Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-w56mk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-09-05T22:01:06.495Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ILLICIT EXCAVATION: THE TRIAL OF ALESSANDRO PALMA DI CESNOLA IN CYPRUS IN 1878

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2018

Nicholas Stanley-Price
Nicholas Stanley-Price*
Affiliation:
Via Giulia 167, 00186 Roma, Italy. Email: nstanleyprice@tiscali.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The prosecution in Cyprus of an Italian citizen for illicit excavation in 1878 is a very early case in modern cultural heritage law. In taking over from the Ottoman empire the administration of Cyprus in June 1878, Britain inherited the Ottoman legal system, including its 1874 law on antiquities. Four months later, the British arrested Alessandro Palma di Cesnola for flouting a newly announced ban on excavation. The evidence of official, confidential records reveals the steps leading to the Italian’s arrest, trial and conviction in court. His trial followed Ottoman legal procedures, but the verdict was decided by the district commissioner, a British military officer unfamiliar with local law and languages. Alessandro Palma di Cesnola’s claims of American citizenship and a diplomatic status are shown to have been invalid. A closing review suggests that the British Museum was influential in prompting the ban on excavation and that moral and financial pressures led Alessandro Palma di Cesnola to ignore it.

Information

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 98 , September 2018 , pp. 297 - 317
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Primary sources

BL Add. mss. 41324: Register of letters of Sir Garnet Wolseley. Cyprus 1878–9Google Scholar
FO Corr. 1878–9: Correspondence relating to the island of Cyprus 1878–9. Confidential. Printed for the use of the Foreign Office, October 1879, MD/1120, papers of General Sir Robert Biddulph, Royal Artillery Institution, Woolwich [transferred in 2016 to Larkhill, Wiltshire, UK]Google Scholar
Hansard House of Commons Debate 24 March 1879, vol 244, cc1509–93, <https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1879/mar/24/cyprus-observations> (accessed 14 May 2018)+(accessed+14+May+2018)>Google Scholar
HCL, The Wolseley papers: 1. The autograph collectionGoogle Scholar
NARA, Microfilm Publication T.463: roll 2. Despatches of US Consuls in Cyprus 1835–78. Vol 3, Jan. 11 1864–April 9 1878Google Scholar
SA, SA1/702/1889Google Scholar
SA, SAO2/433/1878Google Scholar

Secondary sources

Allen, S H 1999. Finding the Walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlık, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London Google Scholar
Baker, S W 1879. Cyprus as I saw it in 1879, MacMillan, London Google Scholar
Balm, R 2016. Archaeology’s Visual Culture: digging and desire, Routledge, Abingdon Google Scholar
Brassey, A 1880. Sunshine and Storm in the East, or Cruises to Constantinople and Cyprus, Longmans, Green, and Co., London Google Scholar
British Museum 2017. Alessandro Palma di Cesnola (biographical details), http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=170720 (accessed 14 May 2018)Google Scholar
Bryant, R 2004. Imagining the Modern: the cultures of nationalism in Cyprus, I B Tauris, London and New York Google Scholar
Cavendish, A (ed) 1990. The Journal of Sir Garnet Wolseley, Popular Bank of Cyprus, Nicosia Google Scholar
Cesnola, A P di 1880. Cyprus Antiquities: excavated by Major Alexander Palma di Cesnola … 1876 to 1879, W. Holmes and Son, London (reprinted 1881)Google Scholar
Cesnola, A P di 1882. Salaminia (Cyprus): the history, treasures and antiquities of Salamis in the island of Cyprus, Trübner and Co., London Google Scholar
Cesnola, A P di 1884. Salaminia (Cyprus): the history, treasures and antiquities of Salamis in the island of Cyprus, 2nd edn, Whiting and Co., London Google Scholar
Cesnola, L P di 1877. Cyprus: its ancient cities, tombs, and temples: a narrative of researches and excavations during ten years’ residence as American consul in that island, John Murray, London Google Scholar
Cobham, C D 1908. Excerpta Cypria, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Google Scholar
Dixon, W H 1878. ‘Cyprus’, Bruce Herald, 11 (1074), 31 December 1878, 3 Google Scholar
Dixon, W H 1879. British Cyprus, Chapman & Hall, London Google Scholar
Donkow, I 2004. ‘The Ephesus excavations 1863–1874, in the light of the Ottoman legislation on antiquities’, Anatolian Stud, 54, 109–117 Google Scholar
Dubois, L (comp) 1997. ‘ Olivier Masson: bibliographie chypriote ’, Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes, Cahier, 27, 3–13 Google Scholar
Georghallides, G S 1979. A Political and Administrative History of Cyprus 1918–1926, Cyprus Research Centre, texts and studies of the history of Cyprus 6, Nicosia Google Scholar
Given, M 2001. ‘The fight for the past: Watkins vs Warren (1885–6) and the control of excavation’, in Tatton-Brown 2001, 255–60Google Scholar
Goring, E 1988. A Mischievous Pastime: digging in Cyprus in the nineteenth century, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh Google Scholar
Hadjicosti, M 2001. ‘Ormideia: tracing Cesnola’s footsteps. Archaeological research and finds’, in Tatton-Brown 2001, 267–75Google Scholar
Hare, A J C 1896. Story of my Life: Vol 3, George Allen, London Google Scholar
Hetherington, P 2000. ‘The “Larnaka Tympanum” and its origins: a persisting problem from 19th century Cyprus’, Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 361–78Google Scholar
Hill, G 1952. A History of Cyprus, Vol 4 The Ottoman province. The British colony, 1571–1948, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Google Scholar
Hook, G R 2009. Britons in Cyprus, 1878–1914, unpublished PhD diss., University of Texas at Austin, https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/8381/HOOK-DISSERTATION.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y (accessed 14 May 2018)Google Scholar
Hook, G R 2015. Protectorate Cyprus: British imperial power before WWI, I B Tauris, London Google Scholar
Jeffery, G 1918. A Description of the Historic Monuments of Cyprus: studies in the archaeology and architecture of the island, Government Printing Office, Nicosia Google Scholar
Karageorghis, V 1969. Salamis in Cyprus: Homeric, Hellenistic and Roman, Thames and Hudson, London Google Scholar
Karageorghis, V, with, Mertens, J R and Rose, M E 2000. Ancient Art from Cyprus: the Cesnola collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum, New York Google Scholar
Kent, C (rev. Agnew, S) 2004. ‘Dixon, William Hepworth (1821–1879)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online edition, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7709 (accessed 14 May 2018)Google Scholar
Kiely, T 2010. ‘Charles Newton and the archaeology of Cyprus’, Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes, Cahier, 40, 231–251 Google Scholar
Koudounaris, A L 1972. Merikai Palaiai Oikogeneiai tis Kyprou, LefkosiaGoogle Scholar
Lang, R H 1878. Cyprus: its history, its present resources, and future prospects, Macmillan, London Google Scholar
Luke, H C 1921. Cyprus under the Turks, 1571–1878, C Hurst & Co., London Google Scholar
Mansel, P 2010. Levant: splendour and catastrophe on the Mediterranean, Murray, London Google Scholar
Marangou, A G 2000. The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832–1904: life and deeds, Cultural Centre of the Popular Bank Group, Nicosia Google Scholar
Markides, D 2014. Sendall in Cyprus 1892–1898: a governor in bondage, Moufflon, Nicosia Google Scholar
Masson, O 1989. ‘ Les frères Palma di Cesnola et leur correspondance ’, in V Tatton-Brown (ed), Cyprus and the East Mediterranean in the Iron Age, 84–89, British Museum Publications, London Google Scholar
Masson, O 1990. ‘ Quelques épisodes de la vie des frères Palma di Cesnola ’, Report of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, 285–297 Google Scholar
Masson, O 1996. ‘ La dispersion des antiquités chypriotes: les deux collections Cesnola ’, Centre d’Etudes Chypriotes, Cahier, 25, 3–27 Google Scholar
McFadden, E 1971. The Glitter and the Gold: a spirited account of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s first director, the audacious and high-handed Luigi Palma di Cesnola, The Dial Press, New York Google Scholar
Merrillees, R 2009. ‘‘The modern history of the first Lambousa treasure of Byzantine silverware from Lapithos, Cyprus’’, Antiq J, 89, 389–403 Google Scholar
Myres, J L and Ohnefalsch-Richter, M 1899. A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum, with a Chronicle of Excavations Undertaken since the British Occupation and Introductory Notes on Cypriote Archaeology, Clarendon Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Orr, C W J 1918. Cyprus under British Rule, R Scott, London Google Scholar
Perrot, G 1879. ‘L’Ile de Chypre. Son rôle dans l’histoire’, Entre deux mondes janv.–fév., 508–605Google Scholar
Petch, A 2012. Rethinking Pitt Rivers: analysing the activities of a nineteenth-century collector, http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/rpr/ (accessed 14 May 2018)Google Scholar
Prott, L V and O’Keefe, P 1984. Law and the Cultural Heritage, Vol. 1 discovery and excavation, Professional Books, Abingdon Google Scholar
Scott-Stevenson, E 1880. Our Home in Cyprus, 3rd edn, Chapman and Hall, London Google Scholar
Shaw, W M K 2003. Possessors and Possessed: museums, archaeology and the visualization of history in the late Ottoman empire, University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles and London Google Scholar
Shirley, R W 2001. Kitchener’s Survey of Cyprus 1878–1883: the first full triangulated survey and mapping of the island, Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, Nicosia Google Scholar
Stanley-Price, N 2001. ‘The 1874 Antiquities Law and the founding of the Cyprus Museum’, in Tatton-Brown 2001, 267–75Google Scholar
Supreme Court of Cyprus 1905. Gregori Haji Lambrou vs W. Rees Davies as King’s Advocate, 9 March 1905, in Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of Cyprus on Appeal, The Cyprus Law Reports 6, 110–121, Government Printing Press, NicosiaGoogle Scholar
Tatton-Brown, V 2001. ‘Excavations in ancient Cyprus: original manuscripts and correspondence in the British Museum’, in Tatton-Brown 2001, 168–83Google Scholar
Tatton-Brown, V (ed) 2001. Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: fact, fancy and fiction, Oxbow, Oxford Google Scholar
Vagnetti, L 2004. ‘ I fratelli Palma di Cesnola e il collezionismo di antichità cipriote ’, in L Vagnetti, V Karageorghis, M Bettelli and S Di Paolo (eds), Collezioni archeologici cipriote in Italia, vol 1, 9–10, CNR/A G Leventis Foundation, Rome Google Scholar
Varnava, A 2012. British Imperialism in Cyprus, 1878–1915: the inconsequential possession, pb edn, Manchester University Press, Manchester Google Scholar
Vizetelly, E H 1901. From Cyprus to Zanzibar by the Egyptian Delta, C Arthur Pearson, London Google Scholar
Wright, G R H 1991/2. ‘Louis Palma di Cesnola and Cyprus’, Archiv für Orientforschung, 38/39, 161–167 Google Scholar