Archaeologists today follow strict guidelines for preserving their finds in order to keep them as close to their original state as possible. This was not always the case. Before “archaeology” was a recognized academic field, wealthy amateurs traveled Europe looking for interesting old things to dig up. You can read about the discoveries of people like Heinrich Schliemann (discovered Troy and Mycenae) and Sir Arthur Evans (discovered Knossos and the Minoans). These early amateur archaeologists sometimes altered the objects they found or reconstructed them in ways that may have significantly deviated from their original appearance. You can read about the doubt surrounding Schliemann’s “Mask of Agamemnon” on page 97 of your text. For the discussion this week, we are going to consider the case of the “Snake Goddess” that is discussed in the document below. As the document points out, there are important parts of this sculpture that were reconstructed and/or fabricated based on guesswork. It may be that this sculpture looked very different from this and may, even, not have been ​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​holding snakes at all. To prepare for the discussion, follow these steps: 1) Read the essay at the web page linked below, which describes the reconstruction of the Snake Goddess. Snake Goddess (Links to an external site.) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/snake-goddess 2) Watch this video from the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The video deals with the decisions made by the Louvre Museum to exhibit Roman sculpture that had been reconstructed incorrectly in the 19th century. While the art is from a different civilization than the Minoans, the issues are similar to the situation with the Minoan “Snake Goddess.” https://youtu.be/357gUKY98-s 3) Answer the following questions in your initial post: How would you present the Snake Goddess (and other objects recovered only in fragments) for exhibition in a museum? What options do museum staff have in exhibiting objects such as these? Which option would you choose and why? Keep in mind that the museum staff does not know what the objects originally looked like since only portions of them were found and those parts​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​ were in fragments.

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