Early Ottoman Archaeology: Rediscovering the Finds of Ascalon (Ashkelon), 1847
Very little is known about the acquisitions of the (Ottoman) Imperial Museum during the first decades of its existence. As a consequence of the haphazard way in which objects were collected and the absence of any form of institutionalization, the collections inherited from this early period generall...
| Published in: | Bulletin of ASOR |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
The University of Chicago Press
2017
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| In: |
Bulletin of ASOR
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| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament HH Archaeology KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBL Near East and North Africa |
| Further subjects: | B
Archaeology
B Imperial Museum B Ascalon B history of collections B Ottoman B history of archaeology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Very little is known about the acquisitions of the (Ottoman) Imperial Museum during the first decades of its existence. As a consequence of the haphazard way in which objects were collected and the absence of any form of institutionalization, the collections inherited from this early period generally lack the most basic contextual information concerning their provenance, date of entry, and mode of acquisition. Nevertheless, historical and archival research can offer a solution to this archaeological dead-end by tapping into other available sources to fill these lacunae. The following case study reconstructs the story of three marble reliefs in the collection utilizing such documentation. Although they were thought to be from Salonika (Thessaloniki) in northern Greece, they are in fact from Ascalon (Ashkelon) in modern Israel--the product of one of the earliest campaigns carried out by an Ottoman state official to fill the newly established museum in Constantinople with antiquities. Apart from correcting later attributions and guesses, this study also proposes a critical reassessment of the nature of early Ottoman archaeological ventures and a systematic analysis of the accumulation (or not) of knowledge and scholarship on the fringes of Europe. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8062 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Schools of Oriental Research, Bulletin of ASOR
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.5615/bullamerschoorie.378.0025 |