Losing Knowledge: A Challenge for Archaeology

One of the greatest challenges to archaeology is the rapid loss of archaeological contexts. Archaeological sites have always been seen as a source of acquirable material: think of the Etruscan and Campanian cemeteries providing the 'vases' for the great collections of northern Europe. The construction of roads, housing and other infrastructure projects have inevitably cut into archaeological sites. One of the most imaginative responses was the creation of station museums on the Athens Metro to display the finds.

The industrial scale of looting at Mediterranean region sites from the 1970s has been highlighted by the revelations of the Medici conspiracy. Each lorryload of material that is returned from warehouse facilities in Switzerland represents 100s of archaeological contexts that have been destroyed and left (largely) unrecorded. Over 300 objects have been returned from North American public and private collections. Their acquisition in the first place reflects a passion for acquisition that was not matched by a professional desire to retain information.

In the UK there is the challenge that metal-detectorists continue to search unrecorded archaeological sites and remove the items without (always) asking for professional archaeological advice. The Roman cavalry parade helmet that was said to have been found at Crosby Garrett in Cumbria not only has no confirmed findspot, but it has now passed into private hands and is not available for regular public display. One of the most notorious recent examples was the removal of the Lenborough Hoard from a known archaeological site that appears in the Historic Environment Record (HER). Known archaeological sites are being deliberately searched, such as the Roman Saxon Shore fort at Bradwell on Sea in Essex. This is particularly tragic as part of the site has been lost due to coastal erosion.

One of the most pressing challenges is the preservation of archaeological sites in Syria and northern Iraq. The world's media have commented on the deliberate public destruction of monuments at the World Heritage site of Palmyra (e.g. noted here). At the same time there is evidence that archaeological sites in Syria are being systematically looted, and that some of this material is ending up on the market in London (e.g. discussed here). There needs to be wider public debate by archaeologists highlighting the loss of knowledge to the world's unique and irreplaceable heritage.

• The Grand Challenges for Archaeology: a Blogging Carnival

Blogging in a research context

I am grateful to Doug Rocks-Macqueen for the invitation to contribute to his "Blogging Archaeology" carnival for the SAA 2014 conference.

Doug and Chris Webster will be bringing out an e-book for the conference with 14 main contributions. I have written a chapter on the theme of "Blogging in a Research Context". It has given me the opportunity to reflecting on how "Looting Matters" emerged from an established research project, and how the blog enabled me to gather information for further published research. There is a section on the blog series linked to the PR Newswire press releases (and there will be an appendix with a list of the releases). I have included a section on the contribution of LM to the Journal of Art Crime, as well as mentions of the blog in other research print publications.

More details will follow.

Looting Matters: looking ahead

The Blogging Archaeology Carnival has asked contributors to reflect on the future of blogging.

I would like to think that the art market, private collectors, and public museums have now distanced themselves from handling recently surfaced antiquities and therefore there is no need to continue 'Looting Matters'. But in the coming days objects handled by Giacomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina are due to resurface on the London market through major auction houses. And in the last week it has been announced that Hungary has purchased part of the Sevso Treasure.

We also know that only some 1 per cent of the objects illustrated by the seized polaroid archives in Switzerland and Greece have been identified. So there is work to be done.

We are also aware of museums such as the Ny Carlsberg, the Allard Pierson Museum, and the Miho Museum that appear to have acquired recently surfaced antiquities.

Blogging requires time and that is a precious commodity. At a personal level I am about to change roles and that could allow for more time allocated to 'Looting Matters'. But would it be better to invest time in 'published' (i.e. print) outputs? But then there are times when the immediacy of blogging allows rapid comment and reflection.

I suspect that micro-blogging will become more important and that needs to be linked to blogs and online materials.

But the internet is changing along with the tools to generate information. Will I be incorporating self-generated audio and video commentaries within blog posts?

One thing that does need to concern bloggers is how we archive the information that we have generated over the years. Do we need a "blogging archaeology" archive? Where will it be hosted?

Blogging Matters: Carnival Issues

Doug Rocks-Macqueen's Blogging Carnival has set a question for January: "What are your best (or if you want your worst) post(s) and why?".

Is the best post measured in the number of hits? Looking back over the last year Looting Matters receives on average 250-300 hits a day (excluding RSS feed viewing and email subscription). Yet some days there were 600-700 hits a day. (Note that due to other pressures it has not been possible to post on a daily basis.)

And what encourages 'hits'? It is clear that there are weeks when there are clusters of hits on a similar topic, e.g. 'The Getty kouros', and it looks as if there is a student essay deadline looming. Or LM can be used as a learning resource for research seminars.

There was a marked increase in visits when I was invited to collaborate with PR Newswire to write a blog post linked to a short press release.

Do blog posts lead to publications? LM is a research blog and ideas are worked into more formal printed publications. So for example, comments on the Princeton University Art Museum were turned into a longer essay. And ideas on the UK Portable Antiquities Scheme formed the basis of a forum piece for the Papers from the Institute of Archaeology.

Does LM have an impact? Commentary on "surfacing" antiquities have generated debate. One of the earliest, from the autumn of 2007, related to a piece of Lydian silver that was due to be offered at auction in London. The impact of LM on the proposed London sale of antiquities from an Australian "private collection" was also significant. LM's discussion of the Minneapolis krater drew attention to the unresolved nature of this piece.

Do I have a favourite? I suspect it is the case of advertising on London buses in the spring of 2009.

Do readers have a favourite LM post? Leave a comment and say why ...

 

Blogging and Looting Matters

 Raising questions in Ipswich © David Gill

New Year's Day has given me a chance to respond to Doug Rocks-Mcqueen's "Blogging Carnival" where he posed the theme (for December): the good, the bad, and the ugly of blogging. In May 2009 I wrote on the topic Does Blogging Matter?

The Good
Web 2.0 allows researchers to respond authoritatively to stories as they emerge. Objects can surface in auctions and the blog allows immediate comment. My posts in conjunction with PR Newswire allowed the stories to reach a wider audience and to be picked up by mainstream media outlets.

The blog reaches an international audience. A snapshot from today (perhaps not typical!) suggests that the readership is drawn from the US (41%), UK (18%), Italy (11%), Canada (5%) and including FYROM, Cyprus, Hong Kong and Qatar.

Blogs are beginning to be recognised as an academic and citable resource. LM has had an honourable mention in Archaeological Reports as well as my Outstanding Public Service Award from the Archaeological Institute of America.

LM gives me the opportunity to collect material for my column, 'Context Matters', in the Journal of Art Crime. So a blog allows me to capture information that is noted in newspapers, magazines and new media.

Finally the blog has allowed the creation of virtual research networks with a community of bloggers commenting on similar themes. For example there were some helpful interactions over the bronze Apollo acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The Bad
Blogging is time consuming. In my previous role where I was contributing to a regular postgraduate seminar on collecting there was an incentive to develop fresh material. But new demands limit the amount of time that can be made available. Is time better spent on something that will appear in print?

There is a sense that the lack of comments suggests that there is little interaction. But how often do I comment on other blogs? I find that I read blogs on the iPad (using Feedly since the demise of Google Reader), and less frequently using 'The Old Reader' on a desk top. And I have also observed that comments are now made on Twitter rather than as a comment on the blog. So is the challenge how to capture all this additional 'chatter'.

The Ugly
Blogging about the antiquities market raises certain uncomfortable questions. A paid Washington lobbyist enjoys making dismissive comments about 'archaeo-bloggers' (even when the archaeologists making the comments can be in tenured university posts). Sensitivities over topics such as Heritage Crime in the UK and the silence from some who record the portable finds shows that blogging can create tensions. I was disappointed to note at a recent conference in UCL that those raising genuine concerns on blogs were being dismissed as 'trolls' (an abuse of the term?).