On this episode, hosts Chelsi Slotten and Emily Long explore the different types and reasons why people loot archaeological sites, both in the past and present. They also discuss recent examples of looting (i.e. WWII shipwrecks) and issues of repatriating looted artifacts. Ship looting in the Java Sea- https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/worlds-biggest-grave-robbery-asias-disappearing-ww2-shipwrecks?fbclid=IwAR0d1QIYByhdeV7vHTbeqECE4DSODiq5SB5iYZECy5_NIO2da-oguxkOJrY Ship looting in Malaysan economic zone-... Continue Reading →
Ai Weiwei and Heritage Destruction
Revisiting an old conversation: Ai Weiwei Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, Art, and Historic Preservation "The action imposed upon the Antique Han pot represents the destruction of conventional or established values, creating a work that is in turn both iconoclastic and regenerative, wile also recognizing that the significance of a cultural object is always subject... Continue Reading →
War Crimes: Destruction of Archaeology as a War Crime
A re-release of episode 13 originally aired in 2016, we will revisit a topic that is ominously relevant early in January 2020 with Trump's threat to bomb Iranian sites, an act considered by the International Criminal Court as a war crime. While the steam cools following the announcement that the pentagon wouldn't follow through on... Continue Reading →
