Closing Pandora’s Box: Examining The Long-Term Legacy Of Initiatives To Protect Cultural Heritage During Periods Of Armed Conflict.

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Cultural Heritage During Crises: Crime, Conflict, and Climate Change", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

From Yemen to the Ukraine, armed conflict continues to threaten cultural heritage around the world. Archaeological sites, architectural monuments, and artefacts can all find themselves in the crosshairs, at risk of systematic looting, collateral damage, or targeted destruction. Cultural heritage stakeholders have long sought to mitigate the significant threats posed by armed conflict, through a combination of both civilian and military-led cultural property protection (CPP) initiatives. Using case studies from 20th and 21st Century conflicts, this paper explores the legacy of UK and US-led CPP operations in foreign territories. The paper re-examines initiatives to safeguard heritage located within the theatre of operations and considers how CPP decisions impact post-conflict restitution efforts and the legal, academic and art-market understanding / treatment of artefacts unlawfully removed during periods of armed conflict.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Cultural Heritage During Crises: Crime, Conflict, and Climate Change   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow