showing 4 related works from this author
Exploring the “Cozy Cabal of Academics, Dealers and Collectors” through the Schøyen Collection
2020
In the wake of the trade in ancient materials, several ethical and political issues arise that merit concern: The decimation of the cultural heritage of war-torn countries, proliferation of corruption, ideological connotations of orientalism, financial support of terrorism, and participation in networks involved in money laundering, weapon sales, human trafficking and drugs. Moreover, trafficking and trading also have a harmful effect on the fabric of academia itself. This study uses open sources to track the history of the private Schø
More Dubious Dead Sea Scrolls
2021
Abstract In the course of the last eighteen years more than 75 new “Dead Sea Scrolls” fragments have surfaced on the antiquities market. These are commonly referred to as post-2002 Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments. A growing number of scholars regard a substantial part of them as forgeries. In this article, we will discuss four more dubious fragments, but this time from the 20th Century—or at least from pre-2002. Two of the fragments have been known since the late nineties and are published in the DJD series. One was published in Revue de Qumran (2003), and one in Gleanings from the Caves (2016). All four are today accepted as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dataset even though they are unprove…
Tales of saviours and iconoclasts. On the provenance of "the Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism"
2021
Academic research on newly discovered ancient Buddhist manuscripts is largely based on objects that come from the antiquities market and to a much lesser degree on objects coming from documented and controlled archaeological excavations. Despite their being unprovenanced, collectors and scholars often present such objects with narratives mimicking provenance. The use of the label "Dead Sea Scrolls" attached to archaeological material without connections to Judaism or early Christianity is a prevalent example of this scholarly praxis. In this article, we deconstruct provenance narratives associated with the undocumented Buddhist manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection and discuss their implica…
Curation by the Living Dead: Exploring the Legacy of Norwegian Museums' Colonial Collections
2021
ABSTRACT While the history of Norwegian museum acquisitions and collection formation has long been a topic of research, the extent to which colonial structures are still embedded in various Norwegian collecting institutions is seldom addressed. In this paper, we discuss the legacy of colonial collections in Norway through two case studies; Inge Heiberg’s collection of Congo ethnographica in various exhibitions at the University of Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History from the early 1900s to the present; and the Norwegian Kon-Tiki Museum’s initiative to repatriate human remains and other material excavated by Thor Heyerdahl on Rapa Nui in the 1950s. Presenting two cases that have been promoted …