Provenance is the origin or source from which anything comes. The term is often used in the sense of place and time of manufacture, production or discovery. Comparative techniques, expert opinion, written and verbal records and the results of tests are often used to help establish provenance.

The provenance of works of fine art, antiques and antiquities often assumes great importance. Documented evidence of provenance for an object can help to establish that it has not been altered and is not a forgery or a reproduction. Knowledge of provenance can help to assign the work to a known artist and a documented history can be of use in helping to prove ownership.

Evidence of provenance can be of importance in the fields of archaeology and palaeontology. Fakes are not unknown and finds are sometimes removed from the context in which they were found without documentation, reducing their value to the world of learning. Even when discovered apparently in-situ archaeological finds must sometimes be treated with caution, the provenance of a find may not be properly represented by the context in which it was found. Artifacts can be moved far from their place of origin by mechanisms that include looting, collecting, theft or trade and further research is often required to establish the true provenance of a find. Most museums make strenuous efforts to record how the works in their collections were aquired and these records are often of use in helping to establish provenance. Fossils can also move from their primary context and are sometimes found, apparently in-situ, in geological deposits to which they do not belong, moved by, for example, the erosion of nearby but geologically different outcrops.

In the archiving and the management of records proof of provenance is provided by the operation of control systems that document the history of records kept in an archive, including details of amendments made to them.

Scientific research is generally held to be of good provenance when it is documented in detail sufficient to allow reproducibility. This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

See also

• Chain of custody
• Criticism of Wikipedia