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The Stones and the Bones: Contemporary Issues in Cultural Property

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The Stones and the Bones: Contemporary Issues in Cultural Property University of Mississippi eGrove Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors Theses Honors College) 2007 The Stones and the Bones: Contemporary Issues in Cultural Property Christopher Michael Blocker Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis Recommended Citation Blocker, Christopher Michael, "The Stones and the Bones: Contemporary Issues in Cultural Property" (2007). Honors Theses. 1950. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1950 This Undergraduate Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College (Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College) at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Stones and the Bones: Contemporary Issues in Cultural Property By Christopher Michael Blocker A thesis submitted to the faculty of The University of Mississippi in paitial fulfillment of the requirements of the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College Oxford May 2007 Approved by Advisor: Professor Aileen Ajootian Reader: Professor Matthew Murray Reader: Professor Nancy Wicker Reader: Professor Charles Gates ackn()wu:d(;i:mi:nts I would like lo lhaiik Dr. Ailccn Ajootian for her help these past four years, as well as Dr. Matthew Murray. Dr. Nauey Wieker. and Dr. Charles Gates, my thesis readers. Ytuir insight has been invaluable. IV ! I How can we live without our lives? How will we know it's us without our past? John Steinbeck—The Grapes of Wrath V ABSTRACT CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BLOCKER: The Stones and the Bones: Modern Issues in Cultural Property (Under the direction of Aileen Ajootian) Cultural property has recently become an important issue in the international community. Major museums across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, have been involved in litigation or settled out of court with foreign governments who claim objects in their museums' collections were looted or stolen from native soil. The topic of repatriation occupies one aspect of the thesis. Another section is concern with the philosophical framework within which people may think about cultural property and its implications, as well as about vital issues in ownership. The major part of the thesis is dedicated to the modern controversies surrounding the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens and the excavated material from Machu Picchu, currently at Yale. I briefly sketch the history of each place and then investigate the excavations made and the laws in force at the time. Finally, I attempt to adjudicate each issue by offering solutions that would be beneficial to all parties involved. An appendix provides further examples of current topics in the field. VI TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE Vlll INTRODUCTION: APPROACHING THE CULTURAL PROPERTY DEBATE I CHAPTER I: A PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACH TO CULTURAL PROPERTY 5 CHAPTER II: THE CASE STUDIES 16 The Elgin Marbles: The Sculpture from the Parthenon 17 The History of the Parthenon 17 The Arrival of Thomas Bruce, Lord Elgin 28 Issues of Restitution 40 Recent Developments in the Elgin Marbles Debate 50 CHAPTER III: MACHU PICCHU 52 52 Bingham's Discovery of Machu Picchu 58 Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911 The Ancient Function of Machu Picchu 62 The Material Remains 66 76 Agreements between Bingham and Peru The Current Controversy 79 Conclusion 88 CONCLUSION 90 APPENDIX 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY 102 Vll Preface Before we begin our study of the issues surrounding cultural property ownership, it is important for readers to know why this essay topic was chosen. The author, Chris Blocker, is currently a senior at the University of Mississippi, majoring in classics, philosophy, and anthropology. He has done this work in an attempt to prepai'e himself tor the intellectual rigors of law .school and to have a more or less comprehensive understanding of human development in its many wonderful and diverse manifestations. More important, however, is the desire to construct a thesis could be applied practically to mitigate conflicts that affect the postmodern era in important ways. The study of cultural property ownership fits this desire perfectly. In today’s world, as in the past, treasures of cultural heritage are being openly sold and traded on the open market, which is thriving.* As a result, the economic forces at work are evident with disastrous effect, with a high demand for relics pushing auction prices to new heights. One has to look no further than the internet auction site Ebay.com to find examples of Egyptian, Greek, Phoenician, and Roman artifacts being sold to the highest bidder, some at ridiculous prices, all with dubious historical documentation. To supply this demand, again as in the past, tombs and other vital sites are looted for their pottery, gold, precious stones, or any other artifact that might fetch a decent price. The items are pulled from the graves or temples and the remaining material is scattered like debris, thus destroying the integrity and context of the prized artifacts. Additionally, much of what grave looters consider to be “ancient rubbi.sh,” as Schliemann once said, is really essential pieces of an elaborate puzzle, and when disarticulated, will never again be able to impart fully the vSec Appendix vm significance of the site. And vv'hen a site is looted, it is destroyed, erased from the archaeological record, and a piece of all of us goes with it. Many may shrug at the idea that cultural heritage preservation is an important national concern, since the war on terrorism and domestic economic woes due to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina are the primary focus of people's attention nowadays. Culture, however, is something that we can have and hold on to even when the waters surge and the levees break; an ethnic, national, and most importantly, human phenomenon that binds us together and gives people a sense of unity. Come what may- catastrophic tsunami in the Indian Ocean or a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, culture provides continuity with the past, a way for us to assuage the pains of the present with a means to believe in a future for ourselves. But what happens when these artifacts, so vital to the understanding of our own humanity, are pillaged by thieves from sites unprotected? We become isolated in our own time, unaware of the amazing similarity of humans then with humans now. As one famous archaeologist put it, being able to study the relics of the past is “of central relevance to the present time: only in this way can we seek to achieve a long-term perspective on the human condition."” A potentially vital history lesson in the art of living, of surviving this world, is raped from our collective memory when a tomb raider takes even a single ceramic fragment from its original, in situ location. I believe the people of the world must comprehend culture and its various manifestations as a value of highest importance. After all, the exploitation of cultural sites is an excellent bai-ometer of “regional warfare, poverty, and political instability. ..[in] the continuation of the ■ Renfrew and Bahn 2004, p. 9. IX international antiquities market."^ If preserving history means, as a consequence, solving these eternal problems, then our collective future is assured. Therefore, perhaps, saving history is analogous to saving society and the world at large. 1 Warren 1999, p. X Blocker 1 Introduction: Approaching the Cultural Property Debate In order to assess properly the legitimacy of a claim to a particular piece of cultural property, we must first construct a philosophical framework with which we can discover whether or not a claimant's assertion of ownership is justified. This effort assumes, of course, that one can in fact own the past, in the way one owns a car or other piece of property. And, if a right to ownership of cultural property is philosophically tenable, we must first have an idea of what constitutes the past, to know exactly to what a party is laying claim. Not only can the past and cultural heritage be thought of in terms of physical remains (i.e., archaeological artifacts, ecofacts, features and sites), but also in terms of the information derived from those physical remains. This process must be applied in order to present a thorough and systematic philosophical framework in dealing with each of the case studies presented. First, I advance a universally applicable definition of what defines the past and cultural property, followed in turn by an argument for any parties’ ownership of cultural heritage. Only then can moral and philosophical guidelines be constructed for the adjudication of the ownership debate. Additionally, in the design of this “ownership formula," there must be due consideration for all values and perspectives associated with preservation of cultural remains. For this purpose, several of the arguments historically used to justify ownership of cultural property will be analyzed. So then, what is the past? In addition to tangible, physical remains, such as archaeological sites and artifacts, the past consists of mental constnacts as well. The myths, information, and other relevant data that constitute what we call “the past" and Blocker 2 history are all part of this discussion. And while the difference between the two (tangible and intangible) is both obvious and significant, both must be taken into account if a comprehensive, integrative philosophy is to be constructed. Moreover, while both are important in the overall scheme, it is the difference between the actual artifacts and myths and information that distinguishes what is justifiably ownable and what is not. Is the past able to be owned? From a theoretical standpoint, this question is not so hard to ask. From a practical standpoint, it is quite absurd. Theoretically, the states and peoples that lay claim to the remnants of the past are not necessarily constituted by the descendants of the peoples that created them, nor are they usually representative of the values of said people.
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