Ethical issues in research and publication of illicit cultural property

There is much discussion in conservation, if it is ethical for conservators to ‘touch’ illicit antiquities. One of the problems in studying unprovenanced archaeological objects is their publication. Many archaeologists believe that they should never publish or cite in print unprovenanced antiquities, because it indirectly supports illicit trafficking of antiquity. Some museum professionals believe that conservators’ technical and/or scientific study of such material helps to fight against criminal activity by identifying fakes and forgers. Whatever the belief, research and publication in conservation currently do not provide ethical reviews when studies involve such problematic material in order to ensure scientific integrity of the results. The paper presents case studies where ethical standards may have needed to be considered and discusses the complexity involved in authentication studies of such antiquities. The paper concludes that a standard should be drafted on ethics in research and scientific publication of cultural property similar to the biomedical field, which warns when papers deal with human and animals testing.