Julian Cope presents Head Heritage | The Modern Antiquarian Forum | local tv: metal detectorists vs archaeologists

Littlestone

5386 posts

Re: In the gloom

May 31, 2007, 09:00

I think you know me well enough by now Nigel to know that I would never condone the rape of our heritage in any way shape or form, and I completely agree with you and Paul in what you say :-) You are also right to point out that as a conservator I have (far more than) a tinge of annoyance about our history being ripped from our fields and sold for gain and that I'd also be hard pushed to propose a middle way.

If I may be allowed to present a slightly different facet to this discussion however: my first conservation studio at the British Museum was in Budge's Room (Sir Wallace Budge of Egyptology fame). The room lay at the end of the Upper Egyptian Gallery and to get there required walking through the Roman, Greek and Anglo-Saxon galleries (the latter at that time contained the Sutton Hoo treasures). At eight o'clock in the morning I had the galleries to myself and would stop off and gaze in wonder at the things on display. Many of those things were there, of course, because they'd been pilfered in one way or the other; but there they were and one could not but stand in awe before them. At the end of the day I would walk back through the same galleries, by which time they were teeming with people from all over the world and of all ages; people inspired by what they saw and some no doubt with their futures now directed towards gaining a better understanding of human history. Putting aside the arguments raging on this thread, it is after all, such objects that bring people to our museums and do engender greater understanding of human endevour and achievement.

I am indeed hard pushed to find a middle way but a middle way has to be found. I'll leave it to those more qualified than myself to find it but, in my humble opinion, it does seem to be, as you suggest here at http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/forum/?thread=40918&message=513022 that licensing as in Northern Ireland might be that way.

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Re: In the gloom (nigelswift)

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