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I saw an early 'Etruscan' exhibit years ago. All the artifacts were so 'pat', so neatly calculated to be interesting that I had suspicions that they were fake.

I saw an early 'Etruscan' exhibit years ago. All the artifacts were so 'pat', so neatly calculated to be interesting that I had suspicions that they were fake. It can be hard to tell, especially when some folks do fakes with the intent to deceive

djur 4y ago
An exhibit is the outcome of multiple rounds of curation -- which items are preserved through history, which are acquired by museums, which are retained, which are displayed, and the prominence with which they are displayed. This curation is always going to involve some kind of agenda, benign or otherwise. In a sense you are correct that the exhibit you viewed is fake in the sense of being a fabricated version of reality. But that doesn't mean it was fake in the sense of being fraudulent.
- JoeAltmaier 4y ago
  Oh I don't know. They had a convenient mug with the Etruscan alphabet and the Greek alphabet inscribed around the top. What do you know! The letters were one-to-one. And it was perfectly preserved. Not a chip. The various jugs and jars had insults and humorous comments painted haphazardly across them. Almost as if to entertain the audience who would 'dig them up.' Just looking at it all my overwhelming impression was, it was just the same sort of stuff my high school class had buried in our Archaeology unit, so our classmates could collect them. I remember (which is no evidence at all, I know) in my youth, barrows that were investigated int the 1800s and marked 'empty' as suddenly showing up years later packed with handy Etruscan artifacts of just the sort a museum would want.
  - djur 4y ago
    The Etruscan alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet, so I'm not sure why that would be suspicious. Etruscan dropped a few letters but otherwise it's very similar.
wl 4y ago
Unless the artifacts were archeologically excavated and professionally conserved, they probably were fake to some degree. The art market treats ancient artifacts like more modern art, which are to be admired for their aesthetic qualities and rarity rather than what they can tell us about the past. They are to be bought and sold as an investment. They are to be displayed to demonstrate refinement, sophistication, and wealth. The result is that unscrupulous "restorations" that enhance the aesthetic value of and apparent condition of artifacts are par for the course. The Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago has a really great exhibit[0] on this topic right now, comparing Roman marbles archeologically excavated by the university with similar items obtained from the art market. The exhibit opening lecture on YouTube is worth watching if you're interested in this kind of thing. [0] https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles [1] https://youtu.be/DnMO5nYP-eo https://youtu.be/DnMO5nYP-eo

djur 4y ago

An exhibit is the outcome of multiple rounds of curation -- which items are preserved through history, which are acquired by museums, which are retained, which are displayed, and the prominence with which they are displayed. This curation is always going to involve some kind of agenda, benign or otherwise. In a sense you are correct that the exhibit you viewed is fake in the sense of being a fabricated version of reality. But that doesn't mean it was fake in the sense of being fraudulent.

JoeAltmaier 4y ago
Oh I don't know. They had a convenient mug with the Etruscan alphabet and the Greek alphabet inscribed around the top. What do you know! The letters were one-to-one. And it was perfectly preserved. Not a chip. The various jugs and jars had insults and humorous comments painted haphazardly across them. Almost as if to entertain the audience who would 'dig them up.' Just looking at it all my overwhelming impression was, it was just the same sort of stuff my high school class had buried in our Archaeology unit, so our classmates could collect them. I remember (which is no evidence at all, I know) in my youth, barrows that were investigated int the 1800s and marked 'empty' as suddenly showing up years later packed with handy Etruscan artifacts of just the sort a museum would want.
- djur 4y ago
  The Etruscan alphabet was derived from the Greek alphabet, so I'm not sure why that would be suspicious. Etruscan dropped a few letters but otherwise it's very similar.

wl 4y ago

Unless the artifacts were archeologically excavated and professionally conserved, they probably were fake to some degree. The art market treats ancient artifacts like more modern art, which are to be admired for their aesthetic qualities and rarity rather than what they can tell us about the past. They are to be bought and sold as an investment. They are to be displayed to demonstrate refinement, sophistication, and wealth. The result is that unscrupulous "restorations" that enhance the aesthetic value of and apparent condition of artifacts are par for the course. The Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago has a really great exhibit[0] on this topic right now, comparing Roman marbles archeologically excavated by the university with similar items obtained from the art market. The exhibit opening lecture on YouTube is worth watching if you're interested in this kind of thing. [0] https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles [1] https://youtu.be/DnMO5nYP-eo https://youtu.be/DnMO5nYP-eo