Greek helmets galore

[MeinPanzer]

Hi. I'm a novelist, not a professional historian, archaeologist, or art dealer.

However, because I grew up with Archaeology--my uncle, all his friends, and most of his extended social circle--and have known archaeologists in a wide variety of cultural contexts... I have to say that much of what I'm hearing here is--um--funny. To say the least...

I mean no offense! But archaeologists from the 1850s to THE PRESENT DAY have lied about artifacts, lied about sites, failed to adequately survey, failed to document, failed to dig, dug in the wrong season--mis-tagged, deliberately or by genuine error. They sell artifacts to finance digs, they tag items from their own illegal holes to their legitimate sites... I've seldom known a senior archaeologist who hasn't admitted to one of these behaviors. The recent discovery of the mis-cataloging of, as I understand it, the entire collection of early textiles at Anne Arbor (Univ. of Mich) shows how easily this can happen with the kind of disastrous consequence for which art dealers are often blamed.

I'm no fan of the art-dealers. They're worse. But each helmet--every artifact--can really only be approached on its own, once it comes out of the ground. New techniques--and perhaps new approaches, like experimental archaeology--might help. I suspect this discussion would be aided by talking to people who BUILD these helmets... but that's merely an opinion.

I will comment that while the Olympische Forschungen series is like a bible to me (as a reenactor and novelist), Kunze's views on how greaves were made would have benefited enormously from contact with some modern working craftsmen who made greaves...

I note that Oracle suggests that items in private collections are suspect; it amuses me, as my friends with large private collections suggest that many helmets in museums are either forgeries or have more putty to them than bronze. I don't agree with either party (nor do I actually know enough to prove or disprove)--but I do feel as a reenactor trying to recreate these items that more than a hundred years of bad-faith dealing by both professional academics and art dealers should make reenactors very, very careful of accepting any individual artifact that is not solidly backed by contemporary illustrative evidence.

Of course there are problems with archaeology, and not all archaeologists are saints. But the fact is that the majority of artefacts unearthed by archaeologist are observed and documented one way or another, while only the small minority of art market items are. When all the problems of archaeology are taken into account, these are still well-trained professionals who are expected to document their findings, and to paint it as if "every artifact can really only be approached on its own once it comes out of the ground" is ridiculous - that is altogether throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I too am most disappointed at what seems to be an officious humbug atitude in German archaeology, preventing the publication of works such as Jorg's. What else have we missed because of this censorship ? I am in favour of the growth/publication of all knowledge, and let the reader assess it's value or otherwise.....

This is hardly "officious humbug attitude," I have to say. I would like to see Jorg's publication as much as the rest, but (if I understand it correctly) his proposal is for a study based primarily on unprovenanced art market helmets. That is the territory of an auction catalogue, but not of an official archaeological publication, because unprovenanced items can't be fit into the big picture of archaeology, and as I stated before, they are all but worthless unless studied unto themselves. The attitude here, that academia wrongly shuns everything the art market produces, is off base, since, as I posted before, there are examples where such items are published and considered in official archaeological publications. The problem is in basing an entire study on them - that is not the basis for a thesis.

In that vein, Jorg, have you approached any auction houses or other art market publishers with an eye to publishing your work?