Category: Third Force concerns

Interesting piece the other morning on NPR about tomb raiders who plunder historical treasures and sell them. Nothing new here but one aspect of the story really jarred. Seems an international treaty set up in 1970 forms the dividing line between what is acceptable for museums and rich collectors to purchase and what is not. Case in point was a Guatamalan treasure on display in the a Texas museum. The item was stolen but purchased prior to the treaty, so it is ‘legally’ owned by the museum though naturally the Guatamalan authorities feel it is rightfully theirs. The settlement offered by the museum is to create a replica for the Guatamalans to display on site while the museum keeps the original. And apparently this is far more than most museums will offer. The problem is complicated by the arguments made by the collector community that rests on their love of the objects and their willingness to save and keep safe treasures that would otherwise be pilfered, destroyed or ruined. You can read/hear the story at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10457558. The parallels with events in Iraq, one of the birthplaces of civilization, where the state archives have been looted and offered back to the authorities for a ransom hardly warrant further comment. This raises very interesting questions about how we teach information to the next generation of professionals.