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The article discusses the local reaction on Cyprus to American archaeological research. The article examines the acquisition and export of Cypriot antiquities by foreign diplomats Luigi Palma di Cesnola and Major Alessandro Palma di Cesnola. Cyprus enacted a policy concerning the export of antiquities shortly afterward. In August 1878, the first High Commissioner of Cyprus, Sir Garnet Wolseley, banned all excavations. The article also discusses the Cypriot coin collection of the American Numismatic Society, the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Illinois, and their request to excavate the Cyprus city Amathus.

The article examines the general question of proprietary rights in archeology and the duty of archaeologists working abroad to be sensible to the political conditions in which their work is conducted. This analysis is in response to a letter from Aleksandr Formozov regarding the new excavations at Staroselye Cave on the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine, which brings up several ethical issues of archaeological concern that merit more extended discussion. The author laments that Formozov and his colleagues should respond for themselves concerning what perhaps should have been done or who should have been conferred relative to the reinvestigation of this important Palaeolithic site.

The article focuses on proprietary rights of archaeology in Ukraine. The author explores a letter which concerns mostly on Starosele site in Crimea. The author stated that the Institute of Archaeology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has all the right to excavate or conduct archaeological research within its own territorial borders as well as granting foreign archaeologists to conduct such research. Discussions and examination of the legal and political aspects of archaeology, and Ethnic pride surrounding archaeological findings are also presented.