| As the activity of scientific research, authentication pursues objectivity. But to authenticate unknown provenance antiquities will provide an academic pedigree, and academic significance might be translated into monetary value. The commercialization of archaeological objects, i.e. their use as commodities to be exploited for personal profit, results in the destruction of archaeological site. It will destroy the foundation that may contribute to human s knowledge. Public benefit is the basic ethic principle of scientific activity. Now, the Western academic circle shares the view that ethic problems are involved in the authentication of antiquities, and they attempt to reflect the relation between scientific research and responsibility, and establish the code of ethics which refrains from authenticating or valuating unknown provenance antiquities. |
