Forsaken Relics

Uses case studies to examine the social context and cultural and political management of appropriating abandoned objects and assets.

Forsaken Relics is the result of an interdisciplinary dialogue between history, archaeology, and ethnography on the topic of the appropriation of disputed goods and places. Scholars with diverse backgrounds convened to address this common challenge: how different societies in time and space managed to claim and re-appropriate alleged ‘abandoned’ or ‘ownerless’ goods or things ‘in ruin’.

The volume includes a diverse range of case studies – from Neolithic sites in Eastern Europe to ancient Egypt and the Mediterranean, encompassing early modern and present-day Europe – reflecting on the ways in which actions can be used to legitimise appropriation, with a particular focus on ritual actions and practices.

The objective of this book is to stimulate comparative analysis of this topic in both ancient and modern societies, by identifying the actors of appropriation, examining the definition of abandonment, and exploring the ritual aspects intrinsic in actions such as inventorying, dedication and communication to ancestors, and prayers to gods. Ritual actions, in the last instance, were designed to legitimise the reappropriation and resignification of places and goods classified as abandoned or in a state of ruin, and to recreate locality, kinship, and communities.