The British Museum, Part 2

The British Museum is not without controversy.  It houses artifacts from around the world, many of which were acquired in the Colonial Era.  Some countries (like Greece), have asked for their artifacts (like the Marble Friezes from the Parthenon, known as the Elgin Marbles) to be repatriated.

I have always joked that if you want to see anything in the world, you have to return to the British Museum to see it in its entirety.

At the BM, I also visited a display from the site that I studied for my dissertation, and continue to actively study.  Bab edh-Dhra' is an Early Bronze Age site in Jordan, that some believe to be the Biblical site of Sodom.  Let me first assure you that there is zero evidence for that assertion, but it highlights why so many museums have artifacts from the collection.

This is the material on display from Tomb G2 from Bab edh-Dhra'.

Several archaeologists are working on a project (called Follow the Pots) to understand how and why extensive looting has happened at the site of Bab edh-Dhra'.  In addition, they are tracking down where artifacts from the official excavations have gone.  The tombs were excavated in the 1970s, and many museums hold some parts of them.  If someone wants to study the collection, they may have to travel to several countries (if they can find all of the locations!).

And, in relation to the work I've been doing in Cambridge, the BM also houses a re-creation of a tomb from the site of Jericho (yet another well-known site with biblical implications -- something that frequently occurs when you work in the ancient Near East).

--Prof. Ullinger