Paper short abstract:

Drawing on fieldwork among treasure-hunters in North-western Turkey, this paper argues that taking playful deceit “seriously” might be a way of better understanding how people conceptualise notions of “right” and “wrong” in a world characterised by profound uncertainty.

Paper long abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among archaeological looters in North-Western Turkey, and particularly focussing on two instances where informants actively encouraged me to fabricate my research, this paper argues that in a world characterised by deep uncertainty for most of its inhabitants, engaging with what is, arguably, “playful” deceit might be one way of better understanding how people conceptualise notions of “right” and “wrong.” Looters in Turkey, better known as “treasure-hunters,” are typically people who occupy life-worlds characterised by scarcity, precarity, and indebtedness. This is one key factor motivating their oft destructive search for buried valuables from the past. However, such activities are also illegal in the context of Turkish law. As many of their hopes tend to hinge on various notions of “treasure,” treasure-hunters will generally risk the potential consequences as they navigate unexplored places during the “darker hours” of the day. Still, although much scholarly literature on looting tends to frame the problematic on ethical terms, I argue that such vernacular excavation practices also lead to a certain ethical disposition, particularly with regards to how treasure-hunters develop certain understandings about wealth, work, and certainty. Entangled with religious and folkloric elements, this disposition is often expressed in terms that may initially come across as somewhat contradictory. So, this paper argues against a strict, mechanistic understanding of normativity and claims that in fact, riding the wave of contradiction, figuratively speaking, may be the way to understand the paradoxical nature of what one might call “the moral economies of looting.”