Justin St. P. Walsh

A Silver Service and a Gold Coin

The published history of a set of silver and gold objects acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum in 1975 contains an unusual reference to a gold coin, supposedly found with the set but not purchased by the museum. The coin, which is both rare and well dated, ostensibly offers a date and location for the ancient deposition of the silver service. Almost five years of research into the stories of the Getty objects and the coin has revealed important information about these particular items, but it also offers a cautionary example for scholars who might hope to reconstruct the find-spot of antiquities that are likely to have been looted.

Purposeful Ephemera: The Implications of Self-Destructing Space Technology for the Future Practice of Archaeology

This chapter is presented from the perspective of a professional archaeologist who specializes in Greek archaeology, intercultural contact and exchange, and the ethics of cultural heritage. His chapter investigates the mandates for discard and “design for demise” of space objects in the wider context of cultural phenomena from all cultures. The chapter finds comparanda for purposeful ephemera in examples from the media of performance, architecture, and visual art.