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Museums & Discoveries

Articles under Museums & Discoveries cover exhibitions, research, technical innovations, archaeological discoveries and more. Many describe compelling connections between artistic periods, links between distant peoples, and the evolution of ideas and human creativity.

Global museums preserve mankind’s artistic history and enable the public to discover its wonders. The museum mission is to foster appreciation and respect for the achievements of all peoples, ancient, indigenous, and contemporary. Today, museums are more than a field trip – they are an essential resource for children’s education and they honor our citizens’ multi-cultural roots.

America’s independent museums rely on generous public support, which is often 85% of total revenue, and on donations from private collectors. Under pressure after revelations of past collecting abuses, many US museums adopted new policies in 2008, refusing to acquire objects without a documented history of US ownership before 1970, or proof of lawful export from source countries.

Unfortunately, this policy failed to acknowledge that export permits were not required for legal import in the past. If such documents ever existed, they were not retained for up to 40 years. This policy has created hundreds of thousands of art ‘orphans’ that were legally imported, and may be lawfully sold, but cannot be donated to US museums.

Many observers believe that there is no safer place for art in a troubled world than in a museum. They see a legal, transparent art trade as crucial to ensure access to art in publicly supported museums. The Museums & Discoveries section covers these policy questions and others, as museums take the lead in urging preservation, protection, and safe harbor for global heritage.

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Careful Collector No. 33: Angie Funds Her Hoard

Cultural Property News 2023-2024 Report

UK: Reparations and Repatriation at ‘Reckoning with History’

Careful Collector No. 32 – What the Heck is It?

Museum of the Bible Exhibition Unveils Afghan Liturgical Quire

Brazil Opens Two Indigenous Museums

Tens of thousands of artifacts looted from Sudan National Museum

Ukraine – Russians steal ancient statues from Mariupol, looted artwork spotted in Crimea, Customs seizes medieval sabers.

Netherlands to Indonesia – Objects Taken in Puputan Badung War Returned

Afghanistan: Taliban Ban Images of ‘Living Things’ & Promise to Preserve Ancient Buddhist Site By Digging Copper Mine Under It

Off-Road Racing Destroys Chilean Geoglyphs While AI Enables Hundreds of New Finds in Peru

UK’s National Museum Directors’ Council Issues Open Letter on Museum Protests

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Hearing to Restitution Study Group on Benin Bronzes

El Salvador Seeks MOU Renewal Despite 37 Year History of Import Restrictions, Corruption, and Government Neglect

Lebanon in Chaos: Will US Sign Heritage Agreement?

The Internet’s Favorite Sumerian

Elizabeth Weiss & the New Archaeology Wars

ATADA Award Goes to Robert Gallegos, Founder of Voluntary Returns Program

Neolithic News: Stonehenge Tunnel Plan Terminated

Moundbuilders Golf Course Now Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

UK’s Horniman Museum Benin Repatriation Re-examined

Careful Collector No. 29 – Importing Antiquities, Art and Collectibles into the EU Becoming Far More Challenging

Italy: Excess Art to Colossal Naples Museum – Carabinieri Revel in Seizure of 105,000 Artifacts

A Closer Look at the Portable Antiquities Scheme

World’s Oldest Shipwreck Discovered in Mediterranean

Berlin’s Altes Museum Returns Collection of Apulian Vases

Careful Collector No. 28 – Liberated Art Returns Home

Ukraine Requests 1.4 Million Years’ Import Restrictions on Art

Commentary: Problems of Universal Art

Ecuador: Turmoil, Neglect, and a History of Legal Looting

Careful Collector #27 – It Came from Outer Space

Dirty Details: British Museum Presses Case Against Former Curator Peter Higgs

A Fungus Among Us at Persepolis & Pyramid Cladding at Menkaure Abandoned

WMF Turns Over Angkor Wat to APSARA Despite Human Rights Concerns Over Government Control

Greek Ceramics Pulled from Auction Show That Archives Should Be Made Public

Met Museum Aims at Cultural Reconciliation in Returning Treasures to Thailand

Betrayal of Tibet: DA’s Controversial Returns to China

In and Out Artworks – Sculptures from America’s Greatest Collections in Flux

Careful Collector No. 25 – Third Party Grading Services and Slabs: Good for Collecting or Not?

Afghanistan Sites Demolished by Bulldozers

NY’s Rubin Museum Transitions to ‘Museum Without Walls’

Ethiopian Shield from 1868 Battle of Maqdala Withdrawn from Auction

Souvenir Costs French Tourist 8 Days in Luxor Jail

2024 India Report: U.S. Art Blockade Inevitable Despite Destruction and Neglect

Careful Collector No. 24 – William Penn Still Stands Tall in Philadelphia

Commentary: Renewal of Algerian MOU

The New NAGPRA: ‘traditional knowledge’ in, artifacts out.

China Doubles Down to Crush Islamic Culture and Identity

At Great Expense, Manhattan DA Returns Fakes to Lebanon

Did NY Asst. DA Bogdanos Return a Legally Owned Object to Greece?

Careful Collector No. 22 – Your Tax Dollars at Work

Law? What law? CPAC Ignores Statute in New ‘Evidence Free’ MOU with India

Careful Collector No. 21 – Ancient Coins as Teaching Tools for Kids

Oct-Sept 2023 Short Reads: Met Museum Returns, China Goes Digital, Michael Ward Accepts Plea, and Spurious Scythians Seized in Spain

UNESCO Update: Stamping Out Cat Juggling Again?

The British Museum is still the greatest museum in the world.

Cleveland Museum of Art Fights Back Against NY DA’s Seizure of Famous Bronze Statue

Careful Collector No. 19 – The Life and Times of Trail-Blazing Antiquities Dealer Leo Patterson

Misuse of U.S. Heritage Law: State Department Seeks Blockade on Nepalese Art

Egypt’s Jewish Restoration Projects: Seized Geniza Still Missing

Return of Benin Bronzes: Why are the victims of slavery hushed up?

Honduras Wants Import Restrictions After 20 Years Noncompliance With U.S. Law

Alice Kandell Gives Major Collection of Tibetan Art to Minneapolis

The Myth of the “recovery” of Argentina’s Act of the Declaration of Independence

Benin Bronzes Lawsuit Against Smithsonian: Deadria Farmer-Paellmann & Bruce Afran Interview

Israel Asks Citizens to Turn In Antiquities – Archaeologists Ask to Stop Excavations

Hong Kong: Laws Imperil Culture From Art to Anthems

Controversy Roils “Disturbingly Informative” Mütter Museum

Art Moves: Kogi Sacred Masks Go from Germany to Colombia

Art Moves: Three Vatican Parthenon Fragments go to Greek Archbishopric, then Acropolis Museum

Law Note: Netherlands Court Rules Crimean Gold Must Go To Ukraine

SPECIAL REPORT: 2023 CHINA MOU – Building China’s Art Monopoly and Destroying Minority Culture and Identity

Nigeria Gives Benin Ruler Exclusive Ownership of Bronzes

Can Taliban be Trusted to Preserve Afghan Heritage?

In Defense of David

Young historian finds medieval gold treasure in the Netherlands

Turkey Loses Guennol Stargazer Appeal. Statue Will Go to Christie’s and Steinhardt.

EU: Death Comes to the Vatican Canon, Rome Archeological Exhibit, Ali Aboutaam Fined after 6 Year Investigation

US Museum News: Brauer Controversial Deaccession & Frankenthaler Grants for Clean Energy

Careful Collector No.12: NFTs- Flash in the Pan or Here to Stay?

State Dept Renews Blockade on Libyan Art, Ignoring Law and Facts

Will U.S. Sign Uzbekistan Art Embargo 50,000 BC to 1917?

Careful Collector No. 11: Orders and Decorations: Can Symbols of Valor be Bought and Sold?

Cambodia and “Stone Temple Nationalism”

NAGPRA: Major Changes Proposed for 2023 to Native American Repatriation Law

168 Nazca Lines, 35K Syrian Antiquities, No More Golf at Moundbuilder Site and Pompeii’s Sheep are Baaaaack

US Plans Agreements to Block Art from Uzbekistan, Cambodia and North Macedonia

STOP Act Passes: First law restricting export of American art

Comments on UNESCO’s Draft Model Provisions on the Prevention and Fight against the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property

UNESCO Model Provisions Could End Most Global Trade

Putin Using Martial Law to Legitimate Ukraine Art Looting

Moai on Easter Island Damaged in Arson Fire

The Llullaillaco Mummies

Restitution Study Group Unable to Stop Smithsonian’s Benin Returns

Where will Benin bronzes go? Nigerian government, Edo Museum or Oba?

Caucasus Heritage Watch: Azerbaijan is Destroying Armenian Heritage

ICOM Condemns Russia’s Destruction of Ukrainian Heritage

Repatriations: Getty Sirens, Cambodian Sculptures, Jewish Coin, Nepal Stele

UK Charity Act Opens Door to Restitutions

Climate Activists Glue Themselves to Masterpieces

Russia’s War Against Ukrainian Culture

Shorts: Briton in Iraq Released – Yale Gives Up Indian Artifacts – Jewish Manuscript Rescued – Gentileschi Seized

Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche

Turkey – Hagia Sophia Suffers Serious Damage: Walls Peeled and Marble Tiles Shattered

Sacre bleu! Former Louvre president charged in antiquities trafficking case.

Commentary: Cultural Heritage Predation in Iraq – The sectarian appropriation of Iraq’s past

Egypt’s Antiquities Authority Seizes Geniza from Jewish Cemetery

CINOA-Art Market Demands Fundamental Review of Law Making

Mali Government Wants U.S. Blockade on Art as Russian Mercenaries Secure Regime

The Lost World of Eastern Turkestan: A Photographic Journey to the Past

Gold Ewer with Hollywood History Delivered to Turkey

Roman Busts Found & 45,000 Skeletons Reburied in UK Rail Project

Nation-Building with Archaeology: Iraq, Syria and Libya

CENSORED: Cartoons and Ancient Conquerors in China

Dutch Court: Scythian Gold from Crimea Should Go to Ukraine

Lebanon, Abomey, Bishop Aukland, and Afghanistan

Art Market Organizations Stand Together Against Illicit Trade

The Real Looting of Afghanistan: Pit Mining vs Heritage

Afghanistan’s 4000 Years of Cross-Border Empires and Trade

The Evolution and Deconstruction of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage Laws

Afghanistan’s Heritage: A Former Government, the Taliban, and a Questionable Blockade

Afghanistan Ethnographic Art: Turkoman Embroidery

Coins of Afghanistan – Documenting History and Trade

UNESCO Threatens Stonehenge with At-Risk Status

Future UK Ban on Hippo, Narwhal, Whale, and Walrus Ivories?

The Strange History of the Torlonia Marbles

A Tale of Two Seizures: The Carabinieri TPC

Around the Mediterranean: discoveries, ancient economies and national politics

Turkish MoU Will Devastate Minorities, Bolster Erdoğan Regime

Archaeological Discovery Points to Long-lost Settlement of Sarabay in Florida

Interview: Factum Foundation’s Ferdinand Saumarez Smith on Preserving the Bakor Monoliths

Golf vs Ancient Earthworks: Moundbuilders Country Club Case Comes to the ‘Fore’

Thefts, Fakes, and Facsimiles: Preserving the Bakor Monoliths of Eastern Nigeria

Sisi’s Parade of Absolute Rulers – Celebration of Autocracy Opens Egyptian Museum

CircArt and the British Museum – A great opportunity wasted.

Setback for Planned Mega-Resort and Amusement Park at Angkor Wat

Brucemore: Directing Crisis Recovery of an Historic Home and Landscape

Old Salem Museums & Gardens: How a Living Museum in the South Addresses the History of Slavery

CINOA Report Blasts False Information on Art Trade

The Museum of the Bible: Repatriations, investigations, thefts, and fakes dog DC institution.

Armenian Monuments Threatened After Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh War

Nigeria Welcomes Future Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA)

Major Lilly Endowment Grants to U.S. Museums Center on Religion and Art

UNESCO Marks Convention’s 50th Anniversary with Doctored Photos and Disinformation

Humboldt Forum Collaboration with Tanzania

‘Cute Repatriation’ Prank Brings Fake Beuys Sculpture to Tanzania

Forget history. There is no Genghis Khan.

Berlin’s Museuminsel in the Wake of Vandalism

Hypothetical Hopes for Healing Through Art

Turkey Seizes Ancient Seed Collection in Nationalist Move

Gary Vikan: The Holy Shroud, A Brilliant Hoax in the Time of the Black Death

Elias Gerasoulis: A geo-political perspective on the Turkish MoU

August & September: Six Short Stories on Museums, Art and Culture

Istanbul’s Last Church-Mosque-Museum

Interview with Robert G. Ousterhout: The Preservation and Reconversion of Kariye Camii

Cranach to Corot: AAMD Moratorium Lets Brooklyn Sell Art

China Tariffs Come Back for Real in 2020

Coalition Opposes Cultural Property Requests by Repressive Governments

Smashing Buddhas in Pakistan: Rural Ignorance and Museum Indifference

Reclaiming Tibetan Culture in the Digital Age

Turkish Court Decides Hagia Sophia’s Conversion to Mosque

Apsáalooke Women and Warriors in Chicago

St John Simpson Interview: Afghanistan repatriation, Daesh, remote-archaeology and the ILLICID report

Brent Huffman: Mes Aynak Update

Arts Council England: Guidelines for Museum Repatriation

Virtual Coin Experience: Numismatic Museums and Discovery Databases

The Interview: Adam Lowe of Factum Arte

Hartwig Fischer: Collections entail responsibilities. Notes on a global institution.

Visit Sacred Spaces through Virtual Travel

Collaborative Exhibit at LACMA – Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific

What Remains – Ancient Artworks Travel, Inspire, and Survive

John Gilmore Ford: Portrait of a Collector

Click Here to Enter Nirvana

The Wondrous Cosmos in Medieval Manuscripts

Exhibitions and Demonstrations: How Art Museums Connect to the Community

NAGPRA in Hawaii: Museum and Native Hawaiian Conflicts

Germany Offers $2.17 Million for Ethnographic Provenance Research

Egypt Rejects Accessible Database of Art in Circulation

Discovery at Abydos Shines Light on 19th-20th C Egyptology

A Central Asian Cinderella – The Tale of Bibi Seshambe

Bodleian Libraries Oxford Exhibition on Translation Highlights Cross-Cultural Communication

Brazil:: A New President Persecutes the Arts

Superb Rubin Museum Exhibition “Faith and Empire-Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism”

Savoy-Sarr Report on African Art Restitution: A Summary

Crow Museum of Asian Art Collection Donated to University of Texas

Italian Court Orders Getty to Return Bronze ‘Victorious Youth’ After Over 40 years

French Proposal for Restitution of African Art

Benin Dialog Group: Building and Filling a New Museum in Benin

Nabu Museum Opens in Lebanon

Devotion and Decadence: at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

Rapa Nui Claims British Museum’s Moai Sculpture

Heritage Responders and Caribbean Museums in Crisis

Maori Mokomokai to Return to New Zealand

A Forgotten Connection: Rembrandt and the Art of Mughal India

AAMD Sanctions Museums for Selling Artworks

Ethiopia: We Want Our Art Back, Not Long Term Loans

A Textile Collector Changes the World

To Repatriate or Not to Repatriate: That is the Question

Returning African Heritage From Global Museums

Snow and Ice Archaeology in a Changing World Climate

Visual Politics – Protests and the Art Museum

Re-Discovering the Classics

Indian and Pacific Island Heritage Disappears Beneath the Waves

EMTs for US Heritage: National Heritage Responders

Salmonella May Have Caused Millions of Aztec Deaths

Museums Can Help to Save the World

Germany Denies Immunity for Dead Sea Scrolls

Britain’s Treasure Act Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary

Museums Around the World Display Global Heritage

Mobile Herders or Teenage Warriors from the Steppe?

Ritual Experience in New London Mithraeum

Bible Museum Opens in US Capitol

Two Sides to Louvre Abu Dhabi Opening

Colorful Classical Statues Still Surprise Us

Terrorism, Cultural Heritage and the Threat to Museums’ Public Missions

Economic Policy Not Opium Caused China Collapse

Pompeii’s Director Breaks Archaeological Traditions

Theft of Viking Treasure Devastates Norwegian Museum

Zero, what a Concept!

Viking Warrior Women – Myth or Reality?

Preservation Pioneer: Nancy Hatch Dupree

Update: Stonehenge Tunnel Gets Official Green Light

Rome’s “Ketchup City” Found Beneath the Waves

Teaching Racial Diversity in the Ancient World

Ancient Roots of Wine-making at Cite du Vin

“Little Pompeii” Found Outside Vienne, France

Seizure at Met Interrupts Repatriation

Norwegian Library to Bring African Literature to a World Audience

Cleveland Museum Deserves Full Credit for Researching and Returning Head of Drusus to Italy

Innovative Antiquities Sale by Toledo Museum

Benin Repatriation Request Raises Tough Questions

Stunning Bronze Age Golden Torc and Roman Villa Highlight 2015 PAS Reports

News from Turkey: Finding an Ancient Statue, Flooding an Antique Town, and Cancelling a Modern Art Biennal

Michael Jackson Lived Again

History-Changing Discoveries in London Construction Site

The Dolorous Case of Pakistan’s Museums

French Government Reverses Donation to Guimet of Chinese Gold Ornaments

Heads Roll at Indian Museums

December 7, 2024

Careful Collector No. 33: Angie Funds Her Hoard

December 4, 2024

Cultural Property News 2023-2024 Report

October 26, 2024

UK: Reparations and Repatriation at ‘Reckoning with History’

October 25, 2024

Careful Collector No. 32 – What the Heck is It?

October 19, 2024

Museum of the Bible Exhibition Unveils Afghan Liturgical Quire

October 18, 2024

Brazil Opens Two Indigenous Museums

October 18, 2024

Tens of thousands of artifacts looted from Sudan National Museum

October 18, 2024

Ukraine – Russians steal ancient statues from Mariupol, looted artwork spotted in Crimea, Customs seizes medieval sabers.

October 17, 2024

Netherlands to Indonesia – Objects Taken in Puputan Badung War Returned

October 17, 2024

Afghanistan: Taliban Ban Images of ‘Living Things’ & Promise to Preserve Ancient Buddhist Site By Digging Copper Mine Under It

October 15, 2024

Off-Road Racing Destroys Chilean Geoglyphs While AI Enables Hundreds of New Finds in Peru

October 15, 2024

UK’s National Museum Directors’ Council Issues Open Letter on Museum Protests

October 14, 2024

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Hearing to Restitution Study Group on Benin Bronzes

September 23, 2024

El Salvador Seeks MOU Renewal Despite 37 Year History of Import Restrictions, Corruption, and Government Neglect

September 8, 2024

Lebanon in Chaos: Will US Sign Heritage Agreement?

September 1, 2024

The Internet’s Favorite Sumerian

August 30, 2024

Elizabeth Weiss & the New Archaeology Wars

August 22, 2024

ATADA Award Goes to Robert Gallegos, Founder of Voluntary Returns Program

August 11, 2024

Neolithic News: Stonehenge Tunnel Plan Terminated

August 5, 2024

Moundbuilders Golf Course Now Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks

August 1, 2024

UK’s Horniman Museum Benin Repatriation Re-examined

July 29, 2024

Careful Collector No. 29 – Importing Antiquities, Art and Collectibles into the EU Becoming Far More Challenging

June 30, 2024

Italy: Excess Art to Colossal Naples Museum – Carabinieri Revel in Seizure of 105,000 Artifacts

June 24, 2024

A Closer Look at the Portable Antiquities Scheme

June 21, 2024

World’s Oldest Shipwreck Discovered in Mediterranean

June 21, 2024

Berlin’s Altes Museum Returns Collection of Apulian Vases

June 20, 2024

Careful Collector No. 28 – Liberated Art Returns Home

June 20, 2024

Ukraine Requests 1.4 Million Years’ Import Restrictions on Art

June 18, 2024

Commentary: Problems of Universal Art

June 10, 2024

Ecuador: Turmoil, Neglect, and a History of Legal Looting

June 3, 2024

Careful Collector #27 – It Came from Outer Space

April 30, 2024

Dirty Details: British Museum Presses Case Against Former Curator Peter Higgs

April 28, 2024

A Fungus Among Us at Persepolis & Pyramid Cladding at Menkaure Abandoned

April 28, 2024

WMF Turns Over Angkor Wat to APSARA Despite Human Rights Concerns Over Government Control

April 28, 2024

Greek Ceramics Pulled from Auction Show That Archives Should Be Made Public

April 27, 2024

Met Museum Aims at Cultural Reconciliation in Returning Treasures to Thailand

April 26, 2024

Betrayal of Tibet: DA’s Controversial Returns to China

April 25, 2024

In and Out Artworks – Sculptures from America’s Greatest Collections in Flux

March 31, 2024

Careful Collector No. 25 – Third Party Grading Services and Slabs: Good for Collecting or Not?

March 30, 2024

Afghanistan Sites Demolished by Bulldozers

March 5, 2024

NY’s Rubin Museum Transitions to ‘Museum Without Walls’

February 29, 2024

Ethiopian Shield from 1868 Battle of Maqdala Withdrawn from Auction

February 25, 2024

Souvenir Costs French Tourist 8 Days in Luxor Jail

February 20, 2024

2024 India Report: U.S. Art Blockade Inevitable Despite Destruction and Neglect

February 20, 2024

Careful Collector No. 24 – William Penn Still Stands Tall in Philadelphia

February 17, 2024

Commentary: Renewal of Algerian MOU

February 12, 2024

The New NAGPRA: ‘traditional knowledge’ in, artifacts out.

January 10, 2024

China Doubles Down to Crush Islamic Culture and Identity

January 5, 2024

At Great Expense, Manhattan DA Returns Fakes to Lebanon

December 31, 2023

Did NY Asst. DA Bogdanos Return a Legally Owned Object to Greece?

December 28, 2023

Careful Collector No. 22 – Your Tax Dollars at Work

December 16, 2023

Law? What law? CPAC Ignores Statute in New ‘Evidence Free’ MOU with India

December 5, 2023

Careful Collector No. 21 – Ancient Coins as Teaching Tools for Kids

November 1, 2023

Oct-Sept 2023 Short Reads: Met Museum Returns, China Goes Digital, Michael Ward Accepts Plea, and Spurious Scythians Seized in Spain

November 1, 2023

UNESCO Update: Stamping Out Cat Juggling Again?

October 31, 2023

The British Museum is still the greatest museum in the world.

October 26, 2023

Cleveland Museum of Art Fights Back Against NY DA’s Seizure of Famous Bronze Statue

September 27, 2023

Careful Collector No. 19 – The Life and Times of Trail-Blazing Antiquities Dealer Leo Patterson

September 17, 2023

Misuse of U.S. Heritage Law: State Department Seeks Blockade on Nepalese Art

September 2, 2023

Egypt’s Jewish Restoration Projects: Seized Geniza Still Missing

September 1, 2023

Return of Benin Bronzes: Why are the victims of slavery hushed up?

August 29, 2023

Honduras Wants Import Restrictions After 20 Years Noncompliance With U.S. Law

August 25, 2023

Alice Kandell Gives Major Collection of Tibetan Art to Minneapolis

July 24, 2023

The Myth of the “recovery” of Argentina’s Act of the Declaration of Independence

July 4, 2023

Benin Bronzes Lawsuit Against Smithsonian: Deadria Farmer-Paellmann & Bruce Afran Interview

June 30, 2023

Israel Asks Citizens to Turn In Antiquities – Archaeologists Ask to Stop Excavations

June 21, 2023

Hong Kong: Laws Imperil Culture From Art to Anthems

June 18, 2023

Controversy Roils “Disturbingly Informative” Mütter Museum

June 17, 2023

Art Moves: Kogi Sacred Masks Go from Germany to Colombia

June 17, 2023

Art Moves: Three Vatican Parthenon Fragments go to Greek Archbishopric, then Acropolis Museum

June 17, 2023

Law Note: Netherlands Court Rules Crimean Gold Must Go To Ukraine

May 26, 2023

SPECIAL REPORT: 2023 CHINA MOU – Building China’s Art Monopoly and Destroying Minority Culture and Identity

April 26, 2023

Nigeria Gives Benin Ruler Exclusive Ownership of Bronzes

April 21, 2023

Can Taliban be Trusted to Preserve Afghan Heritage?

April 19, 2023

In Defense of David

April 16, 2023

Young historian finds medieval gold treasure in the Netherlands

March 11, 2023

Turkey Loses Guennol Stargazer Appeal. Statue Will Go to Christie’s and Steinhardt.

March 9, 2023

EU: Death Comes to the Vatican Canon, Rome Archeological Exhibit, Ali Aboutaam Fined after 6 Year Investigation

March 4, 2023

US Museum News: Brauer Controversial Deaccession & Frankenthaler Grants for Clean Energy

March 1, 2023

Careful Collector No.12: NFTs- Flash in the Pan or Here to Stay?

February 24, 2023

State Dept Renews Blockade on Libyan Art, Ignoring Law and Facts

February 4, 2023

Will U.S. Sign Uzbekistan Art Embargo 50,000 BC to 1917?

February 3, 2023

Careful Collector No. 11: Orders and Decorations: Can Symbols of Valor be Bought and Sold?

January 9, 2023

Cambodia and “Stone Temple Nationalism”

January 8, 2023

NAGPRA: Major Changes Proposed for 2023 to Native American Repatriation Law

January 3, 2023

168 Nazca Lines, 35K Syrian Antiquities, No More Golf at Moundbuilder Site and Pompeii’s Sheep are Baaaaack

January 1, 2023

US Plans Agreements to Block Art from Uzbekistan, Cambodia and North Macedonia

December 1, 2022

STOP Act Passes: First law restricting export of American art

November 11, 2022

Comments on UNESCO’s Draft Model Provisions on the Prevention and Fight against the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property

November 2, 2022

UNESCO Model Provisions Could End Most Global Trade

October 30, 2022

Putin Using Martial Law to Legitimate Ukraine Art Looting

October 29, 2022

Moai on Easter Island Damaged in Arson Fire

October 20, 2022

The Llullaillaco Mummies

October 10, 2022

Restitution Study Group Unable to Stop Smithsonian’s Benin Returns

October 4, 2022

Where will Benin bronzes go? Nigerian government, Edo Museum or Oba?

September 29, 2022

Caucasus Heritage Watch: Azerbaijan is Destroying Armenian Heritage

September 27, 2022

ICOM Condemns Russia’s Destruction of Ukrainian Heritage

September 27, 2022

Repatriations: Getty Sirens, Cambodian Sculptures, Jewish Coin, Nepal Stele

September 26, 2022

UK Charity Act Opens Door to Restitutions

August 31, 2022

Climate Activists Glue Themselves to Masterpieces

August 2, 2022

Russia’s War Against Ukrainian Culture

August 1, 2022

Shorts: Briton in Iraq Released – Yale Gives Up Indian Artifacts – Jewish Manuscript Rescued – Gentileschi Seized

August 1, 2022

Traitor, Survivor, Icon: The Legacy of La Malinche

July 1, 2022

Turkey – Hagia Sophia Suffers Serious Damage: Walls Peeled and Marble Tiles Shattered

May 28, 2022

Sacre bleu! Former Louvre president charged in antiquities trafficking case.

May 21, 2022

Commentary: Cultural Heritage Predation in Iraq – The sectarian appropriation of Iraq’s past

March 31, 2022

Egypt’s Antiquities Authority Seizes Geniza from Jewish Cemetery

March 18, 2022

CINOA-Art Market Demands Fundamental Review of Law Making

March 17, 2022

Mali Government Wants U.S. Blockade on Art as Russian Mercenaries Secure Regime

December 30, 2021

The Lost World of Eastern Turkestan: A Photographic Journey to the Past

December 14, 2021

Gold Ewer with Hollywood History Delivered to Turkey

December 12, 2021

Roman Busts Found & 45,000 Skeletons Reburied in UK Rail Project

October 31, 2021

Nation-Building with Archaeology: Iraq, Syria and Libya

October 31, 2021

CENSORED: Cartoons and Ancient Conquerors in China

October 31, 2021

Dutch Court: Scythian Gold from Crimea Should Go to Ukraine

October 28, 2021

Lebanon, Abomey, Bishop Aukland, and Afghanistan

October 12, 2021

Art Market Organizations Stand Together Against Illicit Trade

October 5, 2021

The Real Looting of Afghanistan: Pit Mining vs Heritage

October 2, 2021

Afghanistan’s 4000 Years of Cross-Border Empires and Trade

October 2, 2021

The Evolution and Deconstruction of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage Laws

October 2, 2021

Afghanistan’s Heritage: A Former Government, the Taliban, and a Questionable Blockade

September 5, 2021

Afghanistan Ethnographic Art: Turkoman Embroidery

September 5, 2021

Coins of Afghanistan – Documenting History and Trade

July 31, 2021

UNESCO Threatens Stonehenge with At-Risk Status

July 31, 2021

Future UK Ban on Hippo, Narwhal, Whale, and Walrus Ivories?

July 24, 2021

The Strange History of the Torlonia Marbles

July 20, 2021

A Tale of Two Seizures: The Carabinieri TPC

July 16, 2021

Around the Mediterranean: discoveries, ancient economies and national politics

July 11, 2021

Turkish MoU Will Devastate Minorities, Bolster Erdoğan Regime

July 10, 2021

Archaeological Discovery Points to Long-lost Settlement of Sarabay in Florida

May 31, 2021

Interview: Factum Foundation’s Ferdinand Saumarez Smith on Preserving the Bakor Monoliths

May 30, 2021

Golf vs Ancient Earthworks: Moundbuilders Country Club Case Comes to the ‘Fore’

May 30, 2021

Thefts, Fakes, and Facsimiles: Preserving the Bakor Monoliths of Eastern Nigeria

May 30, 2021

Sisi’s Parade of Absolute Rulers – Celebration of Autocracy Opens Egyptian Museum

May 29, 2021

CircArt and the British Museum – A great opportunity wasted.

May 20, 2021

Setback for Planned Mega-Resort and Amusement Park at Angkor Wat

April 5, 2021

Brucemore: Directing Crisis Recovery of an Historic Home and Landscape

April 2, 2021

Old Salem Museums & Gardens: How a Living Museum in the South Addresses the History of Slavery

March 31, 2021

CINOA Report Blasts False Information on Art Trade

January 28, 2021

The Museum of the Bible: Repatriations, investigations, thefts, and fakes dog DC institution.

January 27, 2021

Armenian Monuments Threatened After Artsakh/Nagorno-Karabakh War

January 20, 2021

Nigeria Welcomes Future Edo Museum of West African Art (EMOWAA)

December 24, 2020

Major Lilly Endowment Grants to U.S. Museums Center on Religion and Art

November 23, 2020

UNESCO Marks Convention’s 50th Anniversary with Doctored Photos and Disinformation

November 22, 2020

Humboldt Forum Collaboration with Tanzania

November 22, 2020

‘Cute Repatriation’ Prank Brings Fake Beuys Sculpture to Tanzania

November 19, 2020

Forget history. There is no Genghis Khan.

November 19, 2020

Berlin’s Museuminsel in the Wake of Vandalism

November 17, 2020

Hypothetical Hopes for Healing Through Art

October 17, 2020

Turkey Seizes Ancient Seed Collection in Nationalist Move

October 10, 2020

Gary Vikan: The Holy Shroud, A Brilliant Hoax in the Time of the Black Death

September 30, 2020

Elias Gerasoulis: A geo-political perspective on the Turkish MoU

September 30, 2020

August & September: Six Short Stories on Museums, Art and Culture

September 27, 2020

Istanbul’s Last Church-Mosque-Museum

September 27, 2020

Interview with Robert G. Ousterhout: The Preservation and Reconversion of Kariye Camii

September 20, 2020

Cranach to Corot: AAMD Moratorium Lets Brooklyn Sell Art

September 10, 2020

China Tariffs Come Back for Real in 2020

August 27, 2020

Coalition Opposes Cultural Property Requests by Repressive Governments

August 15, 2020

Smashing Buddhas in Pakistan: Rural Ignorance and Museum Indifference

July 17, 2020

Reclaiming Tibetan Culture in the Digital Age

July 1, 2020

Turkish Court Decides Hagia Sophia’s Conversion to Mosque

June 30, 2020

Apsáalooke Women and Warriors in Chicago

April 26, 2020

St John Simpson Interview: Afghanistan repatriation, Daesh, remote-archaeology and the ILLICID report

April 23, 2020

Brent Huffman: Mes Aynak Update

April 8, 2020

Arts Council England: Guidelines for Museum Repatriation

April 5, 2020

Virtual Coin Experience: Numismatic Museums and Discovery Databases

March 31, 2020

The Interview: Adam Lowe of Factum Arte

March 30, 2020

Hartwig Fischer: Collections entail responsibilities. Notes on a global institution.

March 26, 2020

Visit Sacred Spaces through Virtual Travel

January 31, 2020

Collaborative Exhibit at LACMA – Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific

December 13, 2019

What Remains – Ancient Artworks Travel, Inspire, and Survive

October 9, 2019

John Gilmore Ford: Portrait of a Collector

July 11, 2019

Click Here to Enter Nirvana

June 26, 2019

The Wondrous Cosmos in Medieval Manuscripts

May 25, 2019

Exhibitions and Demonstrations: How Art Museums Connect to the Community

May 1, 2019

NAGPRA in Hawaii: Museum and Native Hawaiian Conflicts

March 17, 2019

Germany Offers $2.17 Million for Ethnographic Provenance Research

March 12, 2019

Egypt Rejects Accessible Database of Art in Circulation

March 12, 2019

Discovery at Abydos Shines Light on 19th-20th C Egyptology

February 20, 2019

A Central Asian Cinderella – The Tale of Bibi Seshambe

February 20, 2019

Bodleian Libraries Oxford Exhibition on Translation Highlights Cross-Cultural Communication

February 7, 2019

Brazil:: A New President Persecutes the Arts

February 6, 2019

Superb Rubin Museum Exhibition “Faith and Empire-Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism”

January 30, 2019

Savoy-Sarr Report on African Art Restitution: A Summary

January 29, 2019

Crow Museum of Asian Art Collection Donated to University of Texas

December 30, 2018

Italian Court Orders Getty to Return Bronze ‘Victorious Youth’ After Over 40 years

December 27, 2018

French Proposal for Restitution of African Art

November 23, 2018

Benin Dialog Group: Building and Filling a New Museum in Benin

October 24, 2018

Nabu Museum Opens in Lebanon

October 19, 2018

Devotion and Decadence: at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

September 19, 2018

Rapa Nui Claims British Museum’s Moai Sculpture

June 27, 2018

Heritage Responders and Caribbean Museums in Crisis

June 27, 2018

Maori Mokomokai to Return to New Zealand

June 18, 2018

A Forgotten Connection: Rembrandt and the Art of Mughal India

May 25, 2018

AAMD Sanctions Museums for Selling Artworks

May 15, 2018

Ethiopia: We Want Our Art Back, Not Long Term Loans

April 22, 2018

A Textile Collector Changes the World

April 18, 2018

To Repatriate or Not to Repatriate: That is the Question

April 14, 2018

Returning African Heritage From Global Museums

April 5, 2018

Snow and Ice Archaeology in a Changing World Climate

March 30, 2018

Visual Politics – Protests and the Art Museum

March 7, 2018

Re-Discovering the Classics

March 4, 2018

Indian and Pacific Island Heritage Disappears Beneath the Waves

February 1, 2018

EMTs for US Heritage: National Heritage Responders

January 26, 2018

Salmonella May Have Caused Millions of Aztec Deaths

January 25, 2018

Museums Can Help to Save the World

December 12, 2017

Germany Denies Immunity for Dead Sea Scrolls

December 10, 2017

Britain’s Treasure Act Celebrates 20-Year Anniversary

December 1, 2017

Museums Around the World Display Global Heritage

December 1, 2017

Mobile Herders or Teenage Warriors from the Steppe?

November 30, 2017

Ritual Experience in New London Mithraeum

November 29, 2017

Bible Museum Opens in US Capitol

November 25, 2017

Two Sides to Louvre Abu Dhabi Opening

November 19, 2017

Colorful Classical Statues Still Surprise Us

November 1, 2017

Terrorism, Cultural Heritage and the Threat to Museums’ Public Missions

October 31, 2017

Economic Policy Not Opium Caused China Collapse

October 5, 2017

Pompeii’s Director Breaks Archaeological Traditions

October 4, 2017

Theft of Viking Treasure Devastates Norwegian Museum

September 30, 2017

Zero, what a Concept!

September 15, 2017

Viking Warrior Women – Myth or Reality?

September 14, 2017

Preservation Pioneer: Nancy Hatch Dupree

September 12, 2017

Update: Stonehenge Tunnel Gets Official Green Light

September 8, 2017

Rome’s “Ketchup City” Found Beneath the Waves

August 21, 2017

Teaching Racial Diversity in the Ancient World

August 10, 2017

Ancient Roots of Wine-making at Cite du Vin

August 4, 2017

“Little Pompeii” Found Outside Vienne, France

July 31, 2017

Seizure at Met Interrupts Repatriation

June 14, 2017

Norwegian Library to Bring African Literature to a World Audience

April 27, 2017

Cleveland Museum Deserves Full Credit for Researching and Returning Head of Drusus to Italy

April 11, 2017

Innovative Antiquities Sale by Toledo Museum

March 29, 2017

Benin Repatriation Request Raises Tough Questions

December 11, 2016

Stunning Bronze Age Golden Torc and Roman Villa Highlight 2015 PAS Reports

September 14, 2016

News from Turkey: Finding an Ancient Statue, Flooding an Antique Town, and Cancelling a Modern Art Biennal

August 13, 2016

Michael Jackson Lived Again

June 7, 2016

History-Changing Discoveries in London Construction Site

April 8, 2016

The Dolorous Case of Pakistan’s Museums

July 27, 2015

French Government Reverses Donation to Guimet of Chinese Gold Ornaments

May 10, 2015

Heads Roll at Indian Museums