The Politics of Provenance Research: Reassessing the Appropriation of Finds from the Samarra Excavations

Publications by the Berlin State Museum have justified the presence of archaeological objects from the Abbasid residence of Samarra in its collections by referring to a supposed legal division of finds between the excavators and the Ottoman authorities. However, despite the institution’s refusal to grant access to external researchers, this article re-examines the archaeological excavations in Samarra conducted between 1911 and 1913 under the direction of the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld. By critically engaging with existing scholarship and drawing on new archival evidence, we argue that a significant number of artefacts were unlawfully exported from the Ottoman Empire to Berlin and that no such legal division of finds ever took place. Additionally, we interrogate the institution’s exclusion of independent provenance research. In doing so, this article contributes to ongoing debates on provenance research, demonstrating how internal investigations tend to reinforce institutional narratives rather than foster accountability and transparency.