Unusually for this website, there is another entirely different point that can be drawn from the Staffordshire Hoard, in addition to comparisons of Britain’s approach to saving artefacts for the nation.

This news story illustrates very well, the benefits of proper, well documented excavations – since the original hoard was discovered, many other finds have been made nearby & archaeologists are analysing whether these are a part of the same hoard or somehow connected to it. Much of the knowledge that we gain from these finds would have been lost though, if archaeologists had not known the full details of the previous finds on the site. When illegal excavations are made, not only do the artefacts normally disappear into a black market away from the public eye, but even if they are eventually recovered, little is known about exactly where they were found, or what other items might have been found in close proximity to them.

From:
BBC News

18 December 2012 Last updated at 16:38
Staffordshire Hoard: ‘Shedding light on the Dark Ages’

“The period is traditionally called the Dark Ages because we don’t know enough about it, but finds like this can definitely shed some light on that period,” says archaeologist Steve Dean.

He works for Staffordshire County Council and was part of a team that uncovered 90 new items of gold and silver believed to be part of the Staffordshire Hoard.
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Two years after the agreement to return artefacts was made, and many years after Peru first started petitioning for their return, the final artefacts from Yale University’s Peabody Museum have returned to Machu Picchu. These final artefacts form the last part of an extensive restitution process of over 35,000 items that has been happening over the last year an a half.

From:
BBC News

13 November 2012 Last updated at 03:05
United States returns to Peru last Machu Picchu artefacts

The last of the artefacts taken from Machu Picchu by American archaeologist who rediscovered the Inca citadel have been returned to Peru.

More than 35,000 pottery fragments and other pieces were flown from Yale University to the Andean city of Cusco.
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The recent return of artefacts to Afghanistan that were recovered within the UK highlights the fact that over 9,000 looted items have been returned to the country in the last ten years. These returned items have been carefully packaged & put in storage until a new museum is built that can properly display them in a secure environment – a fact that makes nonsense of the issue raised in the past (before the opening of the New Acropolis Museum) that the Parthenon Marbles could not be returned because Greece had nowhere to put them.

From:
Guardian

Treasures returned to Afghan museum
Around 9,000 stolen artefacts returned since 2001, says minister Sayed Masaddeq Khalili

Hundreds of looted treasures have been returned to Afghanistan with the help of the British Museum and UK police and border forces.

The haul is just a fraction of what has been stolen from Afghanistan’s national museum and rich archeological sites in recent decades. Once a wealthy part of the ancient silk road, it was criss-crossed for centuries by traders and conquering armies who left buried traces of their presence.
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More coverage of the discussions over the merits of using legal action to expedite the resolution of the long running dispute between Greece & the UK over the Elgin Marbles.

From:
BBC News

21 June 2012 Last updated at 02:42
To sue or not to sue? Parthenon Marbles activists debate
By Trevor Timpson BBC News

Activists from around the world seeking the return of the Parthenon sculptures to Athens have met in London to discuss their strategy as Greece faces troubled times.

“The Olympics are a four-yearly reminder to the world of all we owe to Greece,” said former MP Eddie O’Hara – who chairs the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles.
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Some press coverage of the Intelligence Squared Parthenon Marbles debate that took place on Monday.

From:
BBC News

11 June 2012 Last updated at 22:30
Stephen Fry’s Parthenon Marbles plea backed in debate vote
By Trevor Timpson BBC News

A call backed by actor Stephen Fry for the return to Greece of the British Museum’s Parthenon Marbles has come out on top in a debate held in London.

Fry said it would be a “classy” move to restore the sculptures brought to the UK by Lord Elgin in the 19th Century.
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A court in Berlin has ruled that a German Museum must return a collection of rare posters that were taken from the ancestors of Peter Sachs by the Nazis in 1938. The court made the decision, because to rule otherwise would “would perpetuate Nazi injustice”. If only such moral judgements could be made in British courts regarding the requests for return of artefacts such as the Parthenon Marbles. It is worth noting that due to the size of the collection, in recent years, only a small part of it has ever been on display as the museum at any one time.

From:
BBC News

16 March 2012 Last updated at 12:35
Nazi looted poster art must be returned to Peter Sachs

A Jewish man has won his fight against a German museum for the return of thousands of rare posters stolen from his father by the Nazis in 1938.

Berlin’s Federal Court of Justice ruled Peter Sachs, who now lives in the US, is the rightful owner of the posters.
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Greek police have made numerous arrests & recovered thousands of ancient artefacts, following a series of raids in central & northern Greece.

From:
BBC News

3 March 2012 Last updated at 21:20
Arrests in Greek antiquities smuggling ring

Greek police investigating antiquities smuggling have arrested 35 people and recovered thousands of ancient coins and other artefacts.

One of the suspects was found with more than 4,000 coins in his possession.
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Quite aside from all the other ethical issues about purchasing ancient artefacts on the black market at bargain prices, there is also a high chance, that you might not get exactly what you thought you were paying for. Quite why people think that someone who would loot ancient sites is likely to be true to their word, in what they claim something is is another matter.

One also has to ask, how someone expected to pass off as legitimate, exact copies of works from a major museum.

From:
BBC News

3 April 2012 Last updated at 16:23
‘Ancient’ Greek statue found in sheep pen is fake

An “ancient” Greek statue found in a sheep pen north-west of Athens last week has now been deemed a fake.

At first, archaeologists at Greece’s Culture ministry thought the figure of a woman dated from the 6th century BC.
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Islanders living in the Torres Strait, between Australia & New Guinea have won their case to have ancestral bones held by London’s Natural History Museum returned.

From:
BBC News

23 November 2011 Last updated at 13:17
Torres Strait islanders reclaim their ancestral bones
By Pallab Ghosh

Representatives of the Torres Strait islanders collected bones of their ancestors from the Natural History Museum in London.

The development is the latest step in a long campaign by the islanders to have the human remains returned to them so they can be properly buried and – in their view, allow the spirits of their ancestors to rest in peace.
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More coverage of the return of the Weary Heracles from the USA to Turkey.

From:
BBC News

22 July 2011 Last updated at 16:35
Weary Herakles bust to be returned by US to Turkey

The top half of the Weary Herakles statue, which was bought by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1982, is to be returned to its native Turkey.

After an ongoing dispute, the MFA will reunite the bust with its lower half at the Antalya Museum later this year.
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Having worked their way through various museums in their current tour, the Lewis Chessmen are going to be put on display in the local museum in Uig, close to where they were found. The catch – they are only on display there for four and a half hours, and the exhibitions there will only include a small percentage of the total collection.

From:
BBC News

8 September 2011 Last updated at 11:48
Lewis Chessmen return ‘home’ to Uig Museum exhibition

Six Lewis Chessmen are to go on display at a museum close to where more than 90 of the historic pieces were found buried in a sand dune in 1831.

A knight, pawn, warder, king, queen and bishop will be on public display at Uig Museum for four-and-a-half hours on 13 September.
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The Frome Hoard returns to Somerset to be displayed, near to where it was discovered. Yet again, it seems that displaying artefacts near to where they were found is perceived as a great idea by museums – but only if the artefacts aren’t already in their collections, in which case the argument for display within the original context can be discredited by every means possible & ignored in the hope that it will go away.

From:
BBC News

5 September 2011 Last updated at 08:21
Frome Hoard returns to Somerset for museum display

The Frome Hoard, the second largest collection of Roman coins found in the UK, is to be brought back from the British Museum to Somerset later.

The coins will go on display at the new Museum of Somerset, in Taunton, which opens at the end of the month.
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