The market for biblical antiquities 1852 - 2022

News headlines about Museum of the Bible’s collection of antiquities, and forgeries of supposed Dead Sea Scroll fragments and the so-called Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, have drawn attention to the trade in biblical antiquities today. But how does it actually work? And what was it like in the past? Previous research has been limited and has tended to focus on individual figures, usually “manuscript hunters” from Europe and America. 

With “The Market for Biblical Antiquities, 1852–2022” we try to change that focus. Join us as scholars from a variety of fields (history, biblical studies, archaeology, papyrology, literature, and more) look at the complex network of figures – finders, dealers, agents, collectors, consultants, auction houses, forgers – that have worked together to buy and sell artifacts from Palestine, Israel, and the surrounding region for the last two centuries.

9 MARCH 

• 3pm Opening (5 min.) 

Session 1 (Moderator: Ingrid Breilid Gimse, University of Agder) 

• 3:05 pm Yair Wallach (SOAS University of London)
  The Missionary School, the Museum, and the Tramway: The Networks of Late Ottoman Jerusalem 
• 3: 25 pm Michael Press (University of Agder)
  The Specialization of the Antiquities Trade in Palestine, 1850–1920 
• 3:45 pm Dana Ryan Lande (MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society
  Crusaders, Americanization, and ‘Recovery’: Travel Narratives and Practical Legacies 
• 4:05pm Discussion (25 min.) 
• 4:30pm Break (15 min.) 

Session 2 (Moderator: Michael Press, University of Agder) 

• 4:45pm Sary Zananiri (Leiden University)
  Authenticity and the Image: Palestinian Iconography and the Orthodox Pilgrim Market 
• 5:05pm Chloe Emmott (University of Greenwich)
  Bringing It All Back Home – The Biblical Souvenir in Britain during the British Mandate Era 
• 5:25pm Sarah Irving (Staffordshire University)
  “We are very glad the prices are so reasonable”: Antiquities Sales from the Palestine Archaeological Museum 
• 5:45pm Discussion (30 min.)  

10 MARCH 

Session 3 (Moderator: Liv Ingeborg Lied, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society) 

• 3pm Noah Gerber (Tel Aviv University)
  A Talented Yeshiva Bachur: Moses Wilhelm Shapira as a Middleman between Wissenschaft des Judentums and the Ottoman East 
• 3:20pm Rebecca J. W. Jefferson (University of Florida)
  The Trade in Genizah Fragments in and out of Palestine in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries 
• 3:40pm Roberta Mazza (University of Manchester)
  “A trade in relics”: Egyptology, Papyrology and Biblical Antiquities in Egypt (1882–1952) 
• 4pm Discussion (30 min.) 
• 4:30pm Break (15 min.) 

Session 4 (Moderator: Hilda Deborah, Norwegian University of Science and Technology) 

• 4:45pm Ludvik Kjeldsberg (University of Agder)
  Out of the Dark (Into the Light): An Overview of the Purchases, Exports, and Exhibitions of the Dead Sea Scrolls
• 5:05pm Årstein Justnes (University of Agder)
  The Market for Dead Sea Scrolls (1990–2020) 
• 5:25pm Morag M. Kersel (DePaul University)
  Market Mechanics. An Examination of Contemporary Buying of Ancient Things from the Holy Land 
• 5:45pm Discussion (30 min.) 

Register by sending an email to erika.norheim@uia.no.