Digging for Sovereignty: Cultural Property Regimes in German-Ottoman Relations from 1908 to 1918

In the Late Ottoman Empire, archaeological relations between foreign and Ottoman archaeologists were marked by tensions between collaborative scholarly exchanges and conflicting goals. After the 1908/09 Revolution, Ottoman archaeologists and architects adopted an increasingly assertive stance toward foreign interests in excavations and acquisitions of antiquities from Ottoman territories. Between 1911 and 1913, the director of Istanbul’s Müze-i Hümayun(Imperial Museum), Halil Edhem, published a series of articles in the journal Şehbal titled ‘Asar-ı Atika’ (Antiquities). In his writing, he portrayed the destruction of Islamic architecture, monuments, and objects as a pressing concern. By re-examining foreign excavation and acquisition practices, Halil Edhem underscored his call for comprehensive protection of what he considered to be soon-to-be-lost cities and sites. He was part of a broader intellectual Ottoman movement that sought to reconfigure early approaches to excavating and preserving ancient sites and to advance alternative interpretations of the past. This posed substantial challenges to foreign archaeologists in the Ottoman realm. Drawing on Ottoman and German archival sources, this lecture examines the repercussions of this paradigmatic shift on archaeological practice and its impact on foreign archaeological endeavours. With a particular focus on Ottoman-German relations, it investigates conflicts and collaborations surrounding the questions of sovereignty over cultural assets, including the dispute over the appropriation of archaeological objects and the dispossession and translocation of antiquities and Islamic Art.