Bones of the Ancestors: The Ambum Stone

by Brian Egloff

Overview

Bones of the Ancestors tells the shadowy story of the Ambum Stone, a 3,000-year-old carving from Papua New Guinea that found its way onto the antiquities market and then into an important modern museum.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759111608
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/20/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Brian Egloff is adjunct associate professor of cultural heritage studies at the University of Canberra, in Australia.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 From Samting Bilong Tumbuna to Treasure
Chapter 2 Contested Landscapes and Mind-scapes
Chapter 3 Emotions and Responses
Chapter 4 Laws, Museums, and Galleries
Chapter 5 Romancing the Stone
Chapter 6 Fitting the Pieces Together
Chapter 7 Had Enough Romance?

Editorial Reviews

Reading this book was like going on a walk with the promise of finding an exciting treasure....Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology and cultural heritage of Papua New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific should possess a copy....There is a great deal of information about illegal export of cultural material from Papau New Guinea but little has been published and it is to Egloff's credit that he has risked an almost certain backlash from dealers, collectors and museums to draw a few examples to our attention. His research on the Ambum stone demonstrates that due diligence can provide the information that is so carefully concealed by those wanting to circumvent cultural property legislation....This fine achievement of Egloff's brings the adventures and misadventures of the Ambum stone to our awareness. Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology, and cultural heritage of Papau New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific, should possess a copy.

Archaeology In Oceania, Spring 2010 - Barry Craig

Egloff presents the complexity and challenges of protecting cultural heritage and negotiating multiple regimes of value among drastically different societies and contexts....The author is especially well qualified to unravel this tale of negotiation and sometimes intrigue....These are important arguments, compellingly presented as a case study....This book will be a useful read for museum professionals and scholars of Pacific cultures....It is an important contribution to the larger discussion of the worldwide trade in art, cultureal heritage preservation, and the tensions between global and local perspectives on these issues.
— Kathleen Barlow, 2010

Museum Anthropology

Egloff presents the complexity and challenges of protecting cultural heritage and negotiating multiple regimes of value among drastically different societies and contexts....The author is especially well qualified to unravel this tale of negotiation and sometimes intrigue....These are important arguments, compellingly presented as a case study....This book will be a useful read for museum professionals and scholars of Pacific cultures....It is an important contribution to the larger discussion of the worldwide trade in art, cultureal heritage preservation, and the tensions between global and local perspectives on these issues.

Museum Anthropology - Kathleen Barlow

There are two threads to Brian Egloff's story of the Ambum Stone, a 3,500-year-old sandstone carving from Papua New Guinea that appeared on the ancient art market in London in the mid -1960s. One is the story of the stone itself, which resembles carvings found in more recent times by Papuan villagers and assimilated into local cults as stones of power. The other is the story of the legal and financial complexities of the international trade in antiquities, as the stone was removed from Papua New Guinea in the early 1960s and bought by the National Gallery of Australia in 1977. Egloff tells these riveting stories with fine balance, showing how the gnarled histories of objects like the Ambum Stone are manifestations of modern concerns with the protection of cultural heritage.

Jack Golson

Reading this book was like going on a walk with the promise of finding an exciting treasure....Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology and cultural heritage of Papua New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific should possess a copy....There is a great deal of information about illegal export of cultural material from Papau New Guinea but little has been published and it is to Egloff's credit that he has risked an almost certain backlash from dealers, collectors and museums to draw a few examples to our attention. His research on the Ambum stone demonstrates that due diligence can provide the information that is so carefully concealed by those wanting to circumvent cultural property legislation....This fine achievement of Egloff's brings the adventures and misadventures of the Ambum stone to our awareness. Every university library and anyone concerned with the anthropology, archaeology, and cultural heritage of Papau New Guinea, or indeed of the Pacific, should possess a copy.

Archaeology In Oceania - Barry Craig x