Grave Robbing as Philanthropy (new article)

My article, “Grave Robbing as Philanthropy: How Tombs Became Taxable Treasure in Colonial Latin America,” is now out in the latest issue of Renaissance Quarterly. It explains how ancient and medieval Iberian legal traditions pertaining to buried treasure influenced the development of a widespread phenomenon of licensed grave robbing in colonial Latin America. The article features several of the documents included in my GIS map and is a companion piece to the larger “Treasure Excavations in the Medieval and Early Modern Hispanic World” project. The article is Open Access, and can be read and downloaded on the Cambridge University Press webpage, accessible through the link below.

I hope you enjoy!

Jeff

Click here to access the article.

Baron, Jeffrey W. “Grave Robbing as Philanthropy: How Tombs Became Taxable Treasure in Colonial Latin America.” Renaissance Quarterly 78, no. 1 (2025): 129–64. https://doi.org/10.1017/rqx.2025.26.