Reply To: Who owns the past?

[Celina Batchelder]

Perhaps artifacts shouldn’t belong to anyone. In many cases, the credit is given to the person who found it as the discoverer, not the owner. I agree that there is a responsibility for those who find it to showcase it in a way that relays its message and cultural enrichment to others so that the culture it originates from can be appreciated. Having the opportunity to be immersed in other cultures by viewing their works of art can be one way to healthily expand knowledge cross-culturally, especially if the culture that the piece originates from no longer exists.