The Market for Mesoamerica
Reflections on the Sale of Pre-Columbian Antiquities
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Market for Mesoamerica
Reflections on the Sale of Pre-Columbian Antiquities
About this book
Pre-Columbian artifacts are among the most popular items on the international antiquities market, yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to monitor these items as public, private, and digital sales proliferate. This timely volume explores past, current, and future policies and trends concerning the sales and illicit movement of artifacts from Mesoamerica to museums and private collections. Informed by the fields of anthropology, economics, law, and criminology, contributors critically analyze practices of research and collecting in Central American countries. They assess the circulation of looted and forged artifacts on the art market and in museums and examine government and institutional policies aimed at fighting trafficking. They also ask if and how scholars can use materials removed from their context to interpret the past.
The theft of cultural heritage items from their places of origin is a topic of intense contemporary discussion, and The Market for Mesoamerica updates our knowledge of this issue by presenting undocumented and illicit antiquities within a regional and global context. Through discussion of transparency, accountability, and ethical practice, this volume ultimately considers how antiquities can be protected and studied through effective policy and professional practice.
Contributors: Cara G. Tremain | Donna Yates | Martin Berger | Allison Davis | James Doyle | Rosemary Joyce | Nancy L. Kelker | Guido Krempel | Christina Luke | Sofia Paredes Maury | Adam Sellen A volume in the series Maya Studies, edited by Diane Z. Chase and Arlen F. Chase
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1. Making Markets for Mesoamerican Antiquities
- 2. U.S. Collaboration with Mesoamerican Countries to Protect Cultural Property
- 3. Corporatism, Heritage, and Museums: Rigmarole in Central America, 1899–1950
- 4. There and Back Again: Looting, Trafficking Culture, and the Management of Cultural Heritage in Guatemala
- 5. The Odyssey of Piedras Negras Stela 5
- 6. “From a Cave near Tehuacán”: An Attempt to Reassemble Post-Classic Mesoamerican Ritual Deposits Separated by the Art Market
- 7. Ancient Zapotec Material Culture and the Antiquities Market
- 8. Forgery and the Pre-Columbian Art Market
- 9. The Many Lives of Maya Antiquities: Tracking Distribution and Redistribution through Auction Catalogues
- 10. Failures and Consequences of Antiquities Antitrafficking Policy in Mesoamerica
- List of Contributors
- Index
- Maya Studies