Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums

British museums have become used to requests that foreign treasures be repatriated. Greece has persistently requested the return of the Parthenon marbles, while some administrators have agreed to return the remains of Australian Aborigines. Now the pressure is coming from closer to home.

British pagan groups are increasingly asking for human remains and grave goods from pre-Christian burials to be returned to them as well. The presence of what they see as their ancestors in dusty drawers or under harsh display lights is an affront to their religion. To them, the bones are living beings, whose existence is bound up with their religious descendants and the sacred land.

Full story, from the Guardian

Greece eyes Elgin marbles

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece displayed two ancient, looted artefacts on Thursday that had been returned from the J.P Getty Museum and said the recovery of its most famous antiquities -- the Elgin Marbles -- was only a matter of time.

Full Story

It may not be that simple. A ruling in the High Court yesterday "was a setback for those trying to stop looters and return antiquities to their countries of origin" "The gallery's London lawyers, Lane & Partners, said [...] the court ruling would give countries "pause for thought" before trying to regain artifacts".

Paul Barford

Saga of the ‘stolen’ gold wreath could loosen British hold on Elgin marbles

The return to Greece of a spectacular Macedonian gold wreath from the 4th century BC may lead to the repatriation of several looted artefacts worth millions of pounds.

Court cases in Italy and Greece are increasing the pressure on museums around the world and could lead to widespread changes in the handling of ancient treasures.

From: Times Online

Ok, not the Elgin Marbles, but along the same lines.

Tajik leader wants treasure from British Museum

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov has ordered academics to seek the return of a collection of ancient Persian artefacts known as the Oxus Treasure from the British Museum.

Rakhmonov's official Web site, www.president.tj, said he had made the comments during a visit this week to Takhti-Sangin which lies on the Amu Darya (or Oxus) River on the Tajik-Afghan border. The treasure was found at nearby Takht-i Kuwad.

Full story from: Reuters

And rightly so,
if the boss lady had one of her
shiny hats nicked,
we'd want it returned too.
Unless chucks lad gets a made to measure one
that is.

quote:

Originally posted by kevmart:
And rightly so, if the boss lady had one of her
shiny hats nicked, we'd want it returned too.Unless chucks lad gets a made to measure one that is.

Well, why "rightly so"? The objects were not "nicked" but legally bought on the market from the (probably accidental) finders, just the same as many metal detected artefacts are today. The state of Tajikistan did not exist in 1880, the objects were found in the area which in the 1880s was the Russian Empire, though subject to British "influence" of various forms during the period of the so-called "Great Game". The problem is nobody is really sure where the objects were actually found (and the inference that they were a single find is just that). The Tajik allegation that they came from the temple at Takht-i-Sangin (on which it seems they will base their repatriation claim) does not tally with the scant documentation which survives from those who found and recorded the items in the 1880s, which suggests they came from Takht-i-Kuwad. In fact, since both sites lie next to the Amudarya river which is the frontier between modern Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the actual findspot could even have been in latter country. We simply do not know, and probably never will. I think instead of raising a fuss about what happened in the 1880s we should be looking at what is happening to the arcvhaeological heritage, not at the hands of accidental finders but the wholescale looting of archaeological sites all around the world to satisfy the greed of the antiquities market today. It is no accident that the antiquities trade (especially that part of it based in the US) and those allied with it are quick to point the finger in cases like the Elgin Marbles and Oxus Treasure, as if two wrongs make a right.

Paul Barford

Greeks could be allowed to borrow the Elgin Marbles

The British Museum has intimated that the Elgin Marbles could be lent to Athens.

Neil MacGregor, its director, said that, like any object in its collection, a loan would be possible if the Greek Government acknowledged the museum’s ownership of the sculptures.

The Greek authorities hailed his comments as unprecedented. One source told The Times: “This is the first time they’ve ever said they’d let them out of the museum. We’ve said we’re not disputing the ownership.”

From: TimesOnline

I was looking at the Elgin Marbles yesterday, while I was at the PAS conference yesterday.
It's an impressive display, taking up a great deal of space at the museum. Individually though, I found the carvings (very few of which are complete)to be rather disappointing.

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:

I was looking at the Elgin Marbles yesterday, while I was at the PAS conference yesterday.
It's an impressive display, taking up a great deal of space at the museum. Individually though, I found the carvings (very few of which are complete)to be rather disappointing.

Might as well let them keep them then.

GREEK and British officials will hold talks in London next month on Greece's ambition to reclaim the Elgin Marbles from the British Museum, the Greek government said yesterday.

The announcement came as the London museum indicated it could lift its refusal to let the 2,500-year-old marbles travel back to Athens, even as a loan.

This article: news.scotsman.com

A little more on that story.

A lengthy dispute between Britain and Greece may move a step closer to a resolution when sides meet to discuss returning the Elgin Marbles to Athens.

From: BBC News

On a similar theme.
...................

Egypt wants ancient artefacts back

Egypt has said it would ask museums abroad to temporarily send back some its most precious artefacts including the Rosetta Stone and bust of Nefertiti to be put on display in Cairo.

From: Ch.4

Aboriginal remains could go home

University museum bosses have met with Australian government representatives for talks on the possible return of aboriginal remains to Tasmania.

BBC News Report

An update to that story:

Aboriginal remains return to Tasmania after 20-year fight

The long exile has ended for 17 Tasmanian Aboriginal people whose remains, stored for more than a century among those of hundreds of other human beings in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London, were formally returned to their people yesterday. They will be flown back to their native land this weekend.

Story from the Guardian

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:


formally returned to their people yesterday. They will be flown back to their native land this weekend.

If I remember correctly, didn't Mandy H make the point that they are actually returning to a different people not their own?

I don't know the answer to that one. If that is the case I don't know why ?
Perhaps without DNA testing they can't establish their true home ?

Either way, I believe that it's a good thing that the remains are being returned.

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:
I don't know the answer to that one. If that is the case I don't know why ?
Perhaps without DNA testing they can't establish their true home ?

Either way, I believe that it's a good thing that the remains are being returned.

I think it was to do with the previous occupants of Tasmania becoming extinct and not really having so much in common with the current aboriginals on the mainland.

Game on again to win the marbles back?

Also troubling Greeks is the question over what the departure of Tony Blair would mean for the long-running battle to reclaim the Elgin - oops, Parthenon - marbles from the British Museum.

In the corridors of the Greek Culture Ministry, officials are whispering that a new broom in Downing Street may help their cause. The British PM's departure comes only months away from the opening of the long-awaited and, may I add, resplendent, New Acropolis Museum at the foot of the holy hill. The £93m, three-storey behemoth will put 'irresistible' pressure on Gordon Brown to give back the marbles, campaigners say. 'I am sure that the construction of the museum will provide a new, very powerful argument,' said the Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis.

Should London finally lose the Parthenon marbles?

A specially designed museum in Athens has reawakened the debate over the Acropolis sculptures. But will this be its final phase?

Guardian Story

Why don't we share them? Say two hundred years each go.

Stolen Artifacts Returned to Greece

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A stolen collection of about 100 artifacts dating back more than 7,000 years - including what appear to be very early human portraits - were displayed in Greece Tuesday, for the first time since being smuggled to Germany.

Guardian story

Marbles minister, Christos Zachopoulos, critical after suicide plunge

The Greek official responsible for seeking the return of the Elgin Marbles from Britain was in a critical condition last night after an apparent suicide attempt triggered by a relationship with an archaeologist on his staff.

TimesOnline

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