GE41599: Acquiring the Mediterranean: exploring local agencies in the acquisition of antiquities from Greece and the Ottoman Empire by Charles Newton

Focusing on Greece, Turkey and Cyprus c. 1850-1900, this project will explore the trade in antiquities in the later 19th century from the perspective of local agents, from village diggers to established dealers. Going beyond traditional emphases on heroic excavators and famous collectors, it aims to examine how the antiquities trade was generated within the 'source countries' themselves, and to explore the backgrounds and motivations of local individuals and communities who played a central role in this trade.

Modern ethical and political responses to dealing and trafficking have obscured the biographies and agency of many of the 'hidden hands' of antiquities collecting.

Drawing on theoretical insights from recent work across a range of disciplines (especially history of collections), the project will be rooted in objects and their associated, yet largely unexplored, archival documentation from the period of Charles Newton, a central figure in the formation of the British Museum's Mediterranean collections in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Adopting a comparative European framework, the project aims to reconstruct the personal and commercial networks in operation and examine the socio-cultural and economic history of the trade. It also aims to explore the choice and mechanisms guiding the acquisitions for the collection.

This project will contribute to the better understanding of the provenance and collection histories of the museums included in the study for comparative purposes (especially other UK collections, but also Athens, Berlin, and Paris). It therefore has broader implications for our understanding of how modern museums - through acquiring and displaying ancient Mediterranean artefacts - shaped emerging European identities and colonial attitudes.

It will also help ground contemporary debates on illicit antiquities and restitution within a long-term historical context.