Nomadic cultures of the steppes: new light on the Scythians

The Scythians, or Saka, as they were known to outsiders, were nomads who traversed the Eurasian steppes from the Black Sea to the borders of China. Regarded as "barbarians" by the ancient Greeks, archaeological investigations have thrown new light on their culture, their way of life and interactions with neighbours such as the Persians and Chinese.

An article from the New York Times, published in conjunction with an upcoming exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, looks at the artifacts recovered from Scythian burial mounds and what this tells us about their culture

CLICK HERE TO WATCH A SLIDE-SHOW OF SOME OF THE BEAUTIFUL ARTIFACTS ON DISPLAY

Ethnology Museums and the issue of exhibiting human remains

In colonial times, human remains were routinely collected by archaeologists and anthropologists and displayed in ethnology museums - this article from the Deutsche Welle website examines this issue in conjunction with a new exhibition at Vienna's Ethnology Museum which explores the context and legacy of the work of Hans Liechtenecker in Namibia in 1931 and his "Archive of Dying Races" that displayed human remains and featured oral recordings.
The Deutsche Welle article also looks at cases involving Australian Aborigine and Naga remains that have come to be displayed in museums

Museums and ethics

The Smithsonian Institution in Washington is facing calls to cancel a planned exhibition of Chinese artifacts salvaged from a Tang-era shipwreck as they were recovered by a commercial treasure-hunter rather than by academic, archaeological methods.
Read more in this article from the online New York Times  

Treasures of Afghanistan exhibition

Two reports published in connection with the British Museum's latest major exhibition "Afghanistan: crossroads of the ancient world", which opens today (3rd March) and runs until 3rd July

"The hill of gold" - article by Peter Thonemann from the Guardian (Saturday 21st February) looks at the historical background to the treasures, in particular the Tillya Tepe hoard

"Karzai opens London show of rescued Afghan treasures" - report from Reuters by Stefano Ambrogi (2nd March) on the opening of the exhibition and how the artifacts were saved for posterity.