Cultural Heritage

In the late 19th century, the notorious American consul in Cyprus assembled a vast collection of antiquities and sold them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Today archaeologists are working together to preserve the island's cultural heritage, recognized as centrally important to the ancient Mediterranean world. Dr. Ellen Herscher, Consulting Scholar, Penn Museum, surveys the most significant American contributions to Cypriot archaeology, with a special focus on the Penn Museum's pioneering excavations in the early 20th century. Sponsored by the Cyprus Society of Greater Philadelphia.

The relationship between people and things is a crucial avenue of investigation in understanding past cultures. Employing case studies from Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, this lecture examines the collecting of archaeological materials, the effects on the archaeological landscape, and the object biographies of those artifacts enmeshed in the antiquities trade. The Penn Cultural Heritage Center is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of community-based Cultural Heritage. The Penn CHC is located in the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. For more information, www.pennchc.org.

Immediately following the attacks of September 11, 2001, curators at the New York State Museum began to document, collect, preserve, and eventually exhibit material that would record the tragic events and bring the history to the public in new ways. Many unprecedented issues were confronted including collecting at crime scenes, working with families, survivors, the FBI, NYPD, FDNY, and many city agencies-and the work continues today. Mark Schaming, Director of Exhibitions, New York State Museum, discusses the issues of collecting and exhibiting sensitive material.

Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino discuss their recent book "Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum," a non-fiction narrative about how the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles became the focal point for an international scandal over the acquisition of looted Greek and Roman antiquities. They discuss the roots of the scandal and talk about how the controversy ushered in a new era of enlightened cultural exchanges.

Cultural heritage issues have recently come to the fore in China's foreign relations. Just last year, on January 14th of 2009, the US and China marked the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of mutual diplomatic relations by signing a landmark Memorandum of Understanding on cultural heritage protection. This agreement paved the way for a broader Strategic and Economic Dialogue initiated ten weeks later, a forum that now serves as the centerpiece of our bilateral relationship. Virtually unknown, however, are the roots of this agreement that go back a century. From 1912 to 1934, the US government, in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America and the Smithsonian Institution, sponsored a series of expeditions to China to pioneer with the Chinese government and academic community both archaeological research and systematic monument and artifact preservation. This collaborative venture resulted in numerous joint Sino-American excavations and exhibitions as well as the establishment of China's first national museum and an Antiquities Protection Law. Today as China and the US negotiate similar issues, this shared history provides us with both precedent and perspective.

Richard Hodges, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, presented the Public Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America on Thursday, January 8, 2009. The lecture titled "From Atticus to the IMF: Archaeology and issues of social responsibility in southern Albania" examines the work of the Butrint Foundation in Albania.

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Opening remarks by the Deputy Director of the Penn Museum, C. Brian Rose, and the Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center, Richard Leventhal.

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. VASIF ŞAHOGLU from the Research Center for Maritime Archaeology at Ankara University, Turkey presents "The Interdisciplinary Investigations at the Bronze Age Site of Limantepe".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Sebastiano Tusa from the Soprintendenza del Mare, Regione Siciliana in Palermo, Italy and Annalisa Zarattini Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Lazio, Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities in Rome, Italy give a joint presentation, "Underwater Cultural Heritage Research and Management in Peninsular Italy and Sicily".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. IRENA RADIÇ ROSSI, Professor in the Dept. of Archaeology at the University of Zadar, Croatia, presents "Striking a Balance: Research, Protection and Management of Croatia's Maritime Heritage".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Mariano J. Aznar Gómez University Jaume I of Castellón Department of Public International Law presents "Some Legal Problems: Protecting Underwater Cultural Heritage: Spain and the Mediterranean as a Test Case"

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Ahmed Shokry from the Department of Underwater Antiquities Supreme Council of Antiquities in Alexandria, Egypt speaks on Egyptian Underwater Heritage.

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. Nic Flemming of the National Oceanography Centre in South Hampton presents "Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Potential Sub-Sea Prehistoric Sites in the Mediterranean".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. ANDREJ GASPARI from the Military Museum of Slovenia & Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Slovenia presents "The Archaeological Phenomenon of the Ljubljanica River and Its Protection".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. DAVID J. BLACKMAN from Oxford University's Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies presents "The Road to the Convention".

Who Owns Underwater Cultural Heritage? Perspectives on Archaeological Law and Ethics in the Mediterranean Saturday March 27, 2010 Archaeologists working in territorial and international waters discuss which legal and ethical standards direct our collective responsibility as stewards of world cultural heritage and address the guidelines for archaeological practice outlined in the 2001 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which took effect in 2009. Co-sponsored by the Penn Cultural Heritage Center. KATERINA DELLAPORTA the 2nd Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities in Athens, Greece speaks on Underwater Archaeology in Greece.