US authorities round up ILLEGAL DINOSAURS for repatriation A group of unusual Asian immigrants, smuggled into the US by unscrupulous criminals, has been returned to its country of origin following an investigation by federal immigration and security operatives. The AP reports that US Attorney Preet Bharara announced the repatriation of no less than 18 distinguished Mongolians this …
The Elgin marbles, as just one instance, left Greece before the modern nation existed. The owners at the time, Ottoman Turks, were letting the marbles disintegrate, so in what way was removing and preserving them immoral? It is rather like agreeing that Argentina has some sort of legal, historical claim on the Falklands. There was no Argentina when the the Brits claimed the islands. So how could Argentina have any form of "claim" let alone a "moral" one? There is a flagrant historical ignorance in much of the politically correct silliness passed off as "morality." No one "go away" with anything. What the Greeks really ought to be demanding back is Constantinople.
What is really pathetic about this story is that there is currently no clear-cut Federal protection for fossils from the US. There are laws that lack regulations - agency policies - and whim. In effect Chinese fossils are safer in the US than the home - ah - fossilized variety.
"removing and preserving them" - would that include removing the original colour from them (they would have been painted, not plain marble)? Even the British Museum shamefacedly admitted 15 years ago that they had been damaged by "heavy handed cleaning" whilst in its possession (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/543077.stm).
Think of it this way. Yes indeed, the BM definitely damaged the marbles, but they are still better shape than they would have been. Just like arguing that artifacts be "returned" to political entities that didn't exist when the artifacts were removed, ignorance of the history of conservation and museology is no excuse for holding the past to current standards. We can wish they "knew then" what we "know now," but we cannot make it so. That was then, this is now, and there is absolutely no evidence that human race is any more morally superior now than it was in the past.
Well, by whose laws was it legal then, exactly?
Laws conveniently put in place by the occupying European nations, where the artifacts now reside? It's not like a country like Egypt or India had much choice in the matter then, izzit?
Not a big fan of Western guilt tripping about most things myself. But in this case, I'd say the stuff should either be purchased or sent back. Canadian First Nation (Indian) tribes got their masks back from Ottawa a while back and that's only fair.
Silly and pointless argument. The assertion of "ownership" in most of these cases is based upon political views and not a few items returned would almost immediately vanish into a black market. The "artifacts" - and BTW dinosaur fossils are not artifacts or artefacts - could be returned, yes. But to whom would you return them? The current government of the country that presently controls the geography from which they derived? ISIS would appreciate that. The Elgin Marbles - hmmm, Greece, where they came from, or Turkey, the polity which controlled the chunk of geography at the time? Do we make an exception since Turkey is now a democracy and not the Ottoman Empire? How about we ask Athens to secede from Greece so that we can return the Marbles to the city state from which they came? After all, when the Elgin Marbles were carved there was no political entity called "Greece." The "return" arguments are a perfect example of the real meaning of "politically correct."
The sole purpose served in these types of arguments is the process of "current politics," and the feeling of "moral righteousness" by the advocates. And, "punishing" many of those 18th and 19th c "collectors" ignores the reality that they often acted to preserve items that would otherwise be irretrievably lost. The Egyptian government of the 19th century for instance was staunchly Muslim. It had no use for ancient ruins, or ancient statuary as anything but building materials, any more than the governments of Egypt earlier had any use for the Library of Alexandria for anything but a source of fuel or the Taliban had use for the Buddhist images of Bamiyan.
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