Abstract:Archaeological looting correlates with a number of problems, including the destruction of stratigraphic data and the damage and loss of artifacts. Looting is also understood to generate revenue, but systematic analysis of this issue is challenged by its opacity: how can we study the economic effects of archaeological looting when the practice is rarely directly observable? To address this problem, we estimate the market value of archaeological sites where artifacts have been previously excavated and documented, using a machine-learning approach. The first step uses 41,587 sales of objects from 33 firms to train an algorithm to predict the distribution channel, lot packaging, and estimated sale price of objects based on their observable characteristics. The second step uses the trained algorithm to estimate the value of sites in which a large number of artifacts have been legally excavated and documented. We make an out-of-sample prediction on two Syrian sites, Tell Bi’a and Dura Europos.
Abstract:Discussions about looted antiquities often focus on large, culturally and monetarily valuable items. Nevertheless, it is clear that mundane small finds, which sell for relatively small amounts, account for a large portion of the global market in antiquities. This article highlights two types of small artifacts—namely, cylinder seals and coins, presumed to come from Syria and Iraq and offered for sale by online vendors. We argue that the number of cylinder seals and coins sold on the Internet has increased steadily since 2011, reaching a peak in 2016–17. This shows that the trade in Iraqi and Syrian antiquities has shifted from big-ticket items sold in traditional brick-and-mortar shops to small items readily available on the Internet for modest prices. The continuing growth of the online market in antiquities is having a devastating effect on the archaeological sites in Iraq and Syria as increasing demand fuels further looting in the region.
This paper attempts to understand the position of the seal carver in Old Assyrian society, through a study of textual, archaeological, and glyptic evidence from Kültepe/Kanesh. Adapting to the new medium of the cylinder seal and a wide range of artistic traditions and foreign iconography, seal carvers at Kültepe served a cosmopolitan clientele, while creating a new glyptic style of their own.
Museum shops everywhere sell merchandise inspired by artifacts in museum collections. But to access this merchandise one must visit the museum itself or its website. What if people encountered elegant objects exquisitely decorated with imagery from world-renowned artifacts and archaeological sites from their own lands when they went shopping for teacups or salad bowls? Would it enhance their understanding, change their perception, or increase their interest in their country’s past? This chapter explores the use of archaeological heritage in Turkey in the creation of the “Anatolian Civilizations” and “World Heritage” collections by Paşabahçe, Turkey’s first and the world’s third largest producer of glassware. Embodying the company’s mission to “preserve Anatolia’s cultural heritage for future generations,” these collections of decorative objects representing canonical artifacts and ancient sites from Anatolia aim to introduce the region’s archaeological heritage to a wider audience. However, produced in limited editions with price tags between $75 and $350, they are within the reach of only a small, educated, urban group.
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