Return Artifacts

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On our trip to Washington D.C. in eighth grade, we were able to visit several of the Smithsonian museums where we saw artifacts from cultures all around the world. These artifacts, like many others, came with the controversial question, should artifacts be returned to their cultures of origin? Many people, such as myself, see the many issues with returning artifacts to their countries of origin. I believe that museums should not have to return artifacts to the original countries because the trades are legal, the artifacts are unprotected, and people are interested in learning about the artifacts and cultures. In many cases, the artifacts were moved around through legal trades and purchases. As seen in recent arguments over custody of different …show more content…

He would argue that although some of these artifacts were stolen hundreds of years ago, they should be returned to their countries of origin. The mistake made by Hawass was this: back then there were no restrictions on buying stolen goods; therefore,since the trades were made on a legal basis, the deals are still valid today. The topic of thievery brings us to the next counterargument: protection. Some people may argue that it makes sense to keep artifacts together. These people often disregard the fact that keeping these priceless treasures in the same place with minimum protection from thieves is almost a guarantee of robbery; nevertheless, even with the top most protection, there is still the slightest possibility that an artifact might go missing every now and then. The third argument that comes with keeping the artifacts in their country of origin is the education of people around the world who have not learned about this culture. Professors such as Malcolm III, mentioned in passage one, say that taking these artifacts away from their home land takes away from the experience of learning about the culture. For instance, if someone in Colorado wanted to learn about ancient Egyptians, they may not be able to afford to travel all the way to Egypt. These artifacts are used to teach all different types of people about the past cultures of our world, not just the people who live in the general area of where it happened. These are the reasons why their counter arguments are

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