Opinion The new colonial adventurer needs a licence

In the 18th and 19th centuries, collectors descended on artefacts from around the globe and took them home. Ancient sculptures from the acropolis of Athens became the Elgin Marbles. Often, it was an exercise in naked colonial violence, as in the looting of Tibet by the 1903-1904 Younghusband expedition. Even as the Great White Hunter stalked big game in the savannah, hunters of another sort plundered the tombs of the pharaohs. Today, there’s much diplomatic wrangling over many of these artefacts, still held in Western museums and private collections. But suddenly, there’s a sense of déjà vu: The British Museum is looking for a treasure hunter to recover stolen artefacts.

In 2023, it came to light that some 1,500 objects, including gold jewellery and semi-precious stones, had been stolen over the years, allegedly by the museum’s former curator for Greece and Rome, with many items sold off online. Reportedly, the museum has recovered more than a third of these thanks to its staffers, but now it’s seeking a dedicated hunter to track down the rest.

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Just the job for an intrepid antiquarian or gunslinging archaeologist? There’s a caveat: The work will largely consist of contacting dealers, auction houses and collectors who might have clues about the items’ whereabouts and making sure all the paperwork — such as export licences for recovered objects — is done. The treasure hunter will, alas, be more pen pusher than tomb raider. That’s a bit of a comedown, as it should be: When there’s a mounting backlash over colonial loot, perhaps it’s also time to take the romantic sheen off the colonial adventurer.