James Schow

Professor Davis
Tech 201
29 September 2014
Rightful Ownership or Preservation of History?
Creative periods in ancient civilizations left the todays world with beautiful art and
interesting and important artifacts. This culture was often brought to a parent nation when the
area of an ancient civilization was under foreign control. The governments of the ancient lands
now want the artifacts back; the current owners claim the artifacts were gifted or bought.
Nations who call for the return of their ancient culture are often very unstable, and the best way
to preserve the culture is to keep them in stable, wealthy nations such as England and France.
Host nations should remember the origination of these artifacts and respect the connection
modern peoples have with their ancestors by not limiting that nations access to the artifacts in
the ways of research.
The Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities has been seeking to retrieve Egyptian
artifacts from other nations. Its important to their history and culture and represents great
periods of creativity for Egypt. The problem is, the Muslim Brotherhood has gained power in
Egypt, and could potentially destroy the thousands of years of history the museums represent.
Certain extremist Muslim groups seek to destroy historical treasures for the purpose of
preventing idol worship and to stamp out a diversity of religion. In Afghanistan the last 30
years, these treasures have been destroyed with no thought of the lost culture. Artifacts still in
existence need to be kept safe. The political instability in Egypt deems the nation unfit for
possession off these artifacts.

Egyptian care for artifacts resides solely in the small upper and middle classes. In riots
several years ago, many artifacts were stolen, damaged, and even destroyed. They were stolen
because a sold artifact would feed a poor citizen for a very long time. Such an example shows
that artifacts need to reside in wealthy countries where art is appreciated. In World War II, Paris
surrendered rather than risk their art be destroyed by a battle. The Parisians took the thousands
of pieces of the Rose Window from the Cathedral of Notre Dame, numbered them, and hid the
individual pieces throughout the city to preserve the art they held so dear. This is the sort of
place art needs to reside; where it is cherished and protected.
The Rosetta Stone resides in the British Museum where it is protected from thievery,
vandalism, and natural weathering. Egypts SCA is seeking to bring the stone to Egypt because
its a part of Egyptian culture. Such a move could be detrimental to the stone and the wonder it
is. The stone was removed from Egypt as war booty, which as unfortunate as the means of
acquisition was, it was for the better. Britain should allow Egyptian researchers and historians to
study the stone free of charge, as it is an Egyptian artifact. This way, Egypt has the benefit of
research and the stone can be protected by the wealthy and cultural centric British government
and people.
Historical artifacts are best kept in stable, rich countries where history and art are
important. Unstable countries such as Egypt and Afghanistan, though the origin of the cultural
artifacts, cannot and should not be trusted with these artifacts for the sake of keeping the art
alive. Limits shouldnt be placed on research opportunities (within reason) for those
countrymen. Such artifacts are an important part of a nations culture and for that reason, the
nation of origin should be able to study such artifacts even if the artifacts arent within the
boundaries of that nation.

Works Cited
Joffe, Alexander H. "Egypt's Antiquities Caught In The Revolution." Middle East Quarterly 18.2
(2011): 73-78. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Sept. 2014.