From the ScienceScope section of this week's issue of Science:

NYU Gift Kicks Up More Dust

A prominent Harvard archaeologist is rallying support for working with unprovenanced artifacts, following a controversy surrounding the recent $200 million gift to New York University (NYU) from the Leon Levy Foundation (Science, 31 March, p. 1846). Lawrence Stager, whose excavations at Ashkelon, Israel, are funded by the foundation, argues in a "Statement of Concern" that "unprovenanced" artifacts should be the legitimate object of study. More than 100 archaeologists and historians have signed the statement (www.bibarch.org/bswbOOunprovenanced.html).

The 11-point statement criticizes the policies of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and other organizations that prohibit the first publication of unprovenanced antiquities in their journals as well as presentations of such objects at their meetings. "The antiquities market is often the means by which [unprovenanced objects] are rescued," the statement says, citing the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gospel of Judas as examples.

AIA President Jane Waldbaum says the statement mischaracterizes the organization's policies. "At no time was any attempt made to … prevent the scholarly discussion of archaeological objects," Waldbaum writes on the association's Web site. The goal is to avoid promoting artifacts with questionable provenance.

--Michael Balter