Academic literature on the topic 'Africa, north, antiquities'
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Journal articles on the topic "Africa, north, antiquities"
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Puskás, Anna. "“Blood Antiquities” of Africa: A Link between Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property and Terrorism-Financing?" Academic and Applied Research in Military and Public Management Science 21, no. 1 (November 9, 2022): 95–116. http://dx.doi.org/10.32565/aarms.2022.1.7.
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In the light of recent years’ armed conflicts and the growing level of terrorist activity globally, the link between illicit trafficking of cultural property and terrorism constitutes a growing concern for war-torn regions as well as for the international community as a whole. Identified as a possible form of terrorism-financing in recent years, the illegal trade of artefacts contributes to the fuelling of the spiral of violence and by this, to the undermining of the identity of the targeted populations. Due to the effects of the Arab Spring swiping through several African countries resulting in a still-existing destabilisation, power vacuum and the spread of different terrorist groups, these countries are serving an especially timeous example from this point of view. By presenting some examples from North Africa and the Sahel region, the paper aims to give an initial insight into the issue as an increasingly important international security challenge.
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Hardy, Samuel Andrew. "Conflict antiquities’ rescue or ransom: The cost of buying back stolen cultural property in contexts of political violence." International Journal of Cultural Property 28, no. 1 (February 2021): 5–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0940739121000084.
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AbstractRescue has long been a defense for the removal of cultural property. Since the explosion of iconoclasm in West Asia, North Africa, and West Africa, there has been a growing demand for cultural property in danger zones to be “rescued” by being purchased and given “asylum” in “safe zones” (typically, in the market countries of Western Europe and North America). This article reviews evidence from natural experiments with the “rescue” of looted antiquities and stolen artifacts from across Asia and Europe. Unsurprisingly, the evidence reaffirms that “rescue” incentivizes looting, smuggling, and corruption, as well as forgery, and the accompanying destruction of knowledge. More significantly, “rescue” facilitates the laundering of “ordinary” illicit assets and may contribute to revenue streams of criminal organizations and violent political organizations; it may even weaken international support for insecure democracies. Ultimately, “rescue” by purchase appears incoherent, counter-productive, and dangerous for the victimized communities that it purports to support.
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Fernández Portaencasa, María. "Julien Poinssot and His Descendants." REVISTA DE HISTORIOGRAFÍA (RevHisto), no. 36 (December 13, 2021): 177–217. http://dx.doi.org/10.20318/revhisto.2021.6555.
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This paper discusses the scientific lives of Julien, Louis and Claude Poinssot (grandfather, father and son) and their important contribution to the study of ancient religions in North Africa, especially in Tunisia, including their intense engagement with the ancient Thugga. Julien, who had been trained as a notary, soon became a pioneering epigraphist of Proconsularis. As a result of the colonial context in which he worked and the bureaucratic problems he encountered, his archaeological career was brief, albeit intensive. Nevertheless, his vocation was inherited by his descendants, Louis and Claude, who eventually became Directors of Antiquities and of Museums. Their work left a remarkable legacy, including the Mahdia underwater excavations and the exploration of the Dougga Capitol.
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Barker, Graeme. "Regional archaeological projects." Archaeological Dialogues 3, no. 2 (December 1996): 160–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s138020380000074x.
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Explicitly regional projects have been a comparatively recent phenomenon in Mediterranean archaeology. Classical archaeology is by far the strongest discipline in the university, museum and antiquities services career structures within the Mediterranean countries. It has always been dominated by the ‘Great Tradition’ of classical art and architecture: even today, a university course on ‘ancient topography’ in many departments of classical archaeology will usually deal predominantly with the layout of the major imperial cities and the details of their monumental architecture. The strength of the tradition is scarcely surprising in the face of the overwhelming wealth of the standing remains of the Greek and Roman cities in every Mediterranean country. There has been very little integration with prehistory: early prehistory is still frequently taught within a geology degree, and later prehistory is still invariably dominated by the culture-history approach. Prehistory in many traditional textbooks in the north Mediterranean countries remains a succession of invasions and migrations, first of Palaeolithic peoples from North Africa and the Levant, then of neolithic farmers, then metal-using élites from the East Mediterranean, followed in an increasingly rapid succession by Urnfielders, Dorians and Celts from the North, to say nothing of Sea Peoples (from who knows where?!). For the post-Roman period, church archaeology has a long history, but medieval archaeology in the sense of dirt archaeology is a comparatively recent discipline: until the 1960s in Italy, for example, ‘medieval archaeology’ meant the study of the medieval buildings of the historic cities, a topic outside the responsibility of the State Archaeological Service (the Superintendency of Antiquities) and within that of the parallel ‘Superintendencies’ for monuments, libraries, archives and art galleries.
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Hobson, Matthew S. "EAMENA training in the use of satellite remote sensing and digital technologies in heritage management: Libya and Tunisia workshops 2017–2019." Libyan Studies 50 (October 22, 2019): 63–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/lis.2019.22.
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AbstractThis article provides a brief summary of the aims, methods and results of a programme of training carried out by the EAMENA project in partnership with the Tunisian Institut National du Patrimoine and the Libyan Department of Antiquities. The focus was on the use of freely available satellite imagery for archaeological site identification and monitoring, on compiling and maintaining spatial databases - including the on-the-ground location of sites with the use of a GPS - and on the observation of patterns of preservation and threat within Geographical Information Systems to inform heritage management decisions at both regional and national levels. Three pairs of workshops took place in Tunis in 2017, 2018 and 2019, with interim support being given to participants by a Training Manager and Research Assistant based at the University of Leicester. The work was part of a larger scheme offered to heritage professionals across the Middle East and North Africa by the EAMENA project thanks to a grant received from the Cultural Protection Fund. In general this training has been very well received. Not only has it successfully achieved the propagation of desirable and much needed skills within partner institutions, it has also raised awareness of issues affecting the protection of cultural heritage within the broader community.
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King, G. R. D. "Islamic Archaeology in Libya, 1969–1989." Libyan Studies 20 (January 1989): 193–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0263718900006695.
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In the course of the two decades since 1969, archaeological and architectural investigations relating to the Islamic period in Libya have made sufficient progress for it to be possible now to see the country's Islamic antiquities with a reasonable degree of perspective within Libya and in relation to a broader context. Nevertheless, a great deal of work remains to be done, both with regard to extending the geographical scope of research on Islamic Libya and to studying relatively neglected periods. At present we are better informed about certain Fāṭimid monuments in Libya than any other Islamic buildings in the country. While the importance of Libya in the tenth and eleventh centuries AD is a matter of great interest, it must not be forgotten that even today, we know very much less in detail about the mosques and houses of later times. A marked imbalance therefore exists in the relative degree of information available for an account of the Islamic archaeology and architecture of Libya in the period as a whole. This imbalance is very clear in the present survey.The extent of the increase in knowledge of the Islamic archaeology of Libya becomes immediately clear by referring to K. A. C. Creswell'sA Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam to 1st Jan. 1960and the Supplements to it (Creswell 1973; Pearsonet al.1984). In his originalBibliographyCreswell found nothing on Libyan architecture except for some studies on Tripoli. Even in the 1960s, very little further research on the Islamic period was published, although it was in this period that Ajdābiyah and Madīnah Sulṭān were initially investigated: this work formed the foundation of that which was to follow after 1969. Bys the time that the latestSupplementto Creswell'sBibliographyappeared in 1984, a plethora of published material had emerged as a result of the sharp rise of interest in Islamic Libya during the period from 1969 onwards. As a result, no comprehensive survey of Islamic archaeology and architecture in North Africa written in the future will be complete without giving some account of the information that has been accumulated during the period 1969 to 1989.
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Hixenbaugh, Randall. "The Current State of the Antiquities Trade: An Art Dealer’s Perspective." International Journal of Cultural Property 26, no. 3 (August 2019): 227–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0940739119000183.
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Abstract:The antiquities trade is the subject of contentious debate. The anti-trade position stems from a long unquestioned stance within academia that private ownership of antiquities inherently results in archaeological site destruction and the loss of valuable data. However, there is little data to support this notion. It also ignores the enormous contributions to our shared knowledge of the past that have been made through art collecting and museum acquisitions. The narrative that the destruction of ancient sites is directly tied to Western demand for ancient art is overly simplistic. Despite the ongoing destruction in the Middle East and North African region, virtually no artifacts from there have entered the Western trade in recent years. Opportunistic treasure hunting by desperate locals and intentional destruction of ancient objects for religious reasons cannot be curtailed by increased legislation in Western nations. Fetishizing mundane ubiquitous antiquities as sacrosanct objects of great national importance that must be retained within modern borders in a globalized world and demanding criminalization of the legitimate international art trade are counterproductive. In many archaeologically rich countries, antiquities are regarded as items to sell to foreigners at best or sacrilegious objects to be destroyed at worst. The free trade in cultural objects is itself an institution that needs to be protected. An open legitimate trade in antiquities is now more than ever necessary to ensure the preservation and dissemination of worldwide cultural property.
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Hitchner, R. Bruce. "Beau Geste? A problematic book on the French colonial treatment of Roman antiquities in 19th-c. Algeria and Tunisia - MICHAEL GREENHALGH, THE MILITARY AND COLONIAL DESTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN LANDSCAPE OF NORTH AFRICA, 1830-1900 (History of Warfare vol. 98; Brill, Leiden 2014). Pp. x + 3 pages of colour maps + 432, ills. 105. ISSN 1385-7827; ISBN 978 90 04 24820 3 (also e-book). $218." Journal of Roman Archaeology 29 (2016): 994–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1047759400073165.
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DEMISSIE, Tsegaye Ebabey. "Addis Amba Mädhané Aläm: the Uncommon Troglodytic Heritage of Ethiopia." Warszawskie Studia Teologiczne 32, no. 2 (March 5, 2019): 104–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.30439/wst.2019.2.6.
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Ethiopia is one of the few African countries that have preserved the antiquities of early and medieval Christianity. The cave church of Addis Amba Mädhané Aläm (the church of Saviour of the World), is one of the little known troglodytic heritages found in Mäqét, North Wällo. This study aims to uncover the historical, architectural and artistic values of the cave church that has unique cultural testimonies.Data for the study were collected through fieldwork, interviews, and archival consultations. The cave is believed to have been excavated by Musé, the second bishop of Ethiopia. The church has six different caves cut into a rock face. Five of them are chapels, treasuries and gusting rooms. This paper discusses the cave which is the church of Mädhané Aläm. It has a complex layout compartmented into chanting room, holy and sanctuary. The holy and sanctuary form the nave which is rock-hewn monolithic feature detached from the main rock except on its roof and base. This planning is uncommon in the rock cave church tradition of Ethiopia because the nave is monolithically carved within a cave that should not be confused with churches built under a natural cave. The old enough canopy, a large artistic processional umbrella permanently projected over the chanting place also distinguishes this cave church. This is an indigenous piece of handcraft crafted locally from the bark of a tree. It is painted with different symbols and saint icons. The cave is also home to archaic mural paintings.
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Roskams, Steve. "North African perspectives - Michel Janon & Jean-Marie Gassend. Lambése, capitale militaire de l'Afrique romaine. 86 pages, 65 b&w & colour illustrations incl. many water-colours. 2005. Ollioules: Editions de la Nerthe; 2-913483-52-6 hardback. - David J. Mattingly (ed.). Synthesis: the archaeology of Fazzān (Vol. 1). xxvi+430 pages, 269 figures, 31 tables. 2003. London: Society for Libyan Studies with Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahariya Department of Antiquities; 1-90097102X hardback £50." Antiquity 80, no. 308 (June 1, 2006): 467–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0003598x00093819.
Full textDissertations / Theses on the topic "Africa, north, antiquities"
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Jeffrey, Amy. "Exploring palaeoaridity using stable oxygen and carbon isotopes in small mammal teeth : a case study from two Late Pleistocene archaeological cave sites in Morocco, North Africa." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5443f540-1049-4f89-8240-970afd5e59f5.
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Revised chronologies from Moroccan cave sites have raised questions concerning the timing of changes in human cultural behaviour in relation to past climate shifts. However, many of the inferences about past moisture regimes are based on external records. Therefore, this thesis aimed to develop a palaeoclimate record using oxygen and carbon isotope values (d18O and d13C) in Gerbillinae (gerbil) teeth from two Late Pleistocene cave sites, El Harhoura 2 and Taforalt, in Morocco. Since small mammals are not commonly used to construct proxy climate records, a modern isotope study was undertaken in northwestern Africa to understand the influences on the stable isotope composition of small mammal tissues in semi-arid and arid settings. The results from the modern study show that d18O composition of gerbil teeth is strongly correlated with mean annual precipitation (MAP), and therefore in arid settings reflects moisture availability. Predictably, the d13C values of the gerbil teeth reflected C3 and C4 dietary inputs, but arid and mesic sites could not be distinguished because of the high variability displayed in d13C. The d18O isotope-based MAP reconstructions suggest that the Mediterranean coastal region of North Africa did not experience hyper-arid conditions during the Late Pleistocene. The d13C values of the gerbil teeth show that C3 vegetation dominated in the Late Pleistocene, but there was a small amount C4 vegetation present at Taforalt. This indicates that small mammals are extremely sensitive to discreet shifts in past vegetation cover. Both the modern and archaeological studies demonstrated that the isotope values of molars and incisors differed. The results indicate that tooth choice is an important consideration for applications as proxy Quaternary records, but also highlights a new potential means to distinguish seasonal contexts. Comparisons of proxy climate records and cultural sequences at Taforalt and El Harhoura 2 show that Middle Stone Age occupations of both sites occurred during relatively humid and arid climate phases. The transition to the Later Stone Age appears to have taken place during a period of increased aridity, hinting that this cultural transition may be related to changing environmental conditions.
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Rocca, Elsa. "Ammaeadara (Haïdra) et son territoire : étude d’une ville de l’Afrique antique." Thesis, Paris 4, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012PA040094.
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La ville antique d’Ammaedara (aujourd’hui Haïdra) est située dans le centre ouest de la Tunisie, à proximité de la frontière algérienne. Nous nous proposons d’étudier dans cette thèse l’évolution de la colonie d’Ammaedara, issue du camp de la IIIe Legio Augusta, depuis sa fondation au Ier siècle après J.-C. jusqu’à la conquête arabe à la fin du VIIe siècle, à partir des données archéologiques et historiques. L’examen de la documentation ancienne (plans, clichés aériens) et l’acquisition de nouvelles données de terrain (relevés topographiques, prospections sur le site et la campagne), nous permettrons d’étudier l’évolution de l’occupation urbaine et rurale ; l’analyse s’appuie sur un SIG (Système d’Information Géographique), qui permet le traitement et l’analyse des données spatialisées. L’évolution de la topographie urbaine (contexte de l’implantation de l’agglomération, occupation et évolution de l’espace urbain, réseau hydraulique, limites urbaines) et le rapport entre la ville et sa proche campagne (limites du territoire, occupation des faubourgs, approvisionnement) constituent nos principales thématiques d’étude. Nous livrons une synthèse sur la longue durée qui dresse l’état des connaissances sur le site et replace dans son contexte régional et historique l’évolution de la ville aux périodes romaine, vandale et byzantineThe ancient city of Ammaedara (nowadays Haïdra) is situated in west central Tunisia, near the Algerian border. In this PhD, thanks to the archaeological and historical data, we propose to study the evolution of the colonia of Ammaedara, created from the camp of the Third Augustan Legion, from its foundation in the 1st century CE to the Arabic conquest at the end of the 7th century. The examination of the former documentation (plans, aerial photos) and the obtaining of new data (topographic plans, surveys on the site, land surveys) allow us to study the evolution of the occupation of the city and of its countryside. The analysis is based on a GIS (Geographic Information System), which permit the treatment and the analysis of spatialised data. The evolution of the urban topography (context of the city foundation, occupation and evolution of the urban space, hydraulic network, urban limits) and the relationship between the city and its countryside (limits of the territory, occupation of the suburbs, supply) constitute our main themes of study. We deliver a synthesis on the long term which offer a current state of knowledge of the site and replace the evolution of the city in the regional and historical context during the Roman, Vandal and Byzantine period
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Lamare, Nicolas. "Les fontaines monumentales en Afrique romaine." Thesis, Paris 4, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014PA040017.
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Cette étude porte sur les fontaines monumentales ou nymphées dans les provinces de l’Afrique du Nord à l’époque romaine, sur une période allant du Ier au IVe siècle ap. J.‑C. Nous avons constitué un catalogue des monuments et un corpus épigraphique, à partir de sources bibliographiques et archéologiques recueillies par un travail de terrain. Après avoir rappelé l’histoire des recherches sur l’hydraulique de l’Afrique antique, nous étudions en détail les aspects techniques et architecturaux des fontaines monumentales. Nous proposons une synthèse sur les techniques de construction et le fonctionnement hydraulique, mais également sur la restitution architecturale et du décor sculpté, à l’aide de sources littéraires et iconographiques. Sans proposer de typologie, nous étudions les fontaines dans leur contexte, au sein de la ville et du réseau hydraulique. Nous mettons ainsi en avant l’insertion des fontaines dans la ville et le lien qu’elles entretiennent avec la mise en place des adductions et les programmes urbanistiques. Ces observations rendent possible une étude de la répartition des fontaines dans l’espace urbain et de son impact, décoratif et fonctionnel. L’étude des inscriptions nous permet de mieux envisager le fonctionnement de l’évergétisme, le comportement de la cité et des notables face à ces édifices. Elle est aussi l’occasion de revenir sur les problèmes de vocabulaire qui impliquent une réflexion sur l’appellation des édifices et leur fonction religieuseThis thesis deals with monumental fountains or nymphaea in the Roman North Africa provinces from the 1st to the 4th century CE. We have made up a catalogue of the monuments and inscriptions, composed from bibliographical and archaeological sources compiled on-site. We first sum up the history of research on hydraulics in ancient North Africa and then we study in detail the technical and architectural aspects of monumental fountains. We offer a synthesis on building techniques and hydraulic system as well as architectural and ornamental reconstruction with the help of literary and iconographic sources. Avoiding to establish a typology, we contextualise the fountains both within the city and the hydraulic network. Thus we put forward the insertion of fountains in the city and their link with the founding of a new water supply or town-planning programmes. These observations make possible a study of how the fountains were spread out in the urban space and to what extent it had a decorative and functional impact. By studying inscriptions, we may better understand how euergetism worked, just as the behaviour of cities and notables faced with these monuments. We may also go back to questions of vocabulary which imply to think about the appellation of fountains and their religious function
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Takimoto, Miwa. "Représenter l’espace habité par les dieux ? La Méditerranée de la mosaïque aux Îles d’Ammaedara (Haïdra, Tunisie)." Thesis, Paris 4, 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PA040006.
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Que cherchent à représenter et à percevoir les Romains, lorsqu’ils décrivent un parcours topographique ou géographique dans le cadre de l’art figuré ? Comment construisent-ils mentalement les déplacements géographiques réels ou imaginaires ? Comment se construit la carte mentale entre l’image et le récit ? La « mosaïque aux Îles » d’Haïdra est un parfait exemple qui nous permet de réfléchir sur ces questions. Elle a été découverte en 1995 sur le sol d’une pièce d’un grand édifice dans le quartier suburbain de la cité antique d’Ammaedara en Afrique proconsulaire. Attribuée à la fin du IIIe ou au début du IVe siècle, cette mosaïque offre la vue d’un espace insulaire avec une série de quinze îles et villes de la Méditerranée orientale et de la Sicile dont douze sont désignées par une légende en latin : Cnidos, Cnossos, Cypros, Cytherae, Egusa, Erycos, Idalium, Lemnos, Naxos, Paphos, Rhodos et Scyros. La représentation des îles et des villes ainsi que la manière de restituer leur succession ne correspondent pas à la réalité géographique, alors que ces zones ont été décrites par les auteurs anciens. Ce travail se propose d’étudier la structuration spatiale, la coordination et le montage des éléments réalistes et imaginaires des lieux dans l’art romain, à partir de cette mosaïque. Il s’agira d’analyser les différentes images qui rendent compte de la dualité à la frontière entre la notion de paysage figuré et celle de la cartographie ; il s’agira également de recueillir dans les sources écrites les descriptions spatiales de la géographie physique et littéraire évoquant un paysage culturelWhat do the Romans aim to represent and perceive when they describe a topographical or geographical trajectory within the framework of figurative art? How do they mentally build real or imagined geographical journeys? How is the mental path created from the image and the narrative? The "Mosaïque aux Îles" of Haidra is a perfect example that allows us to think about these issues. It was discovered in 1995 on the floor of a room in a large building in the suburban district of the ancient city of Ammaedara in Africa Proconsularis. Attributed to the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century, this mosaic offers the view of an insular space with a series of fifteen islands and cities of the eastern Mediterranean and Sicily, twelve of which are designated by an inscription in Latin: Cnidos, Cnossos, Cypros, Cytherae, Egusa, Erycos, Idalium, Lemnos, Naxos, Paphos, Rhodos, and Scyros. Therepresentation of islands and cities as well as the manner of reconstructing their succession do not correspond to the geographical reality, although ancient authors have described these areas. This work aims to study the spatial structuring, the coordination, and the assembly of the realistic and imaginary elements of places in Roman art, on the basis of this mosaic. The different images that represent the duality at the boundary between the notion of landscape painting and that of cartography have been analysed. Also, the spatial descriptions of the physical and literary geography evoking a cultural landscape have been collected in the written sources
Books on the topic "Africa, north, antiquities"
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Shaw, Brent D. Environment and society in roman North Africa. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum, 1995.
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Greenwell, Dave. Flint artifacts of North Africa. [Naperville, Ill.]: D. Greenwell, 2005.
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Traditions céramiques, identités et peuplement en Sénégambie: Ethnographie comparée et essai de reconstitution historique. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2005.
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Sheppard, Peter J. The Capsian of North Africa: Stylistic variation in stone tool assemblages. Oxford, England: B.A.R., 1987.
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Canby, Courtlandt. A guide to the archaeological sites of Israel, Egypt, and North Africa. New York: Facts on File, 1990.
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The phraseology of Latin building inscriptions in Roman North Africa. Helsinki: Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, 2010.
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The antiquities of Africa: I disegni di architettura di James Bruce e Luigi Balugani. [Milan, Italy]: B. Mondadori, 2011.
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Metal, nomads and culture contact: The Middle East and North Africa. London: Equinox Pub., 2008.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Africa, north, antiquities"
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Effros, Bonnie. "War and the Destruction of Antiquities in the Former Ottoman Empire." In Incidental Archaeologists, 1–33. Cornell University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501702105.003.0001.
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This chapter addresses the mostly unmanaged explorations of military (and a few civilian) archaeological enthusiasts in the context of the ongoing French onslaught on the former Ottoman principalities of al-Jazā'er and Constantine. It also reports the obliteration of ancient archaeological sites in Syria and northern Iraq by Daesh. The chapter then chronicles the nearly two-hundred-year struggle over the rightful place of ancient monuments located in the former Ottoman Empire to understand Daesh's recent destruction of classical remains. It emphasizes the intimate connection between the modern destruction of classical antiquities and the persistent legacy of European colonial and postcolonial violence to both the people and objects found in North Africa and the Middle East. Ultimately, the chapter examines how the wartime explorations of military archaeological enthusiasts shape the mission and narrative of classical archaeology in North Africa for decades to come.
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Diaz-Andreu, Margarita. "Classical versus Islamic Antiquities in Colonial Archaeology: The Russian Empire and French North Africa." In A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199217175.003.0017.
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This chapter revisits the connection between nationalism and religion in a very different setting to that seen in the biblical lands (Chapter 6) and, to a certain extent, in Central, South, and Southeast Asia (Chapters 7 and 8). It analyses how religion is able to induce the creation of alternative historical discourses to those formed on the basis of the remains of the classical civilizations. On the one hand, the historical account about the Greeks, the Romans and other contemporary peoples influenced by them such as the Scythes still maintained their powerful allure as symbols of civilization and of one’s own empire. On the other, however, the weight religion had in the nineteenth century allowed for the search of the national origin in other periods with special significance for particular churches. Thus, the Byzantine period became appropriated as a Golden Age in the Russian Empire. In contrast, the Islamic past never acquired a similar status in the French colonies of North Africa. The religious undertones of particular archaeological periods were also used to undertake a racial reading of modern populations, and therefore had a direct impact on the colonization of the area. Yet, during the nineteenth century the effect of all this in archaeology was only limited, for the search for ancient remains stubbornly maintained a focus on the classical past. A comparison between the archaeology of the Russian colonies and of French North Africa reveals several similarities and differences which shed light on the processes guiding the development of archaeology in each of these areas. In both of them the historical narrative produced by the colonizers was one in which the classical periods were better regarded and valued more positively than others, following a hierarchy from classical to Byzantine, and then to the prehistoric and Islamic periods. Also, in both colonial areas archaeology was practised by many different actors: individuals from a breadth of occupations, and professionals belonging to many institutions, colonizers settled in the colonies as well as others coming from the metropolis. Nevertheless, this diversity was much more marked in North Africa than in the Russian colonies.
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Abungu, George Okello. "Victims or victors." In The Oxford Handbook of Museum Archaeology, C12–268. Oxford University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198847526.013.35.
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Abstract This chapter begins with a critique of the ‘universal museum’ concept, developed by European and North American museums without due consideration for other parts of the world. It places this critique in the context of colonialism in Africa, as well as ongoing antiquities looting, which enabled the extraction of material now held in these ‘universal museums’. The nature of restitution is discussed and a brief history of African calls for heritage return presented before examining the increased intensity of restitution debates that emerged in the late 2010s, with focuses upon the Sarr–Savoy Report and Benin Bronzes. The chapter emphasizes the significance of restitution for African societies as part of restorative justice. It is argued that restitution should embrace decoloniality and centre African knowledge and traditions of collections care as valid means of heritage care. Such an approach can encourage a shift in the debate from blame and denial, toward sustainable partnerships.
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Diaz-Andreu, Margarita. "Colonialism and the Archaeology of the Primitive." In A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199217175.003.0018.
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Westerners encountered a wide variety of societies in their colonial expansion. Politically these were categorized from the most complex—the state societies in regions of Asia and North Africa—to those perceived as formed by savages and primitives, with the simplest types of political organization. Their entrenched belief in a philosophy of progression took Western scholars to assume an uneventful and unchanged past for these societies. It was commonly argued that savages did not have a history. Hence, they were considered as living fossils, as ‘survivals’ from earlier stages of culture long passed in Europe. In stark contrast to the awe that the ancient Great Civilizations had inspired in imperial Europe, the antiquities of primitive societies evoked a distinctly lesser regard. Instead of appropriating them as part of their own past, Western scholars remained unreceptive: no genetic links were created with the archaeology of the ‘uncivilized’, rather, they were considered to be a distorted image of the remote European—and, from the end of the century, also Japanese—past. This position was not completely new, for primitives had been regarded as a source of information with which to understand the prehistoric past in Europe since the eighteenth century, although at that time this was made within the biblical framework (Sweet 2004: 149–51). This chapter will aim, first, to explore how, during the nineteenth century, the archaeology of the primitive was used in the formation of the colonial discourse. Secondly, the following pages will also assess the interpretations Westerners provided to explain the presence of monumental antiquities in areas considered primitive and, therefore, without a distinguished past. It is important to note that the encounter with primitive societies not only took place within newly established colonies, but also within the frontiers of century-long political formations. This chapter, therefore, regards colonization as operating at two different levels. First, colonialism in the classical sense—based on territories appropriated by a foreign power in a different part of the world. Secondly, internal colonialism, a concept which in this book is employed to define the physical occupation by white settlers of territories usually inhabited by non-state societies, both within already defined boundaries of the state or in adjacent lands.
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Effros, Bonnie. "Classical Archaeology in Algeria after 1870." In Incidental Archaeologists, 248–60. Cornell University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501702105.003.0007.
Full textAbstract:
This chapter examines how the governance of Algeria shifted from a military to a civilian footing after the fall of Napoleon III and the creation of the Third Republic. It chronicles the continued worsening of economic and political conditions of Muslims living under French rule in the North African colony. The chapter also looks at the metropolitan support for archaeological exploration and the French treatment of Roman inscriptions and monuments. With the passage of the 1876 law regulating patrimonial concerns, the minister of public instruction took steps toward a more comprehensive assessment of existing needs regarding antiquities across metropolitan France and Algeria. Authorities in Algiers established a commission intended to identify and catalogue monuments and art objects in the three Algerian departments. Ultimately, the chapter considers the internal impediments to financing and organizing archaeological activities in Algeria.
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Effros, Bonnie. "Colliding Empires." In Objects of War, 50–77. Cornell University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.7591/cornell/9781501720079.003.0003.
Full textAbstract:
This chapter explores how the French discovery of Roman ruins in Algeria was used to legitimate its annexation of the territory. Intellectuals and politicians argued that the Ottoman Empire was illegitimate; France was the true heir of the shared Latinate civilization created by the Roman Empire. The new French Empire would simply reunite the Mediterranean world. These efforts were, however, thwarted by both human and material actors. Parisian museum administrators thought that the North African finds were of low quality and not of much interest. French colonists argued, by contrast, that the Roman artifacts should stay in Algeria, to help build a French imperial identity. And the things themselves resisted; they broke when soldiers tried to extract them and their weight sank the ships used to transport them. The chapter then suggests that nineteenth-century campaigns to steal, export, and re-signify art and antiquities sometimes fell short of their ambitions.