New rule aims to stop looting of archaeological finds.

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

A group of museum directors has issued new guidelines for collecting antiquities with the goal of discouraging looting of archaeological treasures.

 

The guidelines announced Wednesday by the Association of Art Museum Directors say that member museums should normally not acquire an ancient work of art unless research proves that the work was outside the country where it was discovered in 1970 or was legally exported from its country of discovery after 1970.

 

Objects without documentation going back that far are more likely to have been stolen or illegally dug up and smuggled out of their country of origin.

 

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080604/ap_en_...FAbTH7yd6lFeQoB

 

 

 

 

 

About bloody time!

[Nephele]

Well, that's perhaps one-half of the world covered, since the membership of the Association of Art Museum Directors is composed of art museum directors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. I wonder if art museums elsewhere in the world will also be taking this stand to discourage looting? Sounds like a commendable plan.

 

-- Nephele

[M. Porcius Cato]

Safeguards to prevent looting are important, but there is an equally important goal of safeguarding artifacts themselves. After the Taliban destroyed centuries-old Buddhist art, it would be irresponsible to assume that the ancestral home of an artifact is necessarily the safest home for that artifact today.