Overheard a tour guide say something about 'sourcing' artifacts

Was at a small museum in New Mexico last weekend and heard a guide tell a family that 60% of their display items were 'sourced locally.' I asked her what that meant after the tour. She basically admitted it's a fancy word for digging stuff up without proper permits. Makes me wonder how many museums are just glorified flea markets. Has anyone else run into this kind of polite lying in exhibits?

2 comments

2 Comments

thead4422d ago

The local history museum near me in Ohio had this whole exhibit about pioneer cooking utensils. Turned out the "rare 1800s cast iron skillet" was just a rusty pan from the gift shop manager's grandma's basement. They had a little card next to it saying it was "authentically sourced from the region." The whole thing felt like a yard sale with better lighting. Makes you wonder how many of those arrowheads and pottery shards in those glass cases are just stuff someone found in their backyard last weekend.

jamesmason22d ago

Wait, the card actually said "authentically sourced from the region" for that skillet? That's wild, @thead44 sounds like they were just trying to make the gift shop manager's grandma's old pan sound fancy.