The Department of Antiquities was a department of the British administration of

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...

from 1920 to 1948 that was in charge of the protection and investigation of archaeological remains and artefacts in Palestine.

Operation

In December 1918, while Palestine was still under control of a British military administration, a Proclamation for the protection of antiquities was issued.Major-General Sir Arthur Wigram Money, Antiquities Proclamation, 1 December 1918. In July 1920, the military administration was replaced by a civil administration under High Commissioner

Herbert Samuel Herbert Louis Samuel, 1st Viscount Samuel, (6 November 1870 – 5 February 1963) was a British Liberal politician who was the party leader from 1931 to 1935. He was the first nominally-practising Jew to serve as a Cabinet minister and to beco ...

. One of the first actions of the new government was to establish a Department of Antiquities and promulgate an Antiquities Ordinance that defined its functions and authority.Garstang, 1922. The Ordinance was designed to follow principles outlined in the abortive

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres (french: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy, as well ...

, which were later included as Article 21 in the

Mandate for Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The manda ...

. The main features of the Ordinance were: * An "antiquity" was defined as any product of human activity before 1700 AD, though there was an exception for objects actively used for religious purposes. * Authority from the department was required for the disposal or export of an antiquity. * Permission from the department was required for excavations, and would only be given to "learned societies or institutions or to individuals of proved scientific competence guaranteed by such bodies". * Proceeds from artefact discovery would be shared by the discoverer and the department in a proportion determined by the department, after objects needed for the "scientific completeness of the Palestine Museum" were chosen. * The department had the power to expropriate or forcibly lease private property containing important artefacts if no satisfactory agreement with the owners could be reached.Antiquities Ordinance and amendments. The Ordinance was replaced in 1929 and amended in 1934 and 1946. As well as a Director, the department had an Archaeological Advisory Board that included representatives of the major archaeological bodies and the main ethnic communities in Palestine.Bentwich, 1924.Survey of Palestine, 1946, Vol. 2, p.1047 The department included subdivisions for inspectors, a records office and library, a conservation laboratory, a photographic studio, and the museum. The department was located in a building called "Way House", north of the

Old City of Jerusalem The Old City of Jerusalem ( he, הָעִיר הָעַתִּיקָה, translit=ha-ir ha-atiqah; ar, البلدة القديمة, translit=al-Balda al-Qadimah; ) is a walled area in East Jerusalem. The Old City is traditionally divided into ...

. The

British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem The Kenyon Institute, previously known as the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem (BSAJ), is a British overseas research institute supporting humanities and social science studies in Israel and Palestine. It is part of the Council for Briti ...

, established in 1919, also occupied the building until 1930. The Palestine Archaeological Museum, which was managed by the department, was also in Way House until 1935, when it moved with the department to a new building in east Jerusalem donated by

John D. Rockefeller John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...

. The museum reopened to the public in 1938 and is now popularly known as the

Rockefeller Museum The Rockefeller Archeological Museum, formerly the Palestine Archaeological Museum ("PAM"; 1938–1967), and which before then housed The Imperial Museum of Antiquities (''Müze-i Hümayun''; 1901–1917), is an archaeology museum A museum ...

Directors

* 1920–1926 :

John Garstang John Garstang (5 May 1876 – 12 September 1956) was a British archaeologist of the Ancient Near East, especially Egypt, Sudan, Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was the younger brother of Professor Walter Garstang, FRS, a marine biol ...

, also director of the British School of Archaeology and member of the

Pro-Jerusalem Society The Pro-Jerusalem Society was a society for the "preservation and advancement of the interests of Jerusalem", including its amenities, antiquities, cultural institutions and education. It was founded in 1918 in Jerusalem by Sir Ronald Storrs, the B ...

's leading Council * 1927–1937 :

Ernest Richmond Ernest Tatham Richmond (15 August 1874 – 5 March 1955) was a British architect, who worked in Egypt, Britain, France and the Holy Land. Biography Ernest Tatham Richmond was born in Hammersmith, London, on 15 August 1874. He was the younger s ...

* 1938–1948 : Robert Hamilton

Publications

In addition to many publications on particular sites, and official lists of sites, the department published a journal called the "Quarterly of the Department of Antiquities of Palestine" from 1931 to 1950.Gibson, 1999.

Successors

Since 1948, archaeology in Israel has been under control of the

Israel Department of Antiquities The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

.Glock et al, 2005. Between 1948 and 1967, the

Jordanian Department of Antiquities The Department of Antiquities is a government department in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with responsibility for archaeological research and cultural heritage management. It is part of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The department wa ...

supervised excavations in the West Bank. The Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage has conducted work in the West Bank since 1994.

References

Bibliography