Jen Trimble on Iconoclasm and the Modern Materialities of Ancient Sculpture

Back in June last year, in the aftermath of the fall of Colston and US debates about confederate statues, we had Jen Trimble (Stanford) talking to us via Zoom about “Carving, Recarving, Deforming, Destroying: Modern Materialities of Ancient Sculpture.” The recording of her lecture is available here:

“The Italians Have No Legal Title to Repatriation”: Another Glyptotek Update

Reconstructed context: “Etruscan tomb” in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Photo: TMK, August 2006. I have neglected to report on the on-going series of articles in the Danish newspaper Information on the negotiations between Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen and the Italian Cultural Ministry (previously discussed here, here, here, here, here, and here). The series […]

Contrasting Archaeological Narratives in Jerusalem

Silwan, Jerusalem, to the right, the City of David Archaeological Park, to the left, the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan/Wadi Hilwa. Photo: TMK, June 2009. As archaeological sites go, few are as contested as Jerusalem. The website “From Shiloah to Silwan: An Alternative Archaeological Tour of Ancient Jerusalem” presents an important contrasting narrative to that promoted […]

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Back in the News

The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen was back in the news yesterday. Politiken reported on the recent negotiations between the museum and Italian authorities (“Glyptoteket tilbyder at udlevere etruskisk skat“, the Glyptotek offers to return Etruscan treasure; also reported in Jyllands-Posten with a slightly more smashing headline: “Glyptoteket afleverer plyndret skat“, the Glyptotek returns looted […]

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Speaks Out on Hecht-Medici Case

A relief of Victoria in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (acquired in the 19th century and thus not under investigation by Italian authorities…). Photo: TMK, August 2006. I’ve reported intermittently on the connections between the Hecht-Medici case in Rome and a number of archaeological artefacts now in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen (here, here, and […]

The Destruction of Pre-Christian Monuments in Mexico

The destruction and mutilation of pre-Christian monuments played an important and very tragic role in the Spanish conquest of the cultures of modern Mexico. Notoriously, the monuments and temples of Tenochtitlan were demolished in such a thorough fashion that very little of the once glorious city remained visible until the discovery of the Templo Mayor […]

Geopolitics of Archaeology

Here’s a very interesting series of radio programmes on the “Geopolitics of Archaeology” from Chicago Public Radio’s Worldview. They are downloadable for iPod or teaching use. I found the following particularly interesting: – Global Market for Stolen Antiquities with Neil Brodie and Richard Leventhal – The Origins of Western Civilization (2 parts) with Martin Bernal […]

9/11 and Archaeology

‘Archaeological’ remains of American Airlines flight 11 on display at the Intrepid Museum, New York City. Photo: TMK, January 2006. Going through old files, I came across this photo from the Intrepid Museum in NYC. An odd combination indeed: the scattered remains of one of Manhattan’s most important landmarks and parts of the airliner that […]