In my art history courses at Southern Methodist University, the concept of spoliated artifacts has arisen in lectures and discussions many times. An idea I found intriguing, I have done quite a bit of reading on the topic, and have found the writings of ancient spolia expert Dale Kinney to be particularly impactful; specifically her chapter, “The Conccept of Spolia” in Conrad Rudolph’s A Companion to Medieval Art (2006). This article has an incredible meticulousness in documenting the proliferation of the reuse of ancient artifacts across Europe in the years after the fall of the Roman Empire, offering a detailed historiography of examples of recontextualized artifacts, but also examines the study of spolia, and the way reuse can be interpreted.
