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2010-04-28T23:07:00.001-07:00

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Calling it quits?

2008-09-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

As it is apparent to me now that quite a few of the people supposedly still involved in trying to help protect the archaeological heritage of Iraq, are more concerned with petty quarrels and finger pointing, I think I'll be calling it quits as far as this blog is concerned. I may leave the archive up as my traffic statistics do indicate that IW&A continues to be used every day. I enjoyed trying to be of some assistance esp. in 2003-2004, I even think I did at least a few things right, but I have no time or energy to spare anymore to deal with such futile arguing.

Sorry!

Baghdad Museum, Clarington, Ontario

2008-08-31T00:37:00.000-07:00

A while back, I was emailed a poem, written by Antony Di Nardo in the Winter of 2004, which I'd like to share.
•
Baghdad Museum, Clarington, Ontario

after visiting an exhibit* of work by contemporary artists
at the Clarington Gallery** responding to the looting
of the Baghdad Museum during the invasion of Iraq

We can see the war just north of the 401,
the ziggurats of ancient sand
crumbling on these walls and around the world
outside these rooms
there’s a bowl of brass and a bowl of clay
and a bowl of souls
launching into media desperate dreams of red white
and blue soldiers wasted
in their helmets, the soft sands of time like hands lost
in the Ur-glass groping for
the artifacts of the week that’s gone, the world that fell,
the wreck of the reckoning past
with the old ways under foot, we have to face them all again
in headlines, op eds, talking heads,
and to think that on this side of the world we juxtapose
cinema Dorothy’s
ruby-painted shoes circa 1940 beatified to praise those deserted
years of Hollywood,
but not quite so in a military grab, in a colonel’s gab, so what,
so fuckin’ what
if the lapis lazuli is lost in the rubble, the Sumerians'
first record of the first
writings blown to smithereens, the armed tanks rumbling
outside spent museums
guarded by grenades, the irony of the fear of native looters
now that the past is pillaged,
the clay pots the clay heads the clay soldiers here at the end of time,
the time they slipped up,
marching on a painting of the elegant skeleton man in the valley
of the thirsty kings, the Tigris
and Euphrates, picked like a peach a plum a date palm
stuffed in an old man’s head
for desert shade, for the justification of justice done to all,
the way forward
lost and lost again in the long-time lion and the bear
resurrected out of wax,
out of a time of hunger, the lion sinking into the bleak
bear’s haunches –
these were all on the walls, in the rooms, under the roof
beneath the winter sky in Clarington
among the dreaded wombs of unwed mothers, the video
that failed to show itself
the truth, the march of crimes on blue floors cycling through
the columns of the right
and left guard watched over by the sullen eyes which a princess
slave with double-sided tape
peeled off her mouth her feet her object of desire
that they’ll never get
like the deer with antlers radiant on someone else's wall
calls affection to itself
and the buckskin warriors in camouflage and fitted boots
glued to their maps and guns
and helmets wired to the skulls behind the masks we look through
with our eyes on the first frontier
where we see a man made of steel, and outside in the snow,
in a glass case,
the man made of burs, the footprints that were made
in the snow to get us here
and back again to the 401, the angle of the sun this winter’s day
so blinding.

* Catalog picture shown above; BAGHDAD MUSEUM, January 11-25, 2004, Exhibition Curated/Essay by Margaret Rodgers, Project Coordination: Margaret Rodgers and the Iris Group, ISBN 0-9733768-1-3, Price: $3.00
** Clarington Gallery is affiliated with the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada.

IW&A word cloud

2008-08-29T03:04:00.000-07:00

I have just discovered this wondeful tool: Wordle. "Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes." This is the result for the IW&A Blog site:

Food for thought...

Check out my other blog: Word Face-Off

2008-08-14T23:59:00.000-07:00

Check out my other blog, Word Face-Off, which strikes a lighter tone than IW&A. For every post, I select two words or concepts and find their popularity in Google (relative) and Google News (absolute), using Google Trends. The resulting graph is instructive or interesting or unexpected or... you tell me! My IW&A blogging will continue but with a slow pace for the time being.Technorati Profile

Ossendrijver Iraq photos, 2

2008-08-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted for some time... Here's something to tide you over: more Mathieu Ossendrijver photos from his Iraq trip in 2000 (I posted the 1st batch in 2006—time flies!). This time they were taken at the archaeological site of Aqar Quf (ancient Dur Kurigalzu, approximately 30 km/19 mi W of Baghdad). It was the capital for a while during the Kassite period, occupied from the 14th-12th cent. BC. See also University of Chicago Oriental Institute. Archaeological Site Photography for more pictures. The most prominent feature is the remains of the ziggurat with the surrounding (reconstructed) buildings:

Remember Iraq?

2008-06-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's easy to get swept up in the fervor of the US presidential race. There are floods in the Midwestern US, the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe is showing one more time what a dictatorship looks like. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are expecting another baby—twins even! But... but the situation in Iraq is still a catastrophe of gigantic proportions, even though the media are not paying much attention to it anymore. Dr. Juan Cole, on his esteemed Informed Comment blog, reminds us of the ongoing tragedy, a situation where "normal" is a condition that in any Western country would be considered a total chaotic disaster, a breakdown of society as we know it:

"By now, summer of 2008, excess deaths from violence in Iraq since March of 2003 must be at least a million. This conclusion can be reached more than one way. There is not much controversy about it in the scientific community. Some 310,000 of those were probably killed by US troops or by the US Air Force, with the bulk dying in bombing raids by US fighter jets and helicopter gunships on densely populated city and town quarters.

In absolute numbers, that would be like bombing to death everyone in Pittsburgh, Pa. Or Cincinnati, Oh.

Only, the US is 11 times more populous than Iraq, so 310,000 Iraqi corpses would equal 3.4 million dead Americans. So proportionally it would be like firebombing to death everyone in Chicago."

He continues:

"The wars of Iraq-- the Iran-Iraq War, the repressions of the Kurds and the Shiites, the Gulf War, and the American Calamity, may have left behind as many as 3 million widows. Having lost their family's breadwinner, many are destitute."

And:

"But over 500 a month dead in political violence is appalling enough. The Srebenica massacre in 1995 killed 8,000. At the average rate of death in Iraq this winter and spring, a similar massacre will have been racked up in 2008. In the Northern Ireland troubles over 30 years, about 3,000 people died, and it was widely considered a bad situation. That death toll is still being achieved every 6 months in Iraq according to the official May statistics.

And, of course, by the rule of 11,that death toll would be like nearly 6,000 Americans dying in political violence every month, or 72,000 a year. (Note that this 72,000 figure would only be political deaths, since it does not include criminal homicides). The annual total murder rate in the US is about 16,000, including political violence, what little there is. The US is one of the most violent societies on earth, and Iraq in May makes it look like a pacifist convention."

I could keep on quoting but you must read this article completely, yes, I mean you!

Protecting heritage at times of war

2008-06-20T17:46:00.000-07:00

There's a good article out in the latest issue of the Getty Newsletter, co-written by Corinne Wegener for whom I have a lot of respect:

"At the end of 1943, as war raged in Europe, General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to his commanders in Italy, clearly expressing his intent to spare cultural property from damage whenever possible:
'Today we are fighting in a country which has contributed a great deal to our cultural inheritance, a country rich in monuments which by their creation helped and now in their old age illustrate the growth of the civilization which is ours. We are bound to respect those monuments so far as war allows.'
This statement and other protective measures for cultural property were a direct result of concerted efforts by governments, the military, and cultural heritage professionals of many of the Allied nations to protect Europe's cultural heritage during World War II."

Further along she writes:

"The Coalition Forces in Iraq did not have the kind of M[onuments, ]F[ine ]A[rts, and ]A[rchives] units that were present during World War II. While most countries still have Civil Affairs units, few cultural heritage personnel serve in today's military, leaving most military commanders without this expert advice. Furthermore, units receive little training on cultural property protection beyond instructions to avoid damage during military operations. Some European nations maintain Civil-Military Cooperation units, including a small force of reservists who are cultural heritage professionals; however, their deployment is often hindered by their nation's rules regarding entry into combat areas."

In response to her experiences in Iraq, she has been instrumental in founding the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS) as well as, together with her co-author Marjan Otter, the Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield which will co-ordinate the national organizations' work in times of armed conflict or natural disaster. I will give Mses. Wegener and Otter the last word:

"The choice is ours. If we, as cultural heritage professionals, continue to act as individuals and function within a variety of discrete organizations, we will almost certainly fail the next time colleagues in a war-torn country need us. However, if we unite in support of the Blue Shield organizations created to protect cultural heritage during armed conflict, we can make our voices heard and perhaps even be influential enough to prevent the 'next time.'"

Iraqi heritage status update

2008-06-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

At the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium I was frequently asked about how the archaeological heritage of Iraq is faring these days. Also, today I am cleaning out my email inbox and came across some stuff I hadn't looked at yet. The Los Angeles Times published an excellent article back in January:

"BAGHDAD -- He works as a blacksmith in one of Baghdad's swarming Shiite slums. But at least once a month, Abu Saif tucks a pistol into his belt, hops into a minibus taxi and speeds south. His goal: to unearth ancient treasures from thousands of archaeological sites scattered across southern Iraq."

Read the whole article, it paints a pretty good picture of the situation. Also, the New York Times published a good article in February on the National Library in Baghdad and its courageous director Saad Eskander:

"Saad Eskander, the director of Iraq’s National Library and Archive in Baghdad, finally had some time to catch up on his diary after a couple of very busy weeks. As he wrote in his latest entry, he was having trouble repairing the Internet system; the Restoration Laboratory 'was hit by 5 bullets;' and 'another librarian, who works at the Periodical Department, received a death threat. He has to leave his house and look for another one, as soon as he can; otherwise, he will be murdered.'"

Read it. Both articles were brought to my attention by the Iraqcrisis mailing list where many fine colleagues (esp. Chuck Jones) post the little information we are still able to obtain.

I would also like to thank SAFE - Saving Antiquities for Everyone for their continuing efforts. Recently, they again organized a Global Candlelight Vigil to remember the anniversary of the looting of the National Museum in Baghdad five years ago. One of the vigils was held at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ:

Finally, some good news. Syrian authorities seem to step up their efforts to intercept smuggling of ancient Iraqi artifacts (Report: Syrian customs officials seize 40 Iraqi stolen museum pieces from smugglers, in the International Herald Tribune, May 21, 2008):

"... the pieces were seized at al-Tanaf crossing on the Syrian-Iraqi border. They were hidden in a bag in an Iraqi crossing into Syria. The artifacts include different-sized glassware and clay tools." "This is the third smuggling attempt aborted in less than two months by Syrian customs officials. Last month, the Syrian Cultural Ministry handed Iraq back some 700 pieces of looted priceless antiquities seized inside Syria."

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 9)

2008-06-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

There was sunshine, coffee and cookies—not for me, I'm a diabetic :-( —and we're back in the auditorium of the Fowler Museum. John Lynch (UCLA) presents: Tracing Portable Archaeological Finds: The UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology and the Challenges of Digital Archaeology. It's all about context! We gather more of it nowadays than ever before but our publishing and storing of it hasn't changed: paper. Digital publishing has all these advantages: updatable, as many images (in color) as you want, etc. But we still usually make facsimiles of the paper versions. The UEE is going further, e.g., geographical and geospatial searching/interacting. You can take info and use it in Google Earth, even with, for instance, chronological evolution of a site and its 3D-reconstructed buildings. The process of going back and gathering the data for 3D models of excavated buildings can lead to correction of the original (paper) publication, e.g., Robert Cargill's new theory on Qumran. The technology used by the Wii (with its handheld location determination in reference to a fixed point) could allow for easier collection of geospatial data. Open-access, public data is what is needed: complete, timely. He mentions the Open Context database and pointed me out as the one to ask expert questions... A typical report is an interpretation of what was excavated, which is good, but why not also publish all primary data to allow colleagues to searching across excavation datasets and solving new questions. It does also allow for long-term preservation of data as copies spread all over the world. Why is the new approach not widely adopted? Sharing is not encouraged: data receives its value from being secret, you need it for publications that will give you tenure. Furthermore, policies in different countries and licensing authorities are not yet requiring open access. There is also the problem of technical difficulties. Open Context uses ArchaeoML, an XML-based format. The content of the UEE will be peer reviewed and authors' rights will be reserved for limited time.

Liz Werden presents Condition Change at Painted Rock: 3D Laser Scanning for Conservation Documentation. Painted Rock is located inside Carrizo Plain National Monument, in San Luis Obispo county, California. By the way, I notice that the official website of the National Monument doesn't seem to mention the rock art, which is probably for the better. Oddly enough the US Geological Service has pictures up on their website (see the photo I used). She mentions that for every day of scanning, you have to count on 5 days of processing.

Craig Mauzy (American School of Classical Studies at Athens) talks about Analog to Digital: Transforming the Agora Collections to the 21st century. The ASCSA has been excavating the Agora in Athens, Greece, for the past 77 years. He shows an interactive QTVR (Quicktime Virtual Reality) tour of the Agora site. They are mandated by Greek policies to eventually provide open access to their excavation data and research. Nearly 400 houses were on top of the excavation site before work was started in the 1930s. They are now transferring the card catalogue into a digital database and scan the photographic archive. When they are excavating today, they enter items immediately into the database.

That concludes the symposium. It was very interesting. I hope I didn't bore some people too much ;-)

Update: I corrected a location name.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 8)

2008-06-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with colleagues on a sunny patio. Nice to be back inside an air-conditioned building though :-) Here we go with the next session: Developing Virtual Collections, introduced by Diane Favro (UCLA).

Our first speaker is Ron Street (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York): Molding Reliefs from the Pyramid of Amenemhat I, and 3-Dimensional Imaging for Sculpture Conservation. He is most of his time involved in making commercial replicas but also does scholarly projects. He went to the actual 12th-dynasty pyramid of Amenemhat I (ca. 1970 BC) in Lisht, Egypt. For large items, milling is still the only affordable way of making a facsimile. 3D-imaging produces a better replica however. It was used in the re-reconstruction of the Ur-Nammu stele to create a virtual model that allowed to improve upon the original reconstruction from the early 20th cent. It's not back in the galleries yet. He shows other projects, emphasizing that the hand of a skilled artist is still needed to do the ultimate retouching and finishing of a facsimile.

Next is Jean-Angelo Beraldin (NRC Institute for Information Technology, Canada) focuses on 3D scanning, modeling and processing. The patented technology that the Visual Information Technology Group developed is even used by NASA. He shows a video giving a brief overview of cultural-heritage applications of their 3D expertise. There are 3 acquisition methods: triangulation, time of flight, inferometry. Using 3D data and modeling software is not easy to use, the experience of the scanner matters. Color is added either by measuring reflectivity or by draping photos over the 3D model. Technologies are comercially available but mostly for manufacturing and infrastructure industries. A business model is still missing for cultural heritage applications.

Kandace Pansire (UCLA) speaks on The Difficulties of Preserving Spatial Context: Karanis, tourism and the olive oil industry. Ancient Karanis (modern Kom Aushim, in the Fayum oasis) yielded a large amount of papyri. The local sebakhin used the mudbrick for fertilizer and even put in a small railroad for transport. Consequently, a lot of the site is just destroyed, gone. Also, the architectural remains exposed by the old University of Michigan expedition in the 1920s-1930s have since decayed substantially. The new archaeological project is a collaboration of UCLA and the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (The Netherlands). She surveyed the area and found olive grinding stones, presses and settling vats. It is hard to ascertain often whether they are still in their original location. This a tourist site, tourists pick up stuff and drop it elsewhere. A road is lined with olive presses, probably not placed there in antiquity. She is trying to preserve the spatial context using GIS and virtual modeling. The project doesn't have the finances to use better technologies.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 7)

2008-06-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Back from the coffee break. Now we have my old professor at UCLA presenting a paper, Giorgio Buccellati. He discusses the Urkesh Global Record, a real-time publication system of the portable finds from the ongoing excavation at Tell Mozan—I'm an alumnus of that dig myself (1988). The royal palace they uncovered dates back to 2250 BC. A temple (late Chalcolithic-1300 BC) was built on a terrace next to a plaza. The recording system is very extensive and there is an auditing process. The entries can then be incrementally added to as items are studied typologically. The great bulk of the finds consists of ceramic sherds and bone. The database allows for immediate publication of finds as lots of details were immediately entered (stratigraphical, functional). They also make sure that the excavated walls which are at least partially mud brick are preserved by constructing removable covers. Even after 20+ years, the walls haven't deteriorated. They adhere to an incremental publication philosophy. They have Syrian students (5 currently) on the dig too. He applied for a grant inside UCLA for the website. Archaeological websites that are recognized and used a lot are usually presenting data, he also wants to provide an argument, matters that are less pure data. The web environment also allows to make that argument in innovative ways that can't be done on paper. So it should get the same respect so to speak as paper publications. A colleague pointed out the website Architecture, Restoration, and Imaging of the Maya Cities of Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil and Labná - The Puuc Region, Yucatán, México. During the discussion, Wellman is offering the template of his condition survey database (CARS) to use freely for any colleague (open source!).

Update: You can contact Howard Wellman by email at wellmanconservation@comcast.net.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 6)

2008-06-08T08:58:00.000-07:00

I just dragged my luggage from one end of the UCLA campus to the other: my Aerobic Exercise Camp is proceeding apace :-) Today we start Session 3: Digital Management of Portable Finds; Tools for Archaeologists and Conservators, introduced by Aaron Burke (UCLA).

Kenneth Hamma (Getty Trust) speaks first. He recalls the good old days when he was digging in Cyprus and had a "portable" computer that weighed a ton and had measly storage capacity. in 1995, the Getty started the digital cataloging of their collection and soon found that time and people were the key obstacle, not equipment and the like. Eventually, to address the lack of comparability between catalogs in different institutions, the Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO) system for cataloging using standardized terms and definitions was set up. The Getty then developed the CDWA Lite (Categories for the Description of Works of Art) system which allows a minimal cataloging routine, usable for any kind of institution, bowing in a way to the realities of the real word. The Open Archives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is an excellent protocol to embed the catalog data and provides the common language for accessing museum and library collections as well as individual objects over the web. He discusses my Alexandria Archive Institute's Open Context system as a good example of where we are headed. A colleague asked about the reluctance of many institutions to share and expose their data/collections to the world. He replied that it is a matter of policy. Anyway, things are moving fast: if you're not available on the web somehow, you risk becoming irrelevant or at least miss out on exposure, recognition for your institution or project. Aaron Burke introduced the term expectation inflation.

Howad Wellman (Howard Wellman Conservation) talks about A Tale of Three Surveys: Flexible Condition Surveys for Mixed Archaeological Collections. He used to work at the MAC Lab (Maryland Archaeological Conservation) where he developed and evolved their conservation condition survey database system as an integral part of the long-term care of their collection (it is the depository of all state-funded archaeological projects' finds). The actual catalog of their holdings is totally separate although they're hoping to connect them in the future. A lot of their finds come from CRM projects and are not treated, conserved. However, this condition survey database is now actually being used by the conservators to choose interesting finds that should be conserved properly.

Update: fixed an annoying typo.

live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 5)

2008-06-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

We caught a little bit of fresh air outside and we're back with Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati (Cal State Univ. Los Angeles) who talks about the 10,000+ artifacts and samples from the Tell Mozan (ancient Urkesh) excavation project in NE Syria. The project has lasted over 20 years now. They found a palace and more. The Syrian policy requires on-site storage of the archaeological materials... which by now is becoming really hard due to the quantity. The Syrian authorities recently requested the new finds to be sent to the museum in Deir el-Zor, awaiting the new provincial museum in Hassake being finished. They vacuum pack metal objects. They have a comprehensive html system cataloging and documenting all artifacts and features. They have set up an on-site ceramics library both displayed chronologically and stratigraphically. Last building they added is a metal-sheet and musbrick one to store the bulk of the finds (non-museum objects). They hope the new museum in Hassake will take them eventually.

Next, Molly Gleeson and Chris De Brer (UCLA/Getty) present a paper about Storage, Handling and access to Human Mummy Bundles, Tarapacá Valley Archaeological Project, Chile. How are human remains processed? They need to be available for research and possibly exhibition after first having been stabilized through minimal treatment and safely, securely stored. A local community center and school house them now, buildings that have withstood recent earthquakes. The environment inside the store rooms is being monitored and so far has stayed within reasonable boundaries (no actual equipment is available to ensure stability).

The final paper in this session was given by Vanessa Muros and Allison Lewis (UCLA/Getty), this time about the portable finds from the Lofkënd Archaeological Project in Albania. A multiple-burial tumulus from the Early Iron Age is being excavated. Some finds are dug out as a larger block of soil which is then excavated off-site. The dig house is in a former monastery in nearby Apollonia. The storage space is itself also being excavated by a French team and lacks environmental controls... Humidity fluctuates extremely. The roof leaks. Rodents are also a problem. Therefore, the care taken in the packing and storage of finds is very important. For instance, metal finds are placed in a polyethylene bag with silica gel. Some had to be stabilized first. After testing, it was obvious that humidity still remained a problem for the metal finds. Double-bagging is the latest approach. All labeling and conservation of the finds is checked regularly and problems corrected, e.g., adding an inside label to the one written on the polyethylene bags when observing that the outside, written labels became illegible at times. They are now trying to obtain a more appropriate storage space and are planning earthquake-preparedness measures. I asked about the security measures protecting the excavation site as there is quite some looting of sites attested in Albania. They said there's a guard and they haven't had any problems so far. Also, the monastery is well guarded. During the discussion time, a colleague advised that polyethylene does not keep out humidity and also allows inside condensation if you have large temperature swings. Ms. Muros said that expense is a major reason for using those type of bags. Other colleagues weighed in on this problem. I'll spare you the technical details but bags are definitely a concern.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 4)

2008-06-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

I had lunch with colleagues at the Student Union: fun. Now we start the 2nd section, introduced by Ellen Pearlstein (UCLA/Getty): "Case Studies of Successful On-Site Storage."

The 1st speaker is Hiroko Kariya (Oriental Institute of the U. of Chicago): Block Yard Storage and Survey of Colonnade Fragments, Luxor Temple[, Egypt]. The Chicago House, the local branch of the Oriental institute, proposed a new facility but this was not approved by the Egyptian authorities. Instead they built small-scale, emergency protection structures of wood and sail to protect the sundry blocks. Exposure to the elements was causing deterioration of the relief and painted decoration of the artifacts. Eventually, a new proposal consisting of stone-built, sturdy shelfs covered by sail was approved. Instead of the 1,000s of blocks originally protected, now 10,000s are safe. A condition database documenting the change through time for individual fragments and blocks has now been set up with lots of detail. Together with a treatment database this allows much improved management of the Block Yard. They also are working on improved access to the material, e.g., by reconstructing some walls and displaying some fragments in situ. The oldest fragments are from the 20th cent. BC but the bulk is dated to the 14th-13th cent. BC (Amenhotep III and Ramses II). The open-air museum will open in 2010.

Amandina Anastassiades represents a team from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens: On-Site Storage of Metal Artifacts at the Athenian Agora. In the reconstructed (in the 1950s) Stoa of Attalos, there was permanent storage space which was however not climate controlled. Metal artifacts esp. were not totally dry and have turned out to show corrosion problems up to the point of totally falling apart. In the 1980s, the most vulnerable metal artifacts were repackaged. Now, they are moving them into appropriate, modern containers. They did on-site tests on the relative humidity and temperature, which was then used as guidance for the new storage: tightly-sealed plastic containers with silica gel that are eventually stored in a metals room under precise environmental control. Long-term storage of uncataloged metal finds is done with Marvelseal 360® and Tyvek® packaging and lining. Key to the improved handling and storing of metal artifacts is collaboration between field archaeologists and conservators. Interesting detail: the excavators perform a triage in that undiagnostic and mundane artifacts (esp. ceramic) are reburied after having been counted.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 3)

2008-06-07T11:46:00.000-07:00

Ran Boytner represents the people of the UCLA/Univ. of Chile Tarapacá Valley Project. He goes into the history of the linkage of archaeology and politics, starting with Thomas Jefferson, the first archaeologist in the US (also occupied the less important job of US president). The Mapuche were one of the few indigenous groups that was able to resist the Spanish occupation and are iconic in Chile. The War of the Pacific (late 19th century) gained Chile a part of Bolivia on the northern coast. "Chilenization" of the local people in this new territory has not been very successful. The Pinochet coup, likely supported by the US, changed the situation again: the remaning opposition was Communist inspired. Anthropologists allied with them, promoting indigenous rights and reclaiming their history (social archaeology). His project now is in the Atacama Desert, in the one valley that can support human population. The high point of the area was in the 1st mill. AD, later it was included in the Inca empire and then conquered by the Spaniards. Nowadays it is almost deserted. They wanted to have a local museum to store the artifacts, local indigenous people were OK with it, but the centralized archaeological authorities in Santiago didn't allow it. They had political problems with it, saw it as a "recolonization by the Americans." They are now the only foreign-led project in Chile (except for the Easter Island one which is rather unique).

By the way, yesterday we went to the Getty Villa in Malibu and were given a tour of the excellent, new facilities of the UCLA/Getty Archaeological and Ethnological Conservation Program. Then we were treated to a reception in the scenic courtyard in front of the facility. I talked to many interesting colleagues and learned a lot.

Live blogging the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium (part 2)

2008-06-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention the time of the symposium: June 6-8, 2008, at UCLA Fowler Museum.

The next talk is by Sherry Fox on the Wiener Laboratory of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. The current facility is deficient: lack of space, insect isssues, etc. However, money is now available for a new facility to be built soon. They hold comparative collections as well as excavation materials from all over Greece.

Dr. Sonia Guillén (Centro Mallqui, Peru) is talking about her center in Ilo on the south coast. The situation is dire in the region: looting has been and still is rampant. Also, there is urban expansion pressure and problems with getting public support. Perfect conditions for preservation (dry!) are a boon for the many mummies found. Before she arrived there, the old storage facility was totally lacking, no climate control, mummy bundles just stacked. Now a new facility has been built with modern amenities and personnel. They are now preserving and studying the mummies and getting a lot of new information. For instance, in some cases embalming was used. A large quantity of herding dog burials have been found, the same breed as today. They perform rescue excavations due to construction, etc. as well as salvage digs at sites that have been looted. They involve local Aymara women for the textiles. New digs find for example also packaged bundles of human bones. From the inital focus on mummies, they have expanded into more and more biological analyses, e.g., parasites in mummies. In 1979, rumors of mummies found in the cloud forest of Peru: unexpected. The burials at Laguna de los Cóndores were looted and trashed. Still they found mummies: only ones so far from the Inca period. The mummies were "mummified" (treated) here as it is a wet, different climate. The new museum in Leymebamba for these new mummies is attracting tourists and is supported well by the local community. The local people are very interested in their history, feel connected. The Laguna de los Condores mummies are from the Chachapoya (ca. AD 800-1470), Chachapoya-Inca (ca. 1470-1532) and early Colonial (ca. 1532-1570) times.

And now for something "completely" different...

2008-06-07T10:41:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of my Aerobic Workout Camp (UCLA campus sure is hilly!) a.k.a. the UCLA/Getty Storage Symposium. Preservation and Access to Archaeological Materials has started. I am attending in name of the Alexandria Archive Institute and will record my impressions here. Also, I will come back to yesterday’s activity later.

Unfortunately, I missed the welcoming remarks by Charles Stanish (UCLA) and David Scott (UCLA/Getty).

Ernestine Elster (UCLA) recounts the changes that have taken place in the practice of archaeology since she started her career in the 1970s. She mentions that most WPA projects from the 1930s-1940s in the US were never published. She points out that for instance the NSF doesn’t have a publishing requirement for archeological excavations it sponsors. She advocates a stringent requirement for all funding agencies/authorities to no longer give out new grants/permits to people who haven’t yet finished publishing their previous project(s). Abandoned projects are a scourge, I would add. She basically says that irresponsible archaeologists—we all know who you are...—should be “blackballed” in general, also by fellow archaeologists. She compliments the courageous colleagues who have taken on the arduous task of publishing “ancient” projects. A member of the audience brought up the preliminary vs. final report issue as well as restrictions in for instance Central America where a report in Spanish has to be submitted after every yearly campaign and the project cannot be reported by the foreign archaeologists on their own in a foreign publication. Friction is typical. The required local co-director has a lot of control and may prevent publication abroad. Typically, projects are reported in the local publication system.

Next, Ioanna Kakoulli (UCLA) introduces the Negotiating Safe Storage sesson.

The people from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory – Study Center for East Crete (INSTAP-SCEC), represented by Eleanor Huffman, talked about their work in setting up a centralized repository with laboratories and comparative collections in East Crete. They conserve, photograph, illustrate and store the complete find collections from the American and Greek-American excavations and surveys. They also provide a GPS team and have a library. They concern not only with the physical storage of the artifacts but also with the metadata connected to the named artifacts. 85% of the capacity is taken up by ceramic materials. They’re already running out of space... They make due for now with storage containers for the not heat-sensitive materials. Care is taken to repackage the artifacts and organic/petrographic samples in standardized, durable and appropriate boxes and crates that are easy to store, replacing the odd assortment of temporary containers from the field. The facility also provides climate controlled conditions. They even have been able to re-complete some excavation assemblages by getting materials from local museums where they were deposited. These museums may not have adequate facilities or capacity to store them. The institute is struggling with the increasing amount of digital metadata. They already have 1 terabyte and the pace is accelerating. the catalogue is organized by excavation, no artefact types for instance recorded. That means that they can’t just pull up all figurines for instance. Each excavation uses its own choice of software which doesn’t facilitate things...

Update: I corrected the symposium title, fixed some links, corrected a typo and added the 2nd paragraph.

Update 2: I corrected a few more typos—obviously, I was still rusty at this live blogging thing that morning ;-)

Good & bad news

2008-04-24T15:42:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dr. Jack Sasson, I just saw an article in the Iraqi newspaper Azzaman. It dates back to mid March and is indicative of the state of archaeology in Iraq nowadays. On the good side, some excavations are going on by local archaeologists. They discovered a Neo-Babylonian town in Diwaniyya protectorate, with some interesting finds such as a duck weight that weighs in at an unusual ca. 30 kg as well as some burials of what looks like people who were executed. "The head archaeologist Mohammed Yahya said the town is more than 20,000 square meters in area and includes administrative quarters, temples and other buildings of 'magnificent and splendid design.' Yahya, who is the head of the provincial Antiquities Department in the Province of Diwaniya, where the new Babylonian town was discovered, said he still lacks evidence on the town’s ancient name. The locals call it Shamiya after a provincial district nearby, he said." However, on the bad side, he also notes "that his team has come across several cuneiform tablets but 'there is no one to read the ancient writing because Iraqi experts with the knowledge to decipher Mesopotamian script have fled the country.'" Sigh.

RSS syndication

2008-04-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, this switch to a Blogger-hosted blog means that those who are subscribing to the blog's RSS feed will have to redo this. Just use the new hyperlinks at the top left. I appreciate your understanding :-)

temporary solution to ftp problem

2008-04-21T01:21:00.000-07:00

I have the IW&A Blog (not the rest of the site) up at http://iraqwararchaeo.blogspot.com. At least the archives and stuff work on that server. Sorry for the inconvenience! The normal IW&A Blog address still works too but remember that anything beyond the main page of the blog on that server is flaky...

still trying to fix the ftp publishing problem

2008-04-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

This is basically a test. Blogger techs: helloooooo!

sorry, Blogger ftp'ing issues again

2008-04-15T00:23:00.000-07:00

Just when I had forgotten one of the reasons why I stopped blogging last year, I am being rudely made aware of it: Blogger problems, esp. ftp'ing. $%^^&%$#@@$$%!! At least the main page seems to load OK.

The British Museum keeps fighting the good fight

2008-04-14T21:10:00.006-07:00

Dr. John Curtis, keeper of the British Museum's Middle East department, has just written a fascinating, extensive account of his role in the efforts to help protect Iraq's archaeological heritage: "Who stole Iraq's priceless treasures?," in The Sunday Times of April 13. It is a must read. Mentioning a potential British Army effort to protect archaeological sites in the South, he ends thus:

This is a far cry from the attitude of the coalition forces in the build-up to the war. Then, the military authorities took no proper advice, but contented themselves with requesting lists of important sites (which could have been obtained from any one of a number of popular guidebooks). At the very least they should have been consulting closely with archeologists and other specialists familiar with Iraq, and at best they should have had archeologists and cultural-heritage experts embedded in the military, as they were in the second world war. In this way, some of the subsequent disasters could have been averted. Meanwhile, we are left with a situation in Iraq in which many top-quality museum objects have been stolen or damaged, and many prime archeological sites in the south of the country have been looted beyond repair, with the consequent loss of much priceless information about a cultural heritage that is the property of the whole world.

An article in The Guardian announces a planned Babylon exhibition at the British Museum. It promises not to shirk away from exposing the damage wrought by US and Coalition forces to this world-renown site. For more details on the Museum's efforts so far, including reports by Dr. Curtis on the condition of sites such as Ur and Babylon, see The British Museum and the crisis in Iraqi cultural heritage section of their website.

Show and sell

2008-04-11T16:26:00.002-07:00

Two very good articles just appeared in The Art Newspaper about the open-to-abuse relationship between museums and dealers, this time concerning a particularly egregious case of a major exhibition of modern Chinese art. It was accompanied by serious catalogues (= imprimatur of quality and authenticity) and the whole lot was being arranged for sale while still on exhibit.

• Show and sell: Sotheby’s announces auction of Chinese art just two days after museum display. The Estella collection will be sold in Hong Kong this month following exhibitions at leading institutions, by Georgina Adam | 8.4.08 | Issue 190

• Museums should beware of being used as marketing tools, by Adrian Ellis | 8.4.08 | Issue 190

This only reminds of similar shenanigans closer to home, i.e., archaeological collections "on loan" at museums but destined for the auction block.