Improprieties Highlight Need For Ethics In Archaeology

To the editors:



The article “Donor at Center of Artifacts Storm” (news, Apr. 6) is certainly a relevant subject for Harvard, given its sponsorship of the Shelby White-Leon Levy Fund for Archaeological Publication.

Whether or not the controversy is “a tempest in a teapot,” the issues are clear. Professional standards of ethical behavior are how we archaeologists explain to the world at large what archaeology is about. They are precisely what separate us from collectors of unprovenanced antiquities, both morally and scientifically. The trade in illicit cultural property is increasing annually, with untold destruction of historical context. All archaeologists have a professional responsibility to bring to public attention those who countenance and encourage looting by purchasing unprovenanced items in the market. The antiquities market is deeply intertwined with other illegal activities, not least of which is the financing of terrorists. When archaeologists accept monies from the likes of Leon Levy and Shelby White, how are they not implicated in such unethical behavior? How would their association not be understood as condoning the destruction of the record of the past?



JAMES C. WRIGHT

Bryn Mawr, Pa.

April 6, 2006



The writer is chair of the department of classical and Near Eastern archaeology at Bryn Mawr College.