Archaeological Views: A Case Against the Repatriation of Archaeological Artifacts

When I proposed a column to BAR editor Hershel Shanks on the issue of repatriation of artifacts to the country of origin, he said it was not something that engaged him. It didn’t matter to him, he said, where an artifact was located as long as it was available to scholars to examine and study, and was available to the public to see and appreciate. But Hershel is wrong. There is more to it than this. The real problem with repatriating artifacts is the sacrifice of one country’s history for the sake of another. Western nations need to begin […]