Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T15:20:41.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The future of Mali's past

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

R. M. A. Bedaux  and
M. Rowlands
R. M. A. Bedaux
Affiliation:
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, PB 212, 2300 AE Leiden, Netherlands, bedaux@rmv.nl
M. Rowlands
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BF, England, m.rowlands@ucl.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

One of the greatest disasters for African archaeology is the systematic plundering of archaeological sites for the antiquities trade (e.g. Schmidt & McIntosh 1996; ICOM 1994). An eloquent proof of this plundering is the beautiful catalogue ‘Earth and ore’, published in 1997 by Schaedler. Of the 668 objects illustrated fullcolour in this catalogue all come, except for a dozen objects and some forgeries, from recent looting of sites in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana and Nigeria.

Regions in Mali that are particularly rich in cultural heritage, such as the Niger Inner Delta and the Dogon country, are particularly shocking examples of this systematic plundering. Archaeological research in 1991 in the south of the Delta, undertaken within the framework of the Malian-Dutch ‘Toguéré’ project of the Institut des Sciences Humaines at Bamako, showed that 450h of the 830 visited sites exhibited traces of illicit excavations (Dembele et al. 1993). In 1996, a sample of 80 of these sites was revisited by Annette Schmidt. The percentage of plundered sites had increased by 20%) (Annette Schmidt pers. comm.). One does not need much imagination to realize the scale of this disaster.

Keywords

Cultural heritagelootingprotectionconservationMali
Type
Special section
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 290 , December 2001 , pp. 872 - 876
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

African Arts. 1995. Protecting Mali’s cultural heritage, African Arts 28(4).Google Scholar
Africom. 1996. Manuel des normes. Documentation des collections africaines. Paris: TCOM.Google Scholar
Bedaux, K.M.A. 1986. Recherches ethno-archéologiques sur la poterie des Dogon (Mali), in Fokkens, H., Banga, P. & Bierma, M. (ed.), Op zoek naar mens en materiële cultuur: 117–46. Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.Google Scholar
Bedaux, K.M.A. 1988. Tellum and Dogon material culture, African Arts 21: 38–45.Google Scholar
Bedaux, K.M.A. 1991. The Tellem research project: the archaeological context, in Bolland, R., Tellem textiles; archaeological finds from burial caves in Mali’s Bandiagara Cliff: 14–36. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute/Leiden: Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde/Bamako: Institut des Sciences Humaines and Musée National du Mali. Mededelingen Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden 27.Google Scholar
Bedaux, R.M.A. & van der Waals, J.D. (ed.). 1994. Djenné. une ville millénaire au Mali. Leiden: Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde et Martial.Google Scholar
Bedaux, R.M.A., Diaby, B., Keita, M.K., Maas, P. & Sidibé, S.. 1996. Plan de projet Réhabilitation et Conservation de l’Architecture de Djenné, (Mali), ICOMOS Scientific Journal 7: 45–76.Google Scholar
Dembele, M., Schmidt, A.M. & van der Waals, J.D.. 1993. Prospections de sites archéologiques dans le Delta intérieur du Niger, Mali, in Voilées du Niger: 218–34. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux.Google Scholar
Icom. 1994 (1997). Cent objets disparus. Pillage en Afrique/ One hundred missing objects. Looting in Africa. Paris: ICOM.Google Scholar
Icom. 1995. Illicit traffic of cultural property in Africa. Paris: ICOM.Google Scholar
Leloup, H. 1994. Statuaire dogon. Strasbourg: Editions Amez.Google Scholar
Maas, P. & Mommersteeg, G.. 1992. Djeiuìé, chef-d’oeuvre architectural. Bamako: Institut des Sciences Humaines/Eindhoven: Université de Technologie/Amsterdam: Institut Royal des Tropiques.Google Scholar
McIntosh, S.K. (ed.). 1995. Excavations at jenne-feno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana (Inland Niger Delta, Mali), the 1981 season. Berkeley JCAI: University of California Press. University of California Publications Anthropology 20.Google Scholar
Pkonk, f. 1995. Fighting poverty is important for the safeguarding of cultural heritage, in Lcyten, H. (ed.), Illicit traffic in cultured property. Museums against pillage. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute.Google Scholar
Raimbault, M. & Sanogo, K. (ed.). 1991. Recherches archéologiques au Mali: prospections et inventaire, fouilles et études analytiques en Zone lacustre. Paris: Editions Karthala.Google Scholar
Ravenhill, P.L. 1995. Beyond reaction and denunciation, African Arts 28(4): 56–7.Google Scholar
Schaedler, K.-F. 1997. Earth and ore: 2500 years of African art in terracotta and metal. Munich: Panterra Verlag/Edition Minerva.Google Scholar
Schmidt, P.R. & McIntosh, R.J. (ed.). 1996. Plundering Africa’s past. Bloomington (IN): Indiana University Press/London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Sidibé, S. 1995. The fight against pillage of Mali’s cultural heritage and illicit exportation: national efforts and international cooperation, in ICOM (1995): 109–16.Google Scholar
Spini, T. & Spini, S.. 1976 (1977). Togu Na. New York (NY): Rizzoli International Publications.Google Scholar
Vallées du Niger. 1993. Vallées du Niger. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux.Google Scholar