Founded in 1879, the AIA was chartered by the United States Congress in 1906, in recognition of its role in the development and passage of the Antiquities Act, which Theodore Roosevelt signed into law that year. Today, the AIA remains committed to preserving the world’s archaeological resources and cultural heritage for the benefit of people in the present and in the future.
The extraordinary global significance of the monuments, museums, and archaeological sites of Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia) imposes an obligation on all peoples and governments to protect them. In any military conflict that heritage is put at risk, and it appears now to be in grave danger.
In the face of the recent destruction and looting of Iraq’s archaeological sites, museums and libraries, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced an initiative aimed at the preservation and documentation of “cultural resources in Iraq’s archives, libraries, and museums.
A First-Person Account of the CPAC Meeting Reviewing Italian Import Restrictions
A new Memorandum of Understanding was recently inked by the United States and the People’s Republic of China. The five-year agreement outlines steps designed to stem the flow of illicitly excavated or exported artifacts from China to the U.S.
The Archaeological Institute of America has issued the following statement concerning cultural objects on loan to U.S. institutions and calls for Congressional action to assure the security of international loans and exhibitions from attachment.
The AIA Governing Board endorsed the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.
The statement of the AIA, the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, the U.S. Committee for the Blue Shield, and others urging Senate ratification can be downloaded here.
The AIA applauds the AAMD’s revision of its Report and Guidelines on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art released on June 4. These new guidelines incorporate many principles that the AIA has long advocated.
For-profit salvage groups and underwater treasure hunting corporations, says Jerome Lynne Hall, have succeeded in manipulating public opinion with several clever and closely woven deceptions regarding underwater cultural heritage.
Since their first invention in western Turkey in the late seventh century B.C., coins have been struck in precious metals and copper alloys, and since that time they have been lost, buried in hoards, placed in graves, or otherwise left behind for archaeologists to find. When coins are found as part of a scientific excavation, they can make an immense contribution to our understanding of ancient society. In this effort, numismatists and archaeologists can work hand in hand, facilitating discoveries and interpretations that neither discipline could produce in isolation.
