Antiquities and Ancient Art

What Drove a Long-time Ancient Coin Hobby Leader to Sue the US State Dept?

The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG), an advocacy group for private collectors and independent scholars, announced the filing of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U. S. State Department (DOS), according to a story that this week on NumisMaster.com.

According to Wayne G. Sayles, executive director of the guild, this action became unavoidable due to persistent refusal of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to provide the guild and others with information relating to requests for import restrictions.

The DOS recently imposed unprecedented import restrictions on ancient coins from Cyprus, requiring importers of even a single common coin of Cypriot type to provide what the ACCG believes to be unfair, unworkable and unnecessary documentation. 

The ACCG seeks information relating to requests from Cyprus, China and Italy. In each case, apparent irregularities in the way these requests were handled led to significant concerns.

Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives also requested similar information on behalf of the ACCG and others.

"None of these avenues produced responsive replies," said Peter K. Tompa, ACCG president. "The reason for this lawsuit is that the DOS has refused to provide meaningful information. We seek transparency and fairness of the process by which decisions affecting the American people are made."  Click for full story.

British Museum Lauds Metal Detectorists as 58,920 Antiquities Reported this Year

An intricate figurine of a Roman horse and rider and an Iron Age comb are among an extraordinary 58,290 archaeological objects unearthed by members of the public in the past year, according to an article in today's London Times.

More than three quarters of those objects were discovered with the aid of metal detectors. The rest were found by chance by people who were out walking or gardening.  Roger Bland, head of portable antiquities at the British Museum praises these metal detectives a "national treasure."  And why not?  Unlike other countries where backward logic is applied driving such finds figuratively underground, the British Museum proudly puts on show some of the most important finds — objects that have lain undiscovered for many hundreds of years and might have been decomposed or damaged in the ground and lost forever.

Duncan Pangborn, who first started metal detecting about five years ago, came across the Roman figurine, which dates from the 3rd or 4th century and is extremely well preserved, in an arable field in Cambridgeshire. “It was a shock,” Mr Pangborn, a project manager from North Wymondham, told The Times, recalling the moment he lifted the figurine from a clump of earth close to the surface.

Asked about the thrill of his hobby, he said: “It’s about finding something that hasn’t been seen, in this case, for 1,700 or 1,800 years. It’s about being the first person to handle it since the Roman owner, the link with the past.”  Click here for full article.

Ancient Roman Sacred Grotto Dedicated to 'She-Wolf' Found 52 Feet Deep

Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus, according to a report from Discovery News.

Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference.

In the past two years, experts have been probing the space with endoscopes and laser scanners, fearing that the fragile grotto, already partially caved-in, would not survive a full-scale dig, said Giorgio Croci, an engineer who worked on the site.

The archaeologists are convinced that they have found the place of worship where Romans believed a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god of war Mars who were abandoned in a basket and left adrift on the Tiber.  Read the full story.

The Greatest Period of Anceint Egyptian Metalwork? NY Met Museum Exhibition Explores Subject

Through their long history, the ancient Egyptians used copper, bronze, gold, and silver to create lustrous, graceful statuary for their interactions with their gods – from ritual dramas in the temples and chapels that dotted the landscape to festival processions through the towns and countryside that were thronged by believers. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 16, 2007, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples is the first exhibition ever devoted to these fascinating yet enigmatic works.

On view will be some 70 superb statues and statuettes created in precious metals and copper alloys including bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) over more than two millennia. The exhibition will bring to New York masterpieces from around the world, including seven extremely rare inlaid and decorated large bronzes from the first half of the first millennium, the so-called Third Intermediate Period (1070 – 664 B.C.), the apogee of Egyptian metalwork. Among these will be the astonishing bronze statue of the priestess and noblewoman Takushit, the treasure of the Egyptian Collection of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Measuring some 27 inches (70 cm) in height and covered with a luminous latticework of divine figures and imagery in precious metal, this work has never before left Greece.

Understanding the precious metal and bronze statuary of ancient Egypt poses particular challenges. Reverently decommissioned and buried in large temple deposits after long use, the statues often lack historical inscriptions or, indeed, any contextual information. Metal statuary also reveals a somewhat surprising view of Egyptian art, because it represents different cultural, social, and production structures than those of Egypt's stone creations, with which we are more familiar. For instance, the depiction of Hepu (National Archaeological Museum, Athens) with full natural hair – as opposed to the traditional wig – marks him as a member of a newly visible group, probably a soldier in the wars of the early New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1478 B.C.). Through their recent studies of metal statuary, scholars have been able to elaborate a new framework for metal statuary and gain a new appreciation of these works of art.

The exhibition will present an updated understanding of the development of metal types over the centuries. Special emphasis will be given to its time of great flowering, the Third Intermediate Period, revealing that the term "intermediate" does not coincide with the artistic importance of this era. The exhibition runs through February 18. 2008.

Readers of this blog who visit the exhibition are encouraged to leave your comments.