time that we are swimming in. Early man carved tools, such as this neolithic biface, to hunt and cut things. Have we really changed that much?
Schlieman’s Troy Treasures
(Room 103-104)
Ithink understanding Schlieman will also help understand the somewhat eccentric feel of the Neues Museum. Here are some of his great discoveries from Troy in his adventures to discover the heroes from Homer’s legends of the Illiad and Odyssey.
You can also note the comments about how some much of the German collections were sacked by the Soviets and still are in Russia to this day.
Lion Sarcophagus
3rd Century AD – Rome, Italy (Room 012)
The way the Lions curl away from this sarcophagus is extraordinary. They are the fierce guardains of the spirit of the dead.
The walk down the hall to see the statue of Amenemhat III is perhaps the highlight of the entire Neues Museum–you are meant to start your visit here I think, but Iwould put it in the end of a tour as it makes you see the entire collection fresh.
The mix of ancient, streamlined sculptures and the shabby-chic wall decorations are inspiring.
Seti I
Valley of the Kings, Egypt (Room 110)
A section from probably the most gorgeous tomb ever discovered. The discovery of Seti I’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings was the greatest find prior to King Tut.
Now the tomb is closed, so seeing this great column section in Neues is a spectacular treat. The colors and detail are awesome.
There are of course many, many more things to see at the Neues. At least the Top 10 items above will give you a flavour of what is awaiting every ancient world explorer at the newest part of Berlin’s Museum Island.
It doesn’t happen all that often that the battle over ‘mere tomb paintings’ makes headline news – why would they, when they have the highly debated return of the Elgin Marbles to the Acropolis Museum to write about? But the whole world was shocked last week, when Dr. Zahi Hawass accused France’s most famous museum of theft. Or at least, of purchasing looted artefacts and then refusing to return them to Egypt. Dr. Hawass hit back by refusing to let the Louvre’s Saqqara team dig in Egypt.
The Louvre stated that it was forced to wait for permission to return the artefacts. But now the committee has advised that the fragments from Tetiki’s tomb are to be returned – President Sarkozy has even phoned President Mubarak to ensure they’ll be shipped to Egypt in six days’ time. Dr. Hawass says: “When the objects return I will be very happy to renew our archaeological relationship with the Louvre and allow them to excavate again at Saqqara.”
As soon as the fragements arrrive in Egypt, possibilities to reinstate them in their proper position on the walls of TT15 will be looked into. If that’s impossible, they will get a prime position in the planned Grand Egyptian Museum.
Stolen Artefacts Still Abroad
The wall paintings of tomb TT15 in the Louvre are not the only artefacts whose return Egypt demands. They want to see the the mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer repatriated from the Saint Louis Art Museum in the United States, and artefacts from the UK’s Ashmolean Museum and the Royal Museum of Fine Art in Brussels.
Dr. Hawasswarns these organisations will see their excavations suspended as well: “Any museum that buys stolen artifacts will receive this same treatment.I was forced to cut archaeological ties with the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the Saint Louis Art Museum because they would not return artifacts, even after the SCA presented evidence they had been stolen.”
“I hope this story will be a warning to everyone not to deal in stolen antiquities.”
He adds that loss of cultural property is not the only risk, but that looters also damage the items that remain as well, by taking the artefacts out of their context. “When robbers enter the tombs and cut pieces out of the walls and take the objects, they are not just damaging the beauty of the tombs, they are damaging history,” adds Dr Hawass. “I hope this story will be a warning to everyone, all museums and archaeologists, Egyptians and foreigners, not to deal in stolen antiquities.”
Why does Dr. Zahi Hawass keep saying ‘stolen’. Isn’t this a case of ‘finders, keepers, sellers’?
Not according to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. When we say artefacts are in a museum ‘illegaly’, the museum authorities likely broke Article 7 of the internationally ratified treaty:
The States Parties to this Convention undertake:
(a) To take the necessary measures, consistent with national legislation, to prevent museums and similar institutions within their territories from acquiring cultural property originating in another State Party which has been illegally exported after entry into force of this Convention, in the States concerned. Whenever possible, to inform a State of origin Party to this Convention of an offer of such cultural property illegally removed from that State after the entry into force of this Convention in both States;
(b) (i) to prohibit the import of cultural property stolen from a museum or a religious or secular public monument or similar institution in another State Party to this Convention after the entry into force of this Convention for the States concerned, provided that such property is documented as appertaining to the inventory of that institution;
(ii) at the request of the State Party of origin, to take appropriate steps to recover and return any such cultural property imported after the entry into force of this Convention in both States concerned, provided, however, that the requesting State shall pay just compensation to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title to that property. Requests for recovery and return shall be made through diplomatic offices. The requesting Party shall furnish, at its expense, the documentation and other evidence necessary to establish its claim for recovery and return. The Parties shall impose no customs duties or other charges upon cultural property returned pursuant to this Article. All expenses incident to the return and delivery of the cultural property shall be borne by the requesting Party.
Article 7, Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970
While Turkey has managed to reclaim some major historical artifacts smuggled from Turkey to the US and the UK, it is still unable to implement effective measures against the smuggling of new ones. According to the “Cultural and Natural Assets Smuggling Report” prepared by the Culture and Tourism Ministry based on figures provided by the KOM – the Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau of the police department – Turkey sees higher statistics related to the smuggling of historical artefacts every year; in 2008, when authorities seized 42,073 historical artefacts and detained 4,077 suspects in 1,576 operations. In 2003 security authorities seized 3,255 historical artefacts that smugglers were attempting to take abroad. With a steady rise over years, this figure rose to 17,936 in 2007. As only the amount of seized items can be measured, there is no reliable, if any, information about the number of historical and cultural artefacts illegally taken outside the country.
Of course the smuggling of historical artefacts happens most often in conflict zones – like Iraq and Afghanistan – where the ongoing wars allow smugglers to operate freely. But Turkey is surely not a conflict zone? That is true, but still the majority of historical artefacts smuggled out of these conflict zones are shipped to Western countries via Turkey, to eventually end up in collections in the US, the UK, Switzerland and Japan. Antique coins make this trip most often; small and thus relatively easy to take abroad without detection – you can even smuggle one out in your wallet – they are the smuggler’s ‘favourite’ objects.
To counteract the increasing cases of smuggling of historical artefacts, security authorities asked for measures to be taken. There should be better security in museums to prevent theft, a sufficient and clear inventory of historical artifacts in the country should be composed and a bill to limit and inspect the use and sale of metal detectors should be passed. The Culture Ministry is likely to convey this proposal to the government in the coming days.
Probably the most significant item that was taken outside of Turkey is the Bergama Zeus-Athena Altar; however, this altar cannot be reclaimed as it was sold by an order from the Ottoman sultan of the time (sounds familiar?) at a very low price to Germany. The South Agora Portal of Miletos, too, had been taken out of the country in the same manner.
But for other artefacts, there’s still hope for return; there does exist a minor list of ‘artefacts abroad’ and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has already spent $17 million on reclaiming these artifacts and continius its efforts to repatriate more. According to todayszaman.com these artefacts were illegally taken out of Turkey and were – or were not yet – returned:
Germany – The Aphrodisias Old Fisherman Statue, the mihrab (niche) of Konya’s Beyhekim Mosque, the Hac Bayram Veli tomb and Troy artifacts. (Returned: Boazky tablets and Sphinxes, an Antiochos head fragment, artifacts from the Henkel collection, a terracotta statue, a marble bas-relief tablet and artifacts seized in Bremen and Tutlingen were returned to Turkey.)
United Kingdom – (Returned: The Ottoman tombac, the pulpit door stolen from zmir’s Birgi Aydnolu Mehmet Bey Mosque, artifacts from a sunken ship in the English Channel, artifacts seized at Heathrow Airport and a bronze Dionysus statue were returned to Turkey.)
Russia – Troy artifacts.
Austria – The artifacts seized at the Suben border crossing and triple Hekate statue still have not been returned. (Returned: The marble head of a woman was able to be reclaimed.)
The US – The Heracles statue, the Kumluca artifacts. (Returned: A 93-piece collection of Ottoman apparel, a seaman’s lantern, the Meleager head from the historical site of Aphrodisias, a lead seal, Atatrk’s silver cigarette case, a Quran stolen from the Nuruosmaniye Library and 1,676 Elmali coins were returned to Turkey.)
Denmark – (Returned: The Sphinx figure from the Diyarbakr Museum, the sarcophagus (sanduka) from the Akehir Seydi Mahmut Hayrani tomb, the Cizre Ulu Mosque doorknob, several Quran pages from the Nuruosmaniye Library and the screens of the portal of Konya’s Beyehir Erefolu Mosque were returned to Turkey.)
Italy – The process of the reclamation of an ancient inscription tablet seized by the Italian Interpol is under way. (Returned: a bronze vase was returned.)
Switzerland – (Returned: The Elmal coins, the statue of a woman stolen from the courtyard of the zmir Museum Directorate and some artefacts from the Roman era seized in Zrich were returned to Turkey.)
France – Many Lydian artefacts are still in this country.
The archaeological excavations at the royal palace in the ancient city of Qatna, north east of the Syrian city of Homs, have once again unfolded a remarkable archaeological discovery. The summer excavations, due to end on the 25th September 2009, located a rock tomb-cellar underneath the palace containing hundreds of artefacts as well as human bones from the period 1600-1400 BC.
Qatna was one of the most important kingships during Syria’s Bronze Age. It reached the height of its prosperity between 1800 and 1600 BC (Middle Bronze Age) and was then among one of the most powerful states in the Orient. Its royal dynasty continued until its destruction by the Hittites in 1340 BC.
The recent excavations – led by the German-Syrian team of Dr. Michel al-Maqdissi, Director of Excavations at the Directorate General of Antiquities in Damascus, and Professor Dr. Peter Pflzner from the University of Tbingen – give us a wealth of new information about the death cult of the kingship of Qatna, its artistic excellence and its relationships to other Old Orient powers 3500 years ago, by brining to light the existence of an unexpected second underground tomb-cellar.
The Bronze Age Royal Crypt
The discovery of the rock-cut tomb was made during excavations of the north-west wing of the the Royal Palace at Qatna. They German-Syrian archaeologists located a “slope basement” below ground floor level, its walls almost completely intact. A chamber bearing a collapsed timber roof, acting as an antechamber to the tomb-cellar, exists beneath the basement. A stone rock-cut leads from here into the spacious cellar itself. It is 4.90 by 6.30 metres large and is divided into two chambers by a wall hollowed out of the rock. The cellar is accessible from the palace and is integrated architecturally into its whole structure. Its use can be verified back to the later period of the palace in 1400 BC.
Ancient Sticks &Bones
A huge number of clearly visible human bones has been found in the tomb-cellar. The discovery of 30 skulls suggests at least the same amount of burials. The fact that the bones are stacked in groups rather than lying in anatomical formation is significant here. Particles of wood found suggest that at least some of them were placed in wooden crates or coffins indicating a secondary burial.
The amount of bones – in good condition under the circumstances – found is immense and significantly surpasses previous findings. Anthropologists Dr. Carsten Witzel and Dr. Stefan Flohr from the University of Hildesheim are carrying out an intricate examination of these human remains on site.
Artifacts imported from the Old Kingdom Egypt
Numerous vessels of ceramic and granite have been found. The latter are Egyptian imports whose production in the Old Egyptian Kingdom dates to a period 1000 years prior to the existence of the rock-cut tomb. Furthermore, the archaeologists discovered alabaster vessels which might also stem from Egypt. In one of these a collection of gold jewellery was found consisting of rings, rosettes and gold foils. In other parts of the tomb, chased gold foils possibly used for textile or furniture decorative purposes have been uncovered.
Egyptian influence at Qatna was already agreed upon earlier, as in previous excavations a 12th Dynasty Egyptian sphinx belonging to Princess Ita, daughter of Amenemhat II was found within the debris of Late Bronze Age Royal Palace.
Notable among the bronze artefacts found by the German-Syrian team is a heavy spearhead and a dress pin. A further finely crafted dress pin made from gold, a cylinder seal made from lapis lazuli as well as a seal in the shape of a scarab complement the inventory of artefacts found.
Of particular interest due to its fine craftsmanship and beauty is a stone sculpture of a monkey holding a vessel used to hold facial paint. Of great interest from the perspective of art history is the discovery of an ivory human statuette with a very finely carved face.
The identification of those buried in the tomb-cellar is now the task facing researchers, but the lack of inscriptions makes this difficult. Most probably the remains stem from members of the royal family or royal household of Qatna. However it is also possible that the remains originate from earlier royal burials placed in the cellar at a later point of time.
An exhibition entitled “Treasures of Ancient Syria – The Discovery of the Kingdom of Qatna” will be hosted from 17th October 2009 until 14th March 2010 in the Landesmuseum Wrttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany.
My name is Ansuman Biswas. I am an artist living in a Gothic Tower in the Manchester Museum, which is part of the University of Manchester, England. Over several months I have been exploring the museum stores and collecting my own little cabinet of curiosities.Each day over the next forty days I will choose an object from my collection and offer it up in a spirit of sacrifice. I will then destroy it. This destruction will inevitably take place unless someone cares for the object… .
MUSTDEFINITELYSTAY!!!
Brick Part of the Chinese Wall, this brick is not just Ancient History, but also a constant reminder of the fact that walls can – and often should – be broken down nowadays. For me it symbolises the physical borders that disappeared, and the more metaphysical ones that came into place.
Orphaned Labels Mankind still evolves – for the better, we hope – and so does our point of view on things. What was thought to be insignificant ages ago can now be of large importance, and vice versa. As time passes we learn more about the ancient cultures we’re studying, often having to re-label items. Yet the label we glued on an artefact in the 18th century, might tell us more about our own civilisation at that time. So take them out of the cupboard and put the most interesting ones on display, please!
Quite a manifesto, no? The Manchester Museum at The University of Manchester holds a collection of over 4 million specimens and objects, many of them Ancient Egyptian artefacts. Like many museums, only a small proportion of the collection is on public display. Artist Ansuman Biswas asks the public to reassess the value of the Museums hidden collections, casting light on a different object from the stores for each day of his residency.
The Manchester Hermit hopes to engage members of the public in debate about why museums collect and preserve objects, whilst allowing species and cultures to become forgotten and extinct. He also questions the relationship of human beings to the natural world, hinting at the inevitable extinction of the human race itself. The artist asks the public to comment via his blog on the individual objects, reflecting on how, why and by whom they are valued. He will be inviting the public to consider where these hidden gems are best housed and how they should be treated.
Working closely with the Museums curators, Ansuman Biswas will select 40 objects from the Museums vast collection, focusing on the hidden gems. Some of these objects will be highly valued in terms of their academic and scientific importance, rarity or aesthetic beauty, whilst others will be forgotten objects that have been overlooked and underused by the Museum.
Manchester Hermit will ask the public to comment via his blog on the individual objects, reflecting on how, why and by whom they are valued. He will be inviting the public to consider where these hidden gems are best housed and how they should be treated.
Read more about the ‘Why?’ on the Manchester Hermit’s blog. And if you see something on the ‘destroy’ list that you think holds value, definitely defend the object of your choice, so it may (re)claim it’s position in ‘on display’. May the best of objects survive! 😉
For me, the press preview of the 
I can’t help wondering if this is why the 
The exhibition is expensive ($27.50 for adults), he says, because half of the profits go towards the fabulous new museum – the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) – being built in Cairo to house King Tut’s tomb treasures and other wonders. And how can anyone complain, after all, he argues, when coffee at his hotel that morning cost $13 before tip?
These representations of Tutankhamun are loaded with meaning. For the ancient Egyptians, 
It doesn’t happen all that often that the battle over ‘mere tomb paintings’ makes headline news – why would they, when they have the highly debated return of the Elgin Marbles to the Acropolis Museum to write about? But the whole world was shocked last week, 
The archaeological excavations at the royal palace in the ancient city of Qatna, north east of the Syrian city of Homs, have once again unfolded a remarkable archaeological discovery. The summer excavations, due to end on the 25th September 2009, located a rock tomb-cellar underneath the palace containing hundreds of artefacts as well as human bones from the period 1600-1400 BC.
The Manchester Hermit hopes to engage members of the public in debate about why museums collect and preserve objects, whilst allowing species and cultures to become forgotten and extinct. He also questions the relationship of human beings to the natural world, hinting at the inevitable extinction of the human race itself. The artist asks the public to