cultural patrimony

Send for the connoisseurs....

Submitted byJeeraik009 onFri, 10/19/2012 - 16:48

The recent exhibition of Taino artifacts has set the Jamaican art and archeological world buzzing and split opinions about their authenticity. The cache, unusual in scale and content, makes it difficult to see how they could have escaped the attention of archeologists and researchers worldwide. In fact, Jamaican relics are so rare, that work on this scale would be of national significance and even subject to international cultural patrimony laws. That these pieces have slipped under the radar may be intentional and part of a process of validation. Mounting a display at a swanky hotel, publishing a scholarly sounding article about their origins, and having a VIP open the show are all ways to legitimize them in the eyes of the viewing (and purchasing) public. If radio-carbon testing for stone artifacts is impossible, perhaps its time for one of our leading Taino experts to make a statement about what's real and what's not...?