'Provenance' at SBL

I note that papyri are coming under the spotlight at SBL in San Diego this November. The session on 'Archaeology of Religion in the Roman World' includes a section on 'Issues of Provenance'. I have argued that the word provenance is now obsolete, and I would encourage participants to start thinking in terms of the collecting history of particular papyri and objects.

This session will consist of a panel of speakers addressing the ethical and scholarly issues concerning the presentation and publication of unprovenanced artifacts.

The line-up appears to be:

Organized by Christine Thomas (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Daniel Schowalter (Carthage College).

The speakers are: 

• Timothy Potts (Getty Museum)

• Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester)

• Michael Peppard (Fordham University)

Responses from: 

• Douglas Boin (St. Louis University)

• David Trobisch (Green Collection)

• Cary Summers (Museum of the Bible).

I presume that somebody will ask Michael Peppard about the documentation over the Late Antique mosaics acquired by Fordham. Will there be some searching comments about recently surfaced papyri. And will Tim Potts elaborate on the 'Sumerian' statue acquired by the Kimbell?