Censoring Knowledge: The Case for the Publication of Unprovenanced Cuneiform Tablets

Congenial Bedfellows? The Academy and the Antiquities Trade

“…Any attempt to persuade the academy to reflect on or to discuss publicly the possible social harm of its work will be rapidly construed and dismissed as censorship and a threat to academic freedom (Boardman, 2009, p. 114; Owen, 2009, pp. 125-126).…”

“…8 Furthermore, they reiterated that there is no evidence to suggest that academic study and publication of unprovenanced artifacts increases their market value, thereby acting as a spur to further looting (BAS, 2006, para. 6; Owen, 2009, p. 129). In 2006, the Biblical Archaeological Society 9 published on its website a statement of concern about the policies of nonpublication adopted by some academic journals (BAS, 2006; Eakin, 2006), and by July 2007 it had attracted 157 signatures.…”

“…Many scholars, however, primarily epigraphists, began to argue that written materials such as cuneiform tablets constitute a special case, in that the historical information they contain exists independently of find context and thus is not compromised by loss of context (BAS, 2006, para. 2; Boardman, 2009, p. 121; Finkel, 2004, p. 42; Owen, 2009, pp. 127-128).…”

To publish or not to publish unprovenanced archaeological artefacts?

“…This scholar repeatedly uses the word "censorship" to describe the position of those who advocate non-publication, his criticism goes so far as to place the nonpublication of the results of a scientific excavation on the same level as that of publishing artefacts without provenance (Owens 2009). excavations, reaching the same result, that is, the destruction of knowledge (Tabitha 2014: 21-22;Owen 2009). We consider that the two situations should not be confused, as they are clearly two different problems.…”