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    Piecing Together an Ancient Epic Was Slow Work. Until A.I. Got Involved.

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    Scholars have struggled to identify fragments of the epic of Gilgamesh — one of the world’s oldest literary texts. Now A.I. has brought an “extreme acceleration” to the field.In 1872, in a quiet second-floor room at the British Museum, George Smith, a museum employee, was studying a grime-encrusted clay tablet when he came across words that would change his life. In the ancient cuneiform script, he recognized references to a stranded ship and a bird sent in search of land. After he had the tablet cleaned, Smith was certain he’d found a prototype of the biblical flood story.“I am the first man to read that after more than 2,000 years of oblivion,” Smith reportedly said in a frenzy of excitement.Smith realized that the tablet, which had been excavated in what is modern-day Iraq, was a small part of a much longer work — one that some then thought could help shed light on the Book of Genesis. The discovery made Smith, who came from a working-class family and had largely taught himself cuneiform, famous. He dedicated the rest of his life to searching for missing pieces of the poem, making multiple trips to the Middle East before dying of an illness on his final trip in 1876, at age 36.For 152 years since Smith’s discovery, successive generations of Assyriologists — experts in the study of cuneiform and the cultures that used it — have taken up his quest to piece together a complete version of the poem known now as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Fragments of the epic, which was written more than 3,000 years ago and was based upon still earlier works, have re-emerged as tablets have been unearthed in archaeological digs, found in museum store rooms or surfaced on the black market.The researchers face a daunting task. There are as many as half a million clay tablets housed in the Mesopotamian collections of various world museums and universities, along with many more tablet fragments. But since there are so few experts in cuneiform, many of these writings are unread and many more are unpublished.So despite a generation-spanning effort, about 30 percent of Gilgamesh remains missing and there are gaps in modern understanding both of the poem and Mesopotamian writing in general.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Brazilian Art Student Switches Coin at the British Museum With a Fake

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      The artist aimed to use sleight of hand to point to what he described as the museum’s problematic legacy of colonial-era acquisitions.A Brazilian artist strolled into the British Museum last month and approached a table where visitors are allowed to interact with historic objects. After handling a 17th-century British coin for a moment, he seemingly returned it and moved on, like thousands of other visitors.Only last week did the museum discover — through the artist’s Instagram page — that he had replaced a genuine coin with his own replica and discarded the real artifact in the museum’s donation box on his way out.The act was the culmination of a more-than-yearlong project by Ilê Sartuzi, an art student at Goldsmiths, University of London. To briefly steal the coin, he used the type of sleight of hand often associated with magicians to draw parallels to what he called the “trickery” of the museum’s display of objects with contested provenance.“The gesture of stealing as a central part of the project brings back the heated discussion about the role of looting in the museum’s foundation,” Mr. Sartuzi said.The museum has long faced criticism regarding its acquisition methods. Several nations have sought the return of particular objects in the museum’s exhibits and questioned the legitimacy of its collections. This latest stunt did not seem to resonate with the museum.“It’s a tired argument,” said Connor Watson, the museum’s spokesman. “We’re quite open about what is looted and what is a contested object.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      British Museum Sues Former Curator for Return of Stolen Items

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      The museum accuses Peter Higgs, a former keeper of Greek and Roman antiquities, of stealing or damaging at least 1,800 artifacts and selling many on eBay.A judge has ordered a former curator who the British Museum says stole hundred of artifacts to return any gems or jewelry from the institution that are in his possession.The museum claims that the former curator, Peter Higgs, who once ran the museum’s Greek and Roman antiquities department, stole or damaged over 1,800 artifacts from its collections and sold hundreds of those items on eBay, according to court documents.Officials also want Mr. Higgs to explain the whereabouts of other artifacts that they says the former curator sold online. The court documents state that Mr. Higgs disputes the accusations against him.At a High Court hearing in London, the presiding judge, Heather Williams, ordered Mr. Higgs to return any items within four weeks. Judge Williams also ordered PayPal, the online payments company, to disclose data relating to Mr. Higgs’s eBay accounts, including his transaction history.The missing museum items include engraved gems and jewelry, some of which are thousands of years old.On Tuesday, Mr. Higgs and his family did not respond to emails and social media messages from The Times. In court papers, the museum’s lawyers said the curator was “suffering from severe mental strain” and was “unable to respond effectively to the proceedings.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      To Make Blockbuster Shows, Museums Are Turning to Focus Groups

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      To shape its new show about life in the Roman Army, the British Museum put questions to members of the public. Other institutions are also using the same technique.Last January, 14 members of the British public entered a wood-paneled room in the back of the British Museum for a secret presentation. They were there to learn about an exhibition still in development, which the museum wanted kept under wraps.Onscreen in a prerecorded video, the museum’s curator of Roman and Iron Age coins, Richard Addy, outlined his plans for a show about life in the Roman Empire’s army. The exhibition would take visitors from a soldier’s recruitment to his retirement, he said, and would feature hundreds of objects, including the armor that warriors wore on the battlefield and letters they wrote home to their families.When the presentation was finished, a staff member from Morris Hargreaves McIntyre, a company that runs focus groups, asked the museum goers for their thoughts on aspects of Addy’s plan, including which types of artifacts the museum should show, how they should be arranged and even how much entry should cost.Most of the participants seemed excited, according to an anonymized report for the British Museum. Several attendees said they especially liked that the exhibition would focus on the stories of individual soldiers, including everyday subjects like their food and pay.Other participants were more critical. “It comes across a little dry,” one said. “It would be quite boring for a kid,” said another.Sometimes the attendees’ feedback could be “a shock to the curatorial ego,” said Stuart Frost, the British Museum official who oversees focus groups.Andrew Testa for The New York TimesA Roman long shield, or scutum, left, and the central part from a legionary shield, right, used to protect the user’s hand and provide a punching weapon.
      Andrew Testa for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in US Politics

      The Guardian view on American-Chinese relations: looking beyond governments | Editorial

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      Richer and more complex stories lie behind dominant narratives, as the British Museum’s fascinating new exhibition, China’s Hidden Century, reminds us. It challenges the conventional wisdom that the country’s “long 19th century” was solely a time of decay and decline. It documents domestic turmoil and aggression and plunder by foreign powers – notably Britain – but also resilience and innovation. By looking beyond the Qing court, it includes individuals, ideas and possibilities that complicate our understanding of China’s identity and trajectory. Alongside splendid imperial robes, visitors see a cook’s uniform. They hear not only Empress Dowager Cixi’s words, but those of the feminist and revolutionary martyr Qiu Jin.At a time when hostility towards the west and especially the US is growing in China, and vice versa, looking beyond headlines and politicians to other parts of the story is crucial. When intergovernmental relations hit the rocks, the contacts between societies and individuals – whether through tourism, academic discussion or shared cultural interests – are even more important. They can offer a less pressured and public space for exploring options. They can help to build understanding and prevent escalation. Conversely, domestic nationalism can make it harder for governments to pull back in a crisis even if they wish to. As the American and Chinese scholars Scott Kennedy and Wang Jisi warn in a recent report on academic exchange, Breaking the Ice: “Less connectivity is not only a product of worsening ties, it also has contributed to the decline of relations … A rise in estrangement reinforced fears about the other side’s motives.”Gallup says that the proportion of Americans with a favourable view of China has plummeted from 38% in 2018 to just 15% this year – a record low. While it is extremely hard to gauge public opinion in China, the business intelligence firm Morning Consult says it found that 66% of adults saw the US as an enemy or unfriendly, while 64% of Americans believed the same of China. A decade ago, 15,000 Americans were studying in China; in the 2020-21 academic year there were just 382. (The US has seen a less dramatic decline in Chinese students.) Severe pandemic restrictions were primarily responsible – but numbers were already dropping, and there is little confidence that they will return to anywhere near the old levels.China’s detention of two Canadians after Ottawa arrested Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the behest of the US, its sanctioning of academics over criticisms of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and the introduction of Hong Kong’s draconian national security law have made scholars and others understandably reluctant to travel there. Even businesses, which have often sought to push back against tougher US action, are having second thoughts. Economic stagnation and governmental attempts to “derisk” supply chains are key, but recent raids at high-profile consulting firms that help foreign businesses assess investments have highlighted concerns about staff safety.On the US side, the surge in anti-Asian hate, the targeting of Chinese scholars for scrutiny and now state legislation banning or restricting land purchases by Chinese nationals have all made it less attractive. Dr Kennedy and Prof Wang note that non-governmental exchanges are necessary though not sufficient to stabilise ties, and urge both sides to restore connections “across the entire span of the two societies”. The aim is laudable. It will, however, be extremely hard to realise.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. More