The Politics of Excavations: European Archaeologists at the League of Nations

The proposed paper will explore the professional network of Europeans who worked on the “problem of archaeological excavations” in the interwar period through the League of Nations.  In the 1920s and 1930s, European museum hallways and archaeological sites buzzed with debate about the “problem of excavations.” What, exactly, was this “problem of excavations?” Many European archaeologists, jurists, and arts administrators, on the one hand, attributed the problem to emerging nationalism in archaeologically rich countries. New sovereign nations like Egypt, Turkey, and Iraq, they argued, passed decrees each year that unwisely circumscribed excavation concessions and exportation of antiquities. Nationalist politicians in Egypt and individuals like Ahmad Kamal, a French-trained Egyptian Egyptologist disputed this charge. They defined the problem as unchecked spoliation of artifacts. And yet, despite such core differences, a dialogue took place in the 1920s and 1930s.

This dialogue, which brought Europeans, Americans, and new non-Western leaders together, has been little studied. The proposed paper will therefore track which European museum professionals—archaeologists, curators, and administrators—signed up for these League initiatives. The paper aims to understand better what they expected out of participating, and to observe how professional connections affected politics. The paper also intends to study which professionals in the new sovereign nations joined, and why. Finally, how did European professionals respond to the Iraqi, Syrian, Turkish, and Egyptian curators who came to the League summits on excavations with quite different agendas? Was the League table ultimately a place to shake hands or to further harden divisions?