Zendaya's Ziwiye Earrings Spark Ethics Row Over Looted Antiquities

Zendaya wore 3,000-year-old Iranian gold discs as earrings at a London photocall for Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, sparking backlash from archaeologists and the Forensic Archive of Iran, which launched a petition for provenance transparency. The discs, mounted in 18-karat gold and diamonds by jeweler Glenn Spiro for his Materials of the Old World collection, were acquired by Barron London as part of their private collection. Critics noted the timing amid US-Israel attacks on Iran causing cultural heritage destruction. The controversy highlights the art market's practice of repurposing archaeological objects into jewelry and decorative art, often obscuring looted provenance. The discs are tied to the Ziwiye treasure, a looted hoard from 1947 Iran. Barakat Gallery, which sells repurposed ethnographic objects, was previously sued by Iran over looted Jiroft artifacts. Such repurposing makes provenance research harder and launders problematic histories.