Culture Without

The Newsletter of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre Issue 15, Autumn 2004

@ The Illicit Antiquities Research Centre is a project of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. Illicit Antiquities Research Centre

he Illicit Antiquities Research Centre (IARC) was established in May 1996, T under the auspices of the McDonald Institute fo r Archaeological Research in Cambridge, England, and it commenced operations in October 1997 . Its pw-pose is to monitor and report upon th e damage caused to cultural heri tage by the international trade in illicit antiquities (i. e. antiquities which have been stolen or clandestinely excavated and illegally exported). The enormous increase in the volume ofthis trade over the past twenty years has caused the large-scale plundering of archaeological sites and museums around the world . The IARC will raise public awareness of the problems caused by this trade and seek appropriate national and international legislation, codes of conduct and other conventions to place restraint upon it.

Clliture Withollt Context is published twice-yearl y. The next issue wi ll appear in spring 2005. Subscription details are avai lable fro m: Jenny Doole IARC McDonald In stitute fo r Archaeological Research Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER UK e-mail: [email protected]

Front cover. The temple at Umm elDabadib, Egypt, which was destroyed in 2004 (see p. 22) .

Address for corresp ond ence: Staff: ewe Editorial Board , McDonald Institute for Archaeological fARC Director: Colin Renfrew Research. Downing 5 1, Cambridge, UK, CB2 3ER. IARC Co-ordinator: Neil Brodie http://www.mcdonald .cam.ac.uklIARC/home .ht m

fA RC Researcher: Jenny Doole Correspondence relating to atl aspects of the legal and illegal trade ewe Editorial Board: Neil Brodie in antiquities is welcome: we will make an effort to print reasonable , Augusta McMahon non-libellous letters. No unsigned lett ers will be printed, but names Chris Scarre will be wi thheld upon reques t. Peter Watson © 2005 McDonald In stitute for Archaeolog ical Research ewe Designer: Dora Kemp Printed by BluePrint, Co ldhams Road, Ca mbridge, UK , CB1 3EW. ISSN 1464-1925 Tel: +44 (0)1223472400

2 Editorial tion. Unli ke ly though it seems, the German (or pe rh aps another EU country's) authorities wo ul d have been ab le to approve export out of Europe n June 2004, the Cleveland Museum of Art ac­ - and it has yet to be demonstrated that they did I quired a bronze statue attributed to the Class ical - ofa Praxitelean statue that fe ll ow-EU member Greek sculptor Praxiteles from Phoenix Ancient Greece may have fe lt to be an important part of Art of Geneva. According to The Plain Dealer its ow n national heritage, but with no opportunity (12 September 2004), the museum may have paid for Greece to in tervene. One possibl e re medy for up to $5 million for the piece. The statue is sa id to this unsati sfactory situation would be to adopt and have been seen on a German estate in the 1930s extend a mechanism of the British export li cens­ and still in Germany when it was sold to a Dutch in g system. Sin ce 1952, it has been the practice antiques dealer in 1994. It then dropped out of in Bri tain to withhold an export li cence on any sight until it reappeared on the Swiss premises of cul tura l object considered to be of nati onal, aes­ Phoenix Ancient Art in 2002. In the September thetic or hi stori ca l importance until there has been 2004 issue of The Al'l Newspapel; the Cleveland time fo r a Briti sh institution to co me forward and Director Katharine Lee Reid was quoted as say ing offer a fair price, and so keep the piece within the that the museum had exercised due di li gence before UK. Ifno British offer is forthcom ing, an export the acqui sition, but that Phoenix Anc ient Art had li ce nce is granted. This system co uld profitably not revealed to the museum detai ls of the statue's be ex tended throughout the European Uni on, recent provenance. Thi s reti cence was understand­ whereby the export of an importa nt piece from able, she thought, because the company wou ld one country might be deferred long enough for a want to protect its competitive advantage. Rather purchaser to come forward from a second country. confus ingly, Phoenix Anc ientArt's proprietors Ali So , for example, if the German authorities had no and H icham Aboutaam subsequently stated in a objection to the export of a Praxitelean bronze, letter published in the November issue of The Al'l they mi ght postpone approval of its export and Newspaper that ' ... it is acceptable and common offer a Greek in stitution the opportunity to come practice, for obvious competiti ve reasons, to omit forwa rd and purchase the piece. all but the last decade of ow nership in publishing a hi stOlY ... '. But the last decade's ownership hi stOlY 9 In Jun e 2003 the UK Government impl e­ ofthe bronze was exactly what they had omitted to ~ men ted UN Security Council Resolution te ll the Cleveland. Anyhow, the implication from 1583 by means of the co ntrovers ial Iraq (United what Lee Reid sa id is that the Aboutaams are aware Nations Sanctions) Order (S I 1519) (see 'Edito­ ofthe statue's hi story fro m the time of its purchase ri al', ewe, Issue 13). SI 15 19 is a strong law by a Dutch dealer in 1994 to thcir own acq ui siti on as any person who acq uires an archaeologica l in 2002. They will of course also be aware that un­ object from Iraq witho ut know ing it to have been der EC Regulation 39 11 /92 on thc exp0l1 ofcu ltural exported lega ll y before August 1990 is presumed goods fj'om the European Union any cultural object guil ty of a criminal offence. Th ere is now ev i­ situated on the territory of an EU member state in dence to suggest that the strength of th is la w is 1994 (in thi s case Germany) wo uld ha ve needed havi ng a rea l deterrent effect on the London mar­ to be li censed fo r export, particularl y an object as ket in Iraq i material. The hi stogram (p. 4) shows important as a Classica l Greek bronze statue at­ the co mbin ed number of unprovena nced cylind er tribu ted to Praxiteles. The Aboutaams them se lves seals offered each year at the spri ng and autumn wo ul d not necessa ril y be responsib le fo r acq uiri ng sa les of the two London auction houses Christie's a licence if they had not exported the piece them­ and Bo nh ams since th e beginning of200 I. Most se lves, but any diligent search in to provenancc by cylinder sea ls are probably of Iraq i origin , and either the Cleveland or Phoen ix Ancient Art should as such act as a marker for Iraq i material more have establi shed its existence. genera ll y. Although ea rl y in th e decade large No matter what is the tru e story of the numbers of seals were being consigned for sa le, Cleveland acqui siti on , it hi ghl ights an interesting hardly any have been offered since SI 15 19 came and significant weakness of current EU legisla- into force. There are two explanations for thi s

3 rapid di sappearance 200r------~~------~ off the market of un­ provenanced cylinder SI1519 til 160 June 2003 seals. First, it might be "iii that most seals previ­ " 120 ------'"0 -- ously coming onto the -:;; -" market were known to E 80 -- --r------:J or-: - have been recently and Z ill egall y moved out of 40 Iraq and so now are ------n - too dangerous to sell. 0 Alternati vely, it mi ght 2001 2002 2003 2004 be that the seals don't Year have a verifiable ownership hi story stretching materi al reaching the market does not knowingly back more than the 15 years that would now be come from old collections with provenances sup­ necessary to give them a legal provenance. Ei ther pressed to maintain ' competiti ve advantage' as way, the hi stogram shows once more that most sources close to the trade continue to maintain.

Textile theft in lea, Peru: a threat to heritage and its conservation

ANN H. PETERS

t dawn on Friday, 15 October 2004, there A was an organi zed heist of three textil es, the most impressive fabri cs on exhibit in the Regional Museum of lca, Peru. O f the thousa nds of spectacul ar examples of Andean textile heri t­ age that have been excavated in th e Department Figure 1. Textile MRI-DB-47. Tunic of the Wari culture. of lea, onl y these three had been returned so th at Garment of camelid hail; consisting of two long cloths sewn together lengthwise; length 107 cm, width 103 cm, citi zens of the region could see them in their shoulder to shoulder 116 cm. Photograph taken in 1996 Regional Museum . of one face of the tunic just before G. Ka tterman and N. This bl ow to local consciousness of the herit­ Skov started restoration work. age of the Paracas, Nasca and Wari civi li zati ons is also a blow to archaeologists and museum or in doll ars, because they arc un iq ue, are fro m professiona ls who dedicate th eir lives to the th e desert hillsides of Ica, and in many cases are custody and defense of regional and nati onal accompani ed by in fo rmati on on their o ri ginal heritage. Consider fo r a moment the recent his­ provenience and cul tural associati ons. That in­ tory of these three textiles. At the ti me of th ei r forma ti on di fferen tiates th em fro m thc fa bulous theft, these 1000- and 2000-year-old fa brics werc coll ecti ons in Europe, Asia or North Ameri ca, in excell ent condition, and for th at very reason whi ch are fo r the most part products o f looting they were so attracti ve for theft and sale to pri vate and have suffered th e accompanying loss of all coll ectors. informati on on their ori gin al context. The director of the Regional Museum , Susana As mu seum director, Arcc does not receive Arce Torres, is in charge of a coll ecti on whose public sector finan cing for in ventory, conserva­ va lue cannot be measured either in Peruvian soles ti on and storage or exhi biti on of the coll ecti ons.

4 Figure 3. Lower part of the Wari tunic MRI-DB-47 with a missing piece, after placement of the interfacing and before the sewing of tining; the latter is now in place. Photograph 1997 by Anita Cook during restoration work by G. Katterman and N. Skov.

Figure 2. Detail of the opening in the collar of the Wari tunic MRI-DB-47, embroidered with a flower. Photograph 1997 by Anita Cook during restoration work by G. Katterman and N. Skov. Nonetheless, for years she has built co llaborative projects with nati onal and international research­ ers, mak ing the Regional Muse um an ad l1lirab le centre for projects that increase public awareness of the va lue of the pre-Co lumbian heritage of lea and of Peru. As part of these pe rsonal and insti ­ tut io nal coml1litl1lents, conserva ti on treatment of the recently stolen Wari tunic (MR I-DB-47) was co mpl eted in 1999 by pri vate conse rvators Nanette Skov and Grace Katterl1lann , with many ycars of textile conserva ti on expe ri cncc with the United States Park Serv ice. The Regional Muse um also reccivcs support [-i'om other muse um s of the Na ti onal In stitute of Culture, particularly the Na ti onal Muse ul1l of An­ thropology, Archaeology and Hi story, prin cipal locati on of th e National Museum co ll ections of Juli o C. Te llo, founde r of professional archaeol­ ogy in Peru . The two beautiful Paracas mantles origin all y excavated by Tell o in what today is Figure 4. Lateral part of the tunic MRI-DB-47 showing the Department of lea, have been on loan fo r one Df the cloths with missing zones where the interfacing decades in the permanent ex hibits of the Regional was placed, prior to the the conclusion of restoration work Museum. While the Iin ea r style red-dominant em­ by G. Katterman and N. Skov. Photograph 1997 Anita broidered mantl e (0000 1-02) has been maintained Cook. in an excell ent state of conserva tion , thc purple­ Nasca, was from th e beg inning partially deterio­ bordered mantle from Tomb 253 (00037-02), ratcd and had suffe red more during its yea rs on embroidered in a figurati ve style related to earl y ex hi bit. Particularly, one of the two cotton fab ri cs 5 Figure 6. Funerary mantle 253 (5) before restoration.

Figure 5. Textile 00037-02. Funerary mantie from tile Paracas Necropolis (specimen 5 from tomb 253). Mantie is based on woven panels of red-dyed camelid hair and natural cotton. The embroidered decoration is arranged in panels, with the principal design repeated both in the rectangles on the red ground and on tile fully embroidered border panels; dimensions 275 em by 157 em. Photograph taken after restoration work. sustaining the embroidered borders has disinte­ grated, which left the elaborate embroidery as a mass of unattached thread th at barely preserved the form of the monkey- lik e supernatural image repeated throughout the mantle. Its meticulous co nservati on was carried out during 2002- 3 by arc haeo logist and textile conservator Carmen Thays Delgado, curator of textiles at the National Museum, together with assistant Luis Peiia Ca l­ lirgos, with logistical support from the INC and financial support from the Banco de Credito. By stealin g these three textiles, the thieves and the co llectors for whom they wo rk take advan tage of 80 years of custody, research, conservati on Figure 7. Principal design of funerary mantie 253 (5). and protection of these beautiful and unique examples of the heritage of all Peruvian s. They also take advantage of the professional work of national and intern ation al experts, supported by both governm ent and non-governmental public institutions. They also stea l from the Ica public the three most impress ive examples of their glori­ ous past on display in the region - unlike most of their heritage, found behind pri vate wa ll s or in distant countries. Figure 8. Textile 00001-02. Funerary mantie from tile Para cas Necropolis. Mantle includes woven panels in ANN H. P ETERS camefid !Jafr and cotton with a camelid yarn fringe and Department of Anthropology embroidered decoration. Zoomorphic designs in a linear Latin American Studies Program style are repeated over the whole mantle, consisting of a Cornell University central cloth with decoration of squares in a chequered pattern and two attaclled lateral bands completely covered by embroidery; length 245 em, width 131 cm .

6 'Stolen history' on the just a few ll1 etres inside the border. What call1e to light next was a crill1inal orga ni zation dedicated internet to the ill egal procurell1 ent in Italy and abroad of coins and other archaeo logica l finds that were F AB IO FICUCIELLO then sold on the In ternet. The business was worth millions of euros and there we re a huge nUll1ber ragm ents of hi story and culture - stolen of cli ents worldwide. Fand sold on the Intern et? Regrettab ly, fo l­ Conscious of the ill1portance of what had low in g a long and thorough in vestigation, the been di scovered , the Carabinieri, with the ben­ Ital ian COlllando Carabinieri Tilleia Palrimonio efit of long ex peri ence gai ned ' in the fi eld ' and Cllllilrale has di scovered that thi s crime is already deploying advanced technologies, conducted a taking place. The clandestine market for cultural coordinated in vestigati on and succeeded in iden­ heritage has not enco untered any problems on the tifyi ng a site in ROll1agna (north Italy) where the informa ti on network that connects even th e far­ material to be sold on th e In te rn et was stored. In thest and the most remote corners of the world. October 2002, the searches that fo llowed di scov­ In the summer of 2002, in th e context of an ered what appeared to be a numismatic treasure exchange of information with Interpol, th e Co­ trove. It compri sed around 10,000 ancient co in s, mando Carabinieri in Rome came to know about including 150 froll1 the important ancient site of a numi smati c cO ll1pany se lling anc ient sil ver Amathus and a number of other archaeological Cypriot coin s on the In ternet. After th orough artefacts dating back to the fourth century Be. The ve rifi ca ti on of thi s inforll1 ation , the Carabinieri se izure was one of the most important in recent spec iali zed in cO ll1bating the ill ega l traffi c in yea rs and was one of th e first bl ows to be struck arc haeo logica l heritage, in cOll1p li ance with the agai nst the crimin al orga ni zat ions that are traf­ prov isions of th e 1970 UN ESCO Conve nti on fi cking cultural heritage on the Internet. to which Cyprus adheres, in col laboration with The work of the Carabinieri was prai sed in the Ital ian magistracy, and with wide-rangin g April 2003 at an official ceremony in Cyprus telell1atic support, located the cOll1pany respon­ where, in the presence of the Cypriot institutions sibl e. for culture and communi cations, the Itali an Min­ The investi ga tions di scovered that the reg­ ister for Cultural Heritage and Activities returned istered office of the cOll1pany in question was the archaeological materi al recovered during the situated in the Republic of San Marino and in ves ti gation. In so doing, the Minister restored therefore outside Itali an jurisd icti on. However, to the Cypri ots the testimony of thei r hi story and the co mpany's account was lin ked to an Internet their cu lture. se rver th at was on Itali an territory, even though On th e ba sis of informati on acquired during the research carri ed out in 2002, furt her in te rn ati onal and national enqu iries were co nducted , which led to the di scovery of more il­ legal traffic in archaeological and nUll1i smati c material on the Internet pass ing th ro ugh an in­ ternational site. Actin g on thi s discovery, during spring 2003 the Carabinieri ca rri ed out an opera­ ti on throughout the whole of Ital y that was aimed at breaking up this criminal enterprise. It led to the arres t of four indi vidu als and to the se izure of more than 19,000 Figure 1. Archaeological material recovered by the Comando Carabinieri co in s ( 16,000 bronze, 2600 si lver, Tutela Patrimonio Culturale during operations in 2002. 94 gold), 400 archaeologica l arte- 7 where they presented an in-depth analysis of the clandestine market for cultural heritage and discussed methodologies that may be used in the fight again st it. These in vestigations constitute a very stro ng sign that the fight again st crinle, in cluding crimes again st cultural heritage, can be­ come efficient and can guarantee important results when intern ational Figure 3. A coin recovered in 2002. coll aboration takes place. Inform a- Figure 2. A coin recovered in 2002. tion exchange between the different law enforcement agencies is increas­ facts of di fferent types and dates, and 250 pi eces ing in modern society, which itself is in continual of jewellery. transformation and increasingly challenged by the The international collaboration that had ena­ multifaceted 'global vill age' of the Web. bled the investigation also led to a strengthening of cooperati on between Italy and Cyprus. In sum­ F ABIO FICUCIELLO mer 2004, the Carabinieri hosted a seminar in Comando Ca rabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale Cyprus for members of the Cypriote police force Rome Italy

In the News istry have asked their counterparts in London to in vestigate reports that a JENNY DOOLE Kuwaiti citizen has tried to smuggle looted al"tefacts to the United Kingdom. Looting and smuggling in Iran The Iranian Cul tural Heritage and Tour­ ism Organi zati on sent photographs and In January 200 I locals from Jiron In documentation to back up an ownership Kerman prov ince, southwestern Iran , claim for several objects from Jiroft. discovered and emptied an ancient tomb o A Jiron artefact whi ch was to be sold belonging to an earl y fo urth- to third-mil­ at Sotheby's in London on 12 October lennium culture of great archaeological will be returned to Iran following significance. Systematic looting ensued negoti ations between the French institu­ w ith many further tombs discovered, tion which had acquired the pi ece and some estimated to have contain ed up to 60 Iran's C ul tural Heritage and Tourism objects. Families were a ll ocated 6 m' dig O rgani zation. The F rench in stitution plots. This first phase ofiooting was finally had suggested solvin g the matter via stopped a year later, when Irani an police direct co-operation rather than through arrived in suffic ient numbers, confi scating international bodies. around 2000 objects locall y and others in o Rahmatoll ah Raouf, commander of the Tehran and Bandar Abbas which were ready National Cultural Heritage Corps said fo r shipment abroad. Ini tial resul ts of offi­ (CHN, 3 1 August 2004) that, according cial excavation at the site, whi ch began in to tip-offs, locals are now digging out February 2003, were published by Yousef their yards and gardens in search of Majidzadeh. ancient objects. Law enfo rcement of­ ficers, he said, were not able to poli ce Further developments: all houses. The onl y solution is raising o Officials from the Irani an Foreign Min- public awareness.

8 o Jiroft items are reported to have ap­ up on the market in London (see The Times , peared o n the Western market in 8 November 2004). France and UK catalogued as Middle Eastern or Kerman. o In October, two men convicted of conducti ng ill egal excavations at Jiroft Afghanistan update and smuggling antiquities abroad were sentenced to death subj ect to supreme November: Antiquities believed to have court approval. The legal department of been looted or lost during the plunder and Iran's Cultural Heritage Organ ization destruction of Kabul Museum , Afghanistan, said thi s was the first time a death sen­ have been recovered from more than 100 tence had been imposed for an tiquities storage boxes found in hidden caches in traffick ing and hoped that as the execu­ the presidenti al palace complex and other tions would be carri ed out in the town it safe places. More than 2500 items - in­ would putan end to such activities (Iran cluding Bactri an gold jewell ery, gold and mania, 4 October 2004). sil ver coin s, pl aster medalli ons and carved ivories - had apparently been packaged In October, following a tip-offpolice broke and stashed away by museum staff fea rful a ring of six smugglers in the southern for the obj ects' safety during the Soviet province of Bushehr. They seized an in­ occupation, and miraculously survived the scri bed stone tablet, 2 Achaemenid gold tumultuous years that followed (see Wash­ bracelets, 3 bronze daggers, and around 80 ington Post, 18 November, 2004). ancient coins. The group had also looted 9 clay vessels from Jiroft. Daan va n der Schriek on Eurasianet.org ( 10 August 2004) reports that: November: Iranian police in the central o Sayed Raheen, Afghanistan's Information Zagros mountain provi nce of Chaharma­ and Cul ture minister says that he is now hal- Bakhtiari arrested 36 members of an reluctant to visit archaeological sites alleged antiquities smuggling gang and because of the subsequent risk they will recovered more than 940 stolen Seleucid and be looted: people think that a ministerial Sassanid gold and sil ver coins, swords, figu­ visit must mean treasure and illegal dig­ rines, vases, mirrors and inscribed tablets. gin g begins as soon as he has left. o Ai Khanoum and ancient Balkh in the north of the country are among those sites particularly badly plundered, Pakistanllran survey according to SPACH (Society for the Preservation of Afghani stan'S Cultural The res ul ts of a six-year survey in Pakistan Heri tage). and I ran (conducted by Professor Robi n Con­ o It is dangerous for those trying to pro­ ingham of the Uni versity of Bradford, UK, and tect archaeology: in 2003 fo ur police coll eagues from the unive rsities of Peshawar officers were murdered when sent to and Tehran) indicate that 90 per cent of major protect an ancient site, and Raheen adds archaeological sites have been looted. Of 18 that he logs Illimerous in stances where newly-di scovered fi rst-millenni um BC sites, people ha ve suffered beatings after in­ 14 had been damaged by illicit digging, and forming the authorities about cases of more than 120 sites in the Tehran plai n datin g antiquiti es looting. back to 8000 BC showed signs of recent loot­ o Poor wages a re an issue, sin ce there ing. Professor Coningham expressed concern is more money to be made for those in­ that looted material fro m the area may end volved in looting and smuggling, rather

9 than protection of the archaeology. using a hammer. Police suspect the crime o Raheen believes the power of warlords was commi ssioned by a pri vate collector. is too great to be overcome by the good effolts being made by UNESCO in laun ch­ Megan Goldin of Reuters reports (15 De­ ing an awareness campaign urging locals cember 2004) on the activities of Monzer, not to destroy their heritage and inform a 27-year-old grave robber from the authorities about illegal excavations. Hebron area, who learned hi s looting sk ill s from hi s father: o He is a jeweller by day but at night leads a gang of 10 thieves plundering hills Illicit antiquities in Israel and around the city. Palestine o The team works at night (when they can more easily slip into Israel to pass Lauren Gelfond Feldinger of the Jerusalem materi al on to dealers), dress in dark Post (29 July 2004) reports that: clothes and use metal detectors, sieves o Ron Kehati of the Israel Antiquities and kni ves. Authority estimates that illegal digging o Such is Monzer's success he drives a in Palestinian Authority territory is up new BMW. more than 50 per cent. o He says hi s best find so far was a rare o A Pal estinian tomb robber claim s loot­ Jewish half-shekel coin sold for $20,000 ing is worse since the intifada started, to a middleman, and that gold (especial­ since there is no other work. ly jewellery, which he will break skeletal o He says that dozens of locals, who pre­ arms to remove), coins and ceramics are viously made their livings in other ways, most sought after. dig illegally in Sebastia every day. o The antiquities unearthed end up in o Some Israeli dealers argue they are London and New York. preserving Jewish heritage by pur­ o The only thing that fri ghtens him is the chasing and th en smuggling antiquities thought of the ' djinn ', or ghost said across the Green Line. to inhabit the burial chambers. Some thieves apparently bring Muslim holy • May : 600 antiquities (including coins, men to recite incantations and drive the pots, jewellery) were found during a raid 'djinn ' away. ofthe Hebron apartment ofa 70-year-old Palestinian man, along with $200,000 cash. He said the items were nothing to do with him, having been found by hi s children . Chinese news

• Six people from Jabel Mukaber, Jerusalem Chinese museum curator Li Haitao was were caught by border police allegedly sentenced to death in court in Chengde, digging illegally in a cave in th e Nahal Hebei province for hi s part in the theft of Kidron area where many ancient burials 259 objects from the Eight Outer Temples are located. imperi al complex where he was responsible for security (see ' In the News', ewe, Issue A panel from the green crystalline glass 13). He wi II appeal. Four accompl ices were floor of a Byzantine kiln was stolen from given jail sentences of two to seven years an archaeological park atApolonia, near and fined. Tel Aviv in June. The 50 cm square section, a rare example of Byzantine glass, was ap­ • According to a shopkeeper at Panjiayuan parently broken out of the 2 m square fl oor market, fOl'eign diplomatic staff based in

10 Beijing are involved in smuggling ancient lawyer had been given instructions to have artefacts out of the country. She says: ' One the in absentia verdict nullified. of my friends, who works at the German embassy, has a brisk business in ancient ob­ jects. Customs never look into hi s luggage, because he's a diplomat.' (Daily Times, 26 Yemeni return April 2004) In November an alabaster plaque dating to about AD 350 and depicting a fertility goddess was retunled to the Yemeni amhassador Guatemalan court action to the United Nations at a ceremony in Man­ hattan. The piece had been seized by the US In court in Guatemala in May, three members Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the same fam il y (Salvador Coy Bol, Ciri­ when it was consigned to auction at Sotheby's aco Coy Cabnal and Publio Paau Coc) were for an estim ated $30,000 by Phoenix Ancient sentenced to three-year jail terms for the Art, who claimed that it came from a pri vate 2001 theft of a Mayan altar from the site Engli sh coll ection. Investigation by Sotheby's of Cancucn (see ewe, ' In the News', Issue showed that it had in fact been stolen from a 13 ), where Coy Bol had been a security guard. museum in Aden in 1994. Their defence falsely alleged that others, in­ cluding the Ameri can excavator of the site, Professor Arthur Demarest, were responsible for the theft. Egyptian news The convictions are the first against antiquities thieves in Guatemala and it • Tariq S uissi (or Tarek AI-Sweisi), the is hoped wi ll act as a deterrent. Professor ringleader of a ring responsible for smug­ Demarest, who endured threats aga inst both gl in g hundreds of ancient artefacts out of himself and his team during the long-drawn­ Egypt (see ' In the News', ewe, Issue 13) out proceedings, emphasized the importance was sentenced to 35 years in prison by of contextualized archaeology as a source of an Egyptian court in April. Suissi, a busi­ income for the local Maya, sayi ng, 'Looters nessman and sen ior official with the ruling are a minority who are destroying the per­ National Democratic Party (from whi ch he manent econom ic support base of tourism in has now been expell ed) was convicted of order to make a quick buck. It [the verdict] is stealing, hiding (some in hi s Cairo villa) and very discouraging to looters because nothin g sIlluggl in g the objects, and also of possess­ like this has ever happened before' (The AI" ing drugs, weapons, and money laundering. New:,paper, July- August, 2004). A senior customs official received a 20-year sentence. The other defendants - includ­ ing pol ice, customs and Supreme Counci I of Antiquities officials from Egypt, Swit­ More Phoenix Ancient Art zerland, Germany, Kenya and Lebanon - were tried in absentia and each sen­ • Ali Aboutaam, of Phoenix Ancient Art, tenced to between 1- 15 years (see above was one of 26 people sentenced by an 'More Phoenix Ancient Art'). Egyptian court (see below) to a 15-year prison sentence fo r involvement in an In June, on their return to work on the tomb antiqu iti es smuggl in g ring. Aboutaam told of a nobleman (from the era of Pharaoh The AI" Newspaper (September 2004) that Ak henaten, 1379- 1362 Be) after a six­ he had been un aware of the tri al and his month break, a team of archaeologists

1/ from the University of Pennsylvania Looting of and efforts to save discovered that it had been plundered. Iraq's archaeology The mummy ofa child and fo ur small items had been removed th rough a back tunnel • John Ma lcolm Russell, expert on safe- leading to a house in the town of Gourna, guarding th e archaeology of Iraq, was which is built on top of some 420 Pharaonic honoured by SAFE (Saving Antiquities peri od tombs. Its inhabitants are be li eved to fo r Everyone - a non-profi t group fo unded have plundered the cemetery fo r decades. in the last year in response to the looting of , the Nati onal Museum in Iraq) at a dinner A granite fragment from a temple wall in New York in October (see www.savin - stolen from Behbeit el-I-Iagar, Gharbia in gan tiqu iti es.org). 1990 was retu rned to Egypt from the USA in August. It was offered for sa le Meanwhi le, Zainab Bahrani, who suc- along with other items fo r $7000- 9000 by ceeded Jo hn Ru ssell as intern ationa l Christie's in New York in June, 2002 but adviso r to the prov isional government of was withdrawn from sale and confi scated Iraq in May, left the positi on in August. by the Federal Distri ct Court in Manhattan She expressed concern over the lack of in October 2003 fo llowing notifi cati on by protection for archaeological sites in the the Egyptian government that it had been country. looted. The reli ef fragment wil l now be rein stated in the recently rebuilt wa ll. The fi rst meeting of th e Internat ional Coordination C ommittee for the Safe- In October 617 Egyptian antiquities guarding of the C ult u ral Heritage of (including two wooden Pharaoni c coffi ns, Iraq, established under the joint auspi ces and Helleni sti c amulets and pots) were re- of the Iraqi auth oriti es and UNESCO, turned from London to Cairo. They were was held in Pari s in May, chaired by Iraqi stolen by Egyptian smugglers, shipped via Minister fo r Culture Mou fi d a l l azairi . Switzerland to London where they were The committee, whi ch comprises 25 in- seized at Heathrow airport fo ur years ago. tern ati onal experts, will provide advice It is not known where they were from. on measures to improve and reinforce international cooperation by assisting the • The Prosecutor-General an nounced that 10 Ministry in insti tutional reform, capac ity Egyptians, including three top archaeolo- buildin g and training, devisin g museum gists, will stand trial accused of stealing conserva ti on pl ans, setting up international 57,000 antiquities from warehouses and co-operati on systems, coordinating and smuggling thousand s of them abroad. The channelling international aid, strengthen- group were arrested in January 2003 fo l- ing and enfo rcing national cultural heritage lowing the discovery by customs po li ce legislation, and recording and planning at Cairo Airport of Pharaoni c, Roman archaeologica l sites (see below). and Greek obj ects packed in a freight box fo r shipment to Spain (see ' In the News', The World Monuments Fund, with the ewe, Issue 12). The chi ef of Pharaoni c support of the National Endowment for antiquities, Sabri Abdel Aziz, will also the H umanities and UNESCO, is working face a di sciplinary tribunal, charged with on a proj ect to create an Arabic-Eng- negli gence of duty. Ii sh data base of al-chaeological sites in Iraq, containing info rm ati on on their /V"VVVV"VVVVVVV condi tion and threats to their preserva - tion (see Humanities magazine, Nov/Dec 2004). Project director, Gaetano Palumbo,

12 believes the data base may provide authori­ During a conference hosted in Amman ti es with information to help stem pillage in May by the Jordanian government and from iraqi sites by mapping where looting Interpol: occurs so that agencies can co-ordinate ef­ o Mahmoud Qteishat, director-general forts and perhaps predict locations of future of the Jordanian Customs Department damage. called the looting of archaeological sites in Iraq the crime of the century. • September: Eight Iraqi customs officers He called on customs, concerned region­ were found dead in the region ofLatifiyah. al and international organizations and They were apparently attacked while trans­ neighbouring countries to consolidate porting antiquities (including 70 fragments efforts and cooperate to impede smug­ of cuneiform-inscribed tablets, 12 carved gling. Meanwhile, vases, coins, bracelets and jewellery) re­ o Donny George of the Iraqi National Mu­ covered by Italian police and Iraqi customs seum told Aljazeera (I June 2004) that: who cracked a criminal smuggling gang around 15,000 objects are still missing and arrested two men. The antiquities are from the museum; he is sure Iraq i an­ now lTIlSSlllg. tiquities have been leaving the country via Turkey and Iran; some neighbours, • August: Joseph Braude pled guilty in a including Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and New York court to smuggling three an­ Saudi Arabia are holding stolen objects cient marble and alabaster seals stolen safe until Iraq requests their return. from Iraq museum and making fal se state­ o Interpol chief, Willy Deridder said ments. He was caught with the items in his that looting is particularly acute in luggage at a New York Airport and initially southern Iraq, and that 10,000 oflraq's denied he been to Iraq when, in fact, they estimated 100,000 sites are 'almost im­ had been purchased on the black market in possibl e to protect' . Baghdad (see ' In the News', ewe, Issue 13). • The head of the World Tourism Organi­ zations of the United Nations said the In August Jordanian customs officials US-led coalition in Iraq needs to establish a seized two boxes containing 18 ancient physical presence at threatened archaeo­ statues, suspected to have come from Iraq, logical sites, arguing that their looting and during a routine search of a private car at destruction will deprive Iraq of valuable, the AI Karama border crossing. The driver future tourist revenue. claimed they were to be mailed to an exhi­ bition in France. • In June, Iraqi police announced that, fol­ UNESCO's programme specialist for lowing a tip-off and a sting operation, they Iraq, Philippe Delanghe sa id that, whil e had arrested four men in possession of such theft is nothing new, he now sees more hundreds of antiquities (including statu­ opportunistic theft, rather than th e theft­ ettes, bowls and cuneiform tablets) alleged to-order previously encountered (Jordan to have been illegally excavated in the area Times; 13 August 2004). of ancient Babylon. They were selling the Six antiquities (including a winged items for just $ 100 a crateful (see USA bull and half-man-half-lion statue, some Today, 13 .June 2004). with possibl e museum identification la­ bels) were found hidden in a car driven • In September a London dealer handed through the same border crossing by an over to police an ancient incantation bowl Iraqi man in early October. which may have come from Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Syria or Israe l.

13 • A report by archaeologist Joanne Fa rchakh land, including the Metropolitan Museum Bajjaly in the Daily Slar (2 1 September in New York which holds the ' Morgantina 2004) describes looting in Iraq as out of Hoard ' wh ich Ita li an officials say was al­ control. legedly illegally excavated and exported o Archaeologist responsible for the Na­ via Switzerl and and Paris. siri ya district, Abdul AmiI' Hamadani, says more than 100 Sumerian cities • Around 100 ancient Roman artefacts, have been destroyed by looters sin ce in cluding marbl e busts, vases, and a sar­ the beginning of the war. cophagus, have been confiscated by police o Efforts by the Italian carabinieri in series of I'aids of homes, restaurants (including heli copter fl y-overs of ar­ and hotels in the Naples area. They are the chaeological sites, foot patrols and arrest product of extensive archaeological looting and imprisonment of culprits) were in the vicinity. successful in temporarily stemming looting but apparently terrorized locals and encouraged them to join insurgent armies, hi ghlighting the political dif­ Smuggling of Nicaraguan ficulties surrounding archaeological objects protection. June: Felix Vanlal Puer-ta and Francisco 70 stolen antiquities were retrieved from Javiel' Castillo (two aid agency doctors) were the Oma and Jokha regions by Iraqi antiq­ arrested in Madrid and Valencia respec­ uities protection police working alongside tively for allegedly illegally importing 228 Italian carabinieri. They were returned pre-Columbian objects (including necklaces, to the city museum in Nasiriyah, 350 km chalices and musical instruments more than south of Baghdad, according to a report by 2000 years old) from Nicaragua via middle­ a local newspaper (AI Sabah, 22 November man Donald de JesLls Moreno Tapia. Tapia was 2004). sentenced by a Nicaraguan court to six years in prison (see The Art Newspapel; October 2004, and VOA 16 June 2004).

News from Italy

A plan by members of the Italian govern­ UK concern over e8ay sales ment to legalize private ownership of antiquities has outraged archaeologists October: Head of Treasure at the British (see The Guardian, 9 November 2004). It is Museum, Roger Bland, called on eBay, the proposed that finds may be purchased from Int ernet auction forum, to agree to close down the state for five per cent of their estimated quicl"y sales of archaeological items when value. Those for the scheme argue that it British authorities inform them that they wi ll mean unknown treasures will be de­ may qualify as national treasure under the clared, those agai nst regard it as a ' looters' terms of the Treasure Act, 1996, eBay, whil e charter' and 'an incitement to theft'. not wanting illicit antiquities on the site, has been wi lling to remove them only if officials A spokesman fo r the Ita li an Ministry of can id entify them as clearly ill egal, whi ch Culture in Sicily, said that Sicily will be would require information on exactly where severing all ties with foreign museums and when a piece had been dug up . eBay said that display artefacts they believe to they would be willing to agree to a proc­ have been illicitly smuggled from the is- ess whereby the Briti sh Museum would go

14 through the arts and antiques unit of the Metro­ path to St Catwgs C hurch, Gelligaer, politan Police, London who would in vesti gate Caerphilly, Wales, in April. They are worth and inform eBay of illegal items. up to £300 each on market.

Cypriot returns and Illicit antiquities and Greece accusations • Kathimerini (26 June 2004) hi ghlighted July: A German court finally ruled that the problem of lack of protection for ar­ hundreds of Byzantine icons, mosaic, chaeological sites iu Greece by publishing and artefacts stoleu from northern Cy­ a photograph of two young tourists digging prus more than 30 years ago and smuggled illegally at the important site of Mycenae. to Germany will be returned to the Re­ The foreign schoolchildren used their hands public of Cyprus. The decision follows and a pickaxe they found in the vicini ty. seven years oflegal wrangling. They we re fo und in the Munich apartment of Aydin • May: The Greek C ulture Ministry dis­ Dikmen (see 'Cyprus mosaics' , CWC, played a recently returned fragment, Issue 3), who fought for the antiquiti es once part of the cuirass of a colossal statue through the courts, but could not ultimately of a Roman general/emperor, which had prove ownership. been stoleu from the Amphiaraeion in September 1991. The piece was smuggled August: The Attorney-general of Cyprus to Germany and returned with the aid of In­ announced plans to request that the Eu­ terpol following its discovery in Munich. ropean Parliament lift immunity against prosecution for MEP Marios Matsakis fo ll owing a series of allegations, including a lleged purchase of stolen Cypri ot antiqui­ US up-date ties worth hundreds of thousands of pounds (Cyprus Mail). The Utah US Attorney's Office and feder­ al prosecutors in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico joined together to announce a 90-day amnesty programme, to run UK museum and church thefts from May to August, during which people could return Native American artefacts in Ancient C hinese objects have been stoleu their possession with no fear of official from two major London museums in two recrimination. Usuall y possession of such apparently we ll-organized, and poss ibly items would incur federal prosecution and lin ked, raids. N ine sma ll items of carved penalties. Chinese jade (cups, a bowl, pl aques and In New Mexico, arrowheads, a frog­ figurines said to worth around £60,000) shaped ceramic canteen, a statue of war god were taken from the Victori a and Albert Zuni , ancient pots and sherds were retumed, Museum on 4 October and 15 further pieces sometimes with apologies, or notes describ­ (jewellery and fi ngernail guards) fro m the ing how they had been acquired, and in Briti sh Museum later in th e month. Colorado, human remains, whole pots and some small artefacts were recovered. Around 70 tombstones, in cluding many Roman examples, were stolen from the In vestigators from the Natioual Park Serv-

15 ice and US Attorney's Office of Nevada e lsewhere, according to Mark Michel, went on all-telTain vehicle tourist tours near president of the Archaeological Conserv­ Logandale w ith ATV Adventures Inc., ancy of Albuquerque, New Mexico, where and confirmed reports that that employees vo lunteers monitor sensitive sites and the of the company wel'e collecting artefacts preservation group acquires archaeological from archaeological sites and encouraging sites on private property. The Bureau of clients to look for and take such items as Land Management acknowledges that it souvenirs - apparently with the knowledge does not have the resources to fight looting of the owner and general manager of the alone. travel firm. Damage costs were assessed as $41 ,798.53 and in June ATV Adven­ Jerry Howard, curator at the Mesa Southwest tures pled guilty to a felony ARPA offence, Mu seum and Scott Wood , an archaeologist and company owner Stoney Ward and the with the Tonto National Forest, says in the general manager to mi sdemeanours. [n No­ Tucson Citizen (29 April 2004): vember the company was sentenced to two o That demand 1'01' ancient Native years probation, restitution fines of$ 13,578 A merican pottery to sell in Internet and $60,000 in community service, an $800 sales is dri ving currently rising levels penalty fee and suspension of their access of looting in Arizona. permit to Bureau of Land Management o He has seen rare items, probably fl"Om (BLM) lands for 30 days. Ward and Free­ graves, sold on eBay, like some Ho­ man got six month's home confinement, two hokam artefacts described as excavated years probation, restitution fines of$3692.97 from private land in Queen Creek, then and personal fines of$2000 each. The judge sold to a dealer in Scottsdale and even told them to spread the word that damaging pot sherds are in demand. archaeological sites is wrong, and those do­ o A Site Steward Program has been ing so will be prosecuted and punished. developed in which hundreds of volun­ teers patrol specific sites of federal and • The trial of two men in Reno for theft public land. of ancient rock art from national forest o It is difficult to prove an object comes land (see ' In the News', ewe, Issue 13) from public land, therefore difficult to has sparked debate as to how best to protect prosecute. ancient sites. The defendants claim they o The mal'ket is hot in Saudi AI'abia, did not know they were doing wrong Europe and Japan. taking the carved rocks, since there were no signs marking them as ancient, but Fred • Utah rancher Waldo Wilcox found a series Frampton, the US Forest Service's chi ef of 1000-year-old Native American sites arch aeologist for the area, say signing such on hi s land, but had kept their existence locations is like saying 'Dig here for bur­ secret si nce the I 940s in order to protect ied treasure' (see Las Vegas Sun, 31 May them. Archaeologists said the sites, which 2004). in clude thousa nd s of ruins straddling a 12-mile stream and spread over more than • Recent hi gh-profile cases of artefact theft 1000 acres, are of great signifi cance and in Nevada have also prompted efforts to had never been looted. (By contrast, every record and monitor the state's archaeo­ pit house on Indian ruins on government logical heritage. The Nevada Rock Art he ld land to the south of the ranch has been Foundation, w ith a team of around 400 looted, according to Kevin Jones, Utah 's volunteers is now working to protect the state archaeologist). 1000 or more rock-art sites. Such volun ­ The state of Utah purchased the ranch teer programmes have proven successful fo r $2 .5 million and wi ll work to preserve

16 the sites and allow public access. However, Indian arrests on ly weeks after their existence was made public, thieves had made their way to November: Police in Varanasi, India, ar­ the remote location southeast of Salt Lake rested six men (two all eged thi eves and four City. A pair of stone knife blades, uncovered all eged middlemen) in Mahujiangar vill age as by Uni versity of Utah archaeologists, was they were trying to secure a deal. Six silver miss ing. and alloy statues more than 1000 years old were confiscated - a fraction of what had • The Billings Gazelle reports (12 September been stolen. The police, who believe the items 2004): were destined for the international market, o Four major looter pits (one 10 ft long) sa id that the thieves had no idea of their real and two smaller shovel-size holes have va lue on that market, are lookin g to make been found in a remote rock shelter more arrests. in Weatherman Draw canyon, near Montana's Pryor Mountains. The site contains hearth evidence of ancient Na­ tive American occupation, and what is Algerian concerns left is now being in vestigated by BLM archaeologists led by Glade Hadden. Hussein Umbaz, site director atTalsi , in the o Hadden says that during the last five A Igerian desert, says that stolen Algerian years, looters have inueasingly tar­ antiquities are being offered for sale on geted remote canyon sites on B LM the Internet for € I 000- 100 ,000 or more. land south of Bridger. He accused German archaeologists who o A Crow Tribe Tobacco Society site in excavated under government contracts Pryor moun ta ins, found and reported in 1992 of smugglin g artefacts out of the by amateur fie ld walkers, was looted a coun try. week after archaeologists documented the site. In November five German tourists were o Hadden has conducted rescue archaeol­ arrested for stealing 130 artefacts from ogy on a possible rare Fremont site in Tassili National Park. They were sen­ the area whi ch appears to have suffered tenced to three months in prison and fined long-term, illegal looting. Most of the 300,000 Algerian dinar ($4300) which will 100-acre site had been destroyed. go to the authoriti es responsible for the site. o BLM field officer Chuck Ward says he The group, aged 32- 53, had di sappeared has help from Public Lands C itizen from their tour (sparking a massive search Watch, a group of six or more Bi llings operati on by authorities fearful they had ci ti zens who patrol the area in return been kidnapped by extremists) and were for minimal expenses when such are later fo und camping in the desert with the avai lable. He has also instigated an obj ects in their veh icle. electmnic surveillance system to catch looters in action at one heavily-looted site, with no luck as yet. o Chris Finley, cultural-resources man­ ager at neighbouring Bighorn Canyon Information from Mexico National Recreation Area also described archaeologica l looting as a 'serious, seri­ Mexican collector G uadalupe Chaparro ous problem'. is quoted in the Ho/.{s/on Chronicle ( 19 May 2004), saying that:

17 • It is easy to find sellers of recently-ex­ to petition the US Government to seize cavated antiquities in vill ages by merely Viking artefacts being offered for sale on asking around. the WWW site of Faganarms, a Michigan auction house. Almost 100 swords, kni ves She usually pays between $50-200 for and horse harnesses, dating to AD 800, were artefacts which would fetch thousands at being offered for sale for about $26,000 are auction in the US . described as havin g been excavated from a sin gle settlement on Gotl and. Under Swedish law all archaeological artefacts are State prop­ erty and Runeby said that whil e it is not certain Peruvian cases these items had been illegally exported their authenticity should be checked. He believes 41 pre-Columbian artefacts, were re­ they may come from the site of Vallstena on turned to Peru from the US after a man Gotland. from Arlington was arrested last year tryin g to sell them on the black market. Abelardo Sandoval, an archaeologist who helped Syrian return authoriti es identi fy much of the stolen ma­ terial, said that one of the pieces of textile Research work by Lindsay All ason-Jones and in the hoard, a burial shroud woven between colleagues at the University of Newcastle's AD 1100 and 1400 had faded and been dam­ archaeological museums (UK) has resulted in aged by washing at some stage before it was a piece of a Roman lead sarcophagus being recovered. returned to the Syrian National Museum. US Customs also referred to the case of A member of the public, who had been given a Colorado man who was di scovered smug­ the panel by a friend, brought it to the museum gling Peruvian antiquities he had bought as a donation. The ownership documentation from a looter and then concealed in hi s was in order but a certifi cate of authenticity rock-climbing gear (see Washington Post, from a French antiquities dealer gave no clue I May 2004). as to provenance. I t has now been establ ished that there may be some connection with the December: A Sican period mask is to be Ph oeni cian/Roman city of Aradus. returned to Peru after a coll ector in Ital y handed it to po li ce. The gold and red mer­ cury sulphide mask, whi ch depicts sea god Naylamp, is not recorded as stolen from Illicit antiquities in Bulgaria any museum, collection or site and may have been taken out of the country after June: Around 30 T hracian treasur"es have being sold by grave-robbers in the 1960s been stolen from a museum in the Bul gar­ or 1970s. It will be put on di splay in th e ian town of Lovecll. Thieves broke into the Nati onal Sican Museum. building and the iron case they were kept in . There is a chance that the items, whi ch were due to be exhibited abroad, may have been dupl icates. Viking artefacts in US Jllne: 23 antiquities (including eight Ro­ May: Swedish archaeologist Chri stian Runeby man, He ll en ic and Byzantin e sil ver and has fi led a compl aint with Swedish police copper coin s, a bronze li on-head latch, and asked th e Swedish Fo re ign Mini stry a bronze mace, and tobacco pipes) were

18 found in the luggage of a female occupant of th ousands of dollars, had been stolen from of a car driven by a British national, the National Museum of Sudan in November when it was searched by customs at Maiko 2003, but the theft was kept quiet to allow Tanovo checkpoint. undercover in vesti gations. When the thieves found they were unable to get the haul out of th e country, th ey tried to sell to purchasers planted by th e Economi c Security Branch, Improved situation at Angkor were caught and the artefacts found (see Sudan Wat ,) Times, 18 August 2004).

The famous temple complex of Angkor Wat, Cambodia, has been taken off UNESCO's World Heritage danger list Security measures in Hawaii after 12 years. UNESCO said that the last decade has seen many of Angkor's seri ous Allgllst: Following reports th at Hawaiian problems solved, thanks to international burial artefacts from the Kanupa Cave had co-operation (including in vestments of been smuggled for sale on the Big Island, and $50 million), e fforts by th e Cambodi an the day after Nati ve Ha waiian organi zati ons government (who have set up a special­ ann ounced th at evidence had been found of a ized heritage protection police division, break-in at the cave, the entrance was sealed in ventoried cultural goods and organized as a security measure. State authorities said campaigns against th e sale of stolcn ob­ they would be helping Federal in vesti gations jects) and UN ES CO 's own in volvemcnt. into th e break-in and th e ft (Th e /-/ono/II/II Advertiser, 27 August 2004).

New Zealand to sign 1970 UNESCO convention Australian museum theft

J II /Y: The New Zealand government an­ Fi ve Roman artefacts , wo rth a ro und nounced its intention to sign the 1970 Au$300,000, were stolen from the Austral­ UNESCO C onvention and the 1995 UN 1- ian National University in December'. The DROIT Convention. The tw o conve nti ons the ft was di scovered by a cleaner in the early w ill be subj ect to a Parli amentary treaty hours of the morning; it is believed th e thi ef examination process and referred to a Select entered the museum before closin g time and Committee whi ch w ill make recommenda­ hid overni ght before leaving through a fi re ti ons to the government. door. The obj ects were: a bro nze bust be li eved to depict Li via, wife of, or Octavia, sister of Em peror Augustus; a gold and carne li an rino . ~ wrth engraved portrai t head, a gold necklace; Sudanese recovery operation gold earrings and a vase wi th twisted handles depic tin g an erotic male/female scene. The In August 54 artefacts (including 19 ancient common female theme of the items had led Nubi an statuettes, a Meroe dynasty fun erary in vesti gators to suspect that the thief may have statue, a prehi storic, ossifi ed skull and many been working for a collector who ordered a specific assemblage. small neckl aces, sculptures and ra zors) were recovered and four people detained by Su­ danese militia. The objects, worth hundreds

t 9 Briton released from Turkish UK conviction prison December: Nighthawk Richard Tebble, from Paul Cleasby a busin essma n fro m Cumbri a, So uth Shi elds, was sentenced to one month UK was released from jail on ba il of £3 440 in priso n and to have hi s £8 00 meta l detec­ by a judge in An talya on condition tha t he tor confi scated (pendi ng appeal) after bei ng return ed fo r tria l on 28 February 2005 . He ca ught at night with the detector and a spade was arrested returnin g home fro m holi day in on an im porta nt Roman/Iron Age site nea r October when customs police found a 15 kg Market Harborough. pink marble antiquity in his suitcase whi ch he says he bought from a street ve ndor.

Sources Eurasiall cl.org Newday.col11 Exp!orator Newkerala.com Aljazeera Far/ulIlg-e-lIalll newsobserver.com Th e An Newspaper Th e Guardiall Novinite.colll/Sofi a News Agell cy II r /llz Sheva Herald SIIII Radi o Free Asia Associated Press Honolulu Adverl;ser Reute rs Th e Aus/ralian H OIISIOII Chronicle The Scotsmall BBC News ' -/lIl11al1il ies Sudan Tribune Billings Gazelfe !/ldia News The Tillles Bimch.co l11 indianz.col11 Tucsoll Citize fl Boslon.com Imenwliol1all1erald Tribune 24hourmliseul11 .o rg. uk Canoe Ireland on-line tvnz.cO. Il Z China View Jerusalem Post United Nations CI-I N Iran News Service Jordan Tillles UI/Ued Press IlIIeJ'l1atiol1al Cultural Propclty Prot ection Network K 0 1II i lIIe J'i ll i University o r Newcastle Corle= ./ollrllal K.F VS Washingtoll Post Th e Daily Telegraph Las Vegas 51111 Washing /on Times Dai~ )' Tilll es, Pakistan National Geographic Neil's Xinhua Deserctnc ws.com National Parks Service Yemell Tillles Egypt State In fo rmation Se rvice (U S Depart ment or the Int eri or)

The prison sentences were the cul mi nation or The fall of Robin Symes a set of circumstances that bega n in Italy in the summer of 1999. At a dinn er, at a re nted vill a in PETER W ATSON Umbri a, hosted by (the late) Mr Leon Levy, a noted American co llector of antiqui ties, and his wife r Robin Symes, London's best- known and Shelby Whi te, Mr Symes's partner, Mr Chri sto M most success ful dea ler in antiqu ities, was Michaelides, fell down some steps, hi t hi s head sent to priso n fo r two yea rs at the High Co urt in on a radiator, and died in hos pi tal the nex t da y. the Strand on 21 January 2005. He was jailed Ini ti ally, during the period of intense gri ef that on two counts, one for 15 months, the other fo r foll owed the tragedy, there was no dispute between 9 months. Both we re for contempt of co urt. A Mr Sy mes and Mr Michae li des's Greek famil y. third charge, fo r yet ano th er contempt, still hangs Mr Symes and Mr Michaelides had lived together over Mr Symes. He was given a one-year priso n since the earl y 1970s. They had a hou se in Lon­ sentence, suspended, in th e summer of 2004 an d don, fl ats in New Yo rk and Athens, and shared a the judge, Mr Ju stice Peter Smi th, refused to li ft property on the Greek island of Schinoussa. About the suspension. Thi s means that, unless Mr Symes a year a ft er th e accident, howeve r, the Greek fa m­ complies with certa in undertak ings he has give n il y of Mr Michaelides as kcd for hi s affairs to be to the court, whil e he is in pri son, he coul d serve settl ed. They took the view that Mr Symes and a fu rthe r yea r after his current sentences expire. Mr Michaelides were business partners, that they 20 (the latter's Greek family) had inherited his share He later explained this discrepancy by arguing of the business, and they wanted to sell their 50 that he, in fact, owned only a third of the statue, per cent. They were shipowners, they said, and that the other two-thirds was owned by two col­ they knew nothing about antiquities. Mr Symes, leagues, antiquities dealers in Switzerland, Mr however, took the view that Mr Michaelides had Jean-Louis Domercq and Mrs Frieda Nussberger­ only been an employee of the company that traded Chakos. antiquities, called Robin Symes Limited, and that Still sceptical of this version of events, Mr Jus­ therefore he, Symes, was the lawful owner of the tice Peter Smith ordered a trial to ascertain the true whole business. ownership of the Granodiorite statue. Although Legal action followed. The Greeks took action Mr Domercq and Mrs Nussberger-Chakos were in London, and succeeded in having Mr Symes's joint defendants in this action, neither appeared assets frozen, so that he could only trade with the in court to defend themselves, though a Swiss court's permission and knowledge. Mr Symes lawyer representing both did appear. The court took action in Athens, claiming harassment, an found against the defendants, and concluded that action he subsequently withdrew. Mr Symes owned the statue in its entirety. He was The London court eventually decided that Mr adjudged to have misled the court, to have broken Symes and Mr Michaelides were business part­ the conditions of the 'interlocutary regime', which ners, and that therefore the latter's Greek relatives forbade him to trade without the knowledge or were entitled to 50 per cent of the business assets. the permission of the court and, in July of 2004, In the course of these proceedings, however, Mr given a one-year suspended sentence. Symes, who was then living in Geneva, had his The original action continued. The Greek rela­ passport impounded, to prevent him leaving the tives ofMr Michaelides were still not convinced jurisdiction of the court. One of the effects of that Mr Symes had disclosed all the assets of the this was to limit the funds at his disposal. Sub­ business that the two partners had owned. In the sequently, he was unable to pay his solicitors (he course of further researches, they found that, ap­ had employed several) and, because of this, he parently, Mr Symes had lied to the court about was made bankrupt. two further sets of objects. One was a set of art So far, this case had been a civil case. However, deco furniture, by the designer Eileen Gray, and during the course ofthe (interlocutory) hearings, it the other was a statue of Akhenaten. The Eileen had transpired that Mr Symes, who had originally Gray furniture, Mr Symes said, had been sold to a admitted to storing his assets (mainly antiquities) Parisian dealer for $4 million. Lane and Partners in five warehouses, in fact had twenty-nine ware­ eventually traced this sale, and found that Mr houses spread across London, Switzerland and Symes had actually sold it for $14 million, with New York. Becoming sceptical of Mr Symes's most of the money lodged in a bank in Gibraltar. openness in disclosing his assets, the lawyers The statue ofAkhenaten, which Mr Symes said he for the Greek family, Messrs Lane and Partners, had sold for $3.6 million, had in fact been sold for began to examine some of Mr Symes's transac­ nearer $8 million, again to Sheikh Al-Tani, with tions closely. Mr Symes was followed, and the the money lodged in a bank in Liechtenstein. paperwork for his transactions double-checked. While Lane and Partners had been pursu­ During this scrutiny it emerged that Mr Symes ing these investigations, Mr Symes had tried to had sold, or said that he had sold, a Granodior­ forestall court proceedings by claiming, in the ite Egyptian statue of Apollo to a company in autumn of 2004, that he was mentally incapable America, Philos Partners, of Cheyenne, Wyo­ of instructing solicitors, and therefore of standing ming. When Lane and Partners examined this trial. This action failed and Mr Symes was or­ transaction, it turned out that Philos was a ficti­ dered to appear in court again in January 2005. tious company, and that the address Mr Symes Until Christmas he had been living at an inn, in had said he sent the statue to did not exist. It later a small village near Basingstoke, but just before transpired that the statue had in fact been sold to Christmas he moved into the Savoy Hotel in Lon­ Sheikh Al-Tani in the Arabian Gulf. Moreover, don. Though bankrupt, Mr Symes has a number of it had been sold for $4.5 million rather than the friends who still support him financially. When he $1.6 million that Symes said it had been sold for. appeared in court, however, he claimed he could 21 not afford to pay for lawyers, and asked fo r a de­ and repeated 'a false story'. lay to ap pl y for legal aid. Though the j udge was The judge flllther sa id that he was not impressed unwi lling to do this, a short delay \\las all owed, by Mr Symes 's attempts to suggest that he was during wh ich time Mr Symes was twicc refu sed confused and muddled by what was go ing on in legal aid. court. 'The admitted contempts show calcul ated, In these ci rcumstances, Mr Symes, unrepre­ cy ni ca l and we ll understood acts of deception.' sented, prod uccd a witness statement to the co url , A nd he concluded: in whi ch he claimed th at the Greek case against ivlr Symes mu st app reciate that he will not be him was fab ri cated. He did not, however, in th e ab le. if it is hi s beli ef, simpl y to do hi s lime, ge t hi s pa ss port back and lcave lilcjuri scii cli on. There opinion of th e judge, produce any ev idence to rema in s a large number of outstand ing questions support hi s claim s. Elsewhere in th e witn ess to be answered. Unt il those questi ons Hrc.' answered statement, moreover, he admitted th at he had and dealt with in a meaningful way the poss ibility lied in court, in relati on to both the Ei leen Gray or him obtai ning hi s pass port back to enab le him to furniture and the statue of Akhenaten. leave the jurisdiction is remote ... I perceive [that it is] a long and necessary road th at NIl' Symes still Thejudge took a very severe view of these (now has to go down before thi s lit igation wi ll co me to admitted) lies to the court, wh ich in volved several an end. million pounds. In hi s judgement, Mr Justice Petcr The fall of Robin Symes, rapid and complete Smith concluded that Mr Symes had committed 'a th ough it has been, may not be over even ye t. serious and cynical contempt of court', designed ' to conceal that he had de liberately taken the pro­ PETER W ATSON ceeds [and] used them for hi s own purposes' . He McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research sa id Mr Symes ' has to ld numerous li es on oath' Cambridge

Endangered archaeology remov ing obj ects as so uve nirs. Thus far, most of of the Kharga Oasis, the area has been preliminarily doc umented and a fi nal season of wo rk is pl ann ed in 2005. One Egypt of the most spectacul ar sites that the project has documented is the si te of Um m el Dabadib, a S ALI MA IKRAM site 70 km in side the deep desert, consistin g of a fOri , settl ements, cemeteri es, industria l areas and he North Kharga Oas is Survey (Ame ri can und erground aq ueducts (qc/Ila/s). T Un ive rsity in Ca iro/University of Cam­ During a site visit in November 2004 to the bridge), directed by Sa lim a Ikram and Co rinna se tt lement ofUmm el Dabadib, one of the project Ross i, has been locatin g, mapping and planning arc haeologica l sites in the northern part of Kharga Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert sin ce 200 I. This entire area, measuri ng so me 400 or so sq uare kilometres, is largely undocumented and contai ns several standi ng remain s of the Roman period (fourth to fifth centuri es AD), incl ud in g fo rts, temples, settlement sites and tombs, in add iti on to prehi s­ toric and Pharao ni c rem ains. One of the rcasons for this survey is that th ese sites have becn subj ect to van- dali sm and attack by ant iquities thi eves, robbers in search of go ld, and tourists - Tile temple at Umm el Dabadib as it was in February 2004 .

22 directors discovered that a front-loader had been at work , and virtually de­ stroyed the c. second/third century AD multi-phased mud-brick temple that had stood about 13 m high. The temple had been plastered and painted wi th vari ous motifs, incl ud ing vi nes, Egyptian gods and hieroglyphic inscriptions. Only one wa ll now remains standing, with th e remainder being scraped away to below foundation level in the looter's quest for buri ed treasure. A further investigation carri ed out by both directors revealed that the damage had not been limited ... and tile destruction discovered in November 2004. to the temple. A two-storey mud-brick watchtower had been reduced to rubble, while quest fue ll ed the 2004 attack. The site is deep in part of the fortified settl ement that bordered the the desert and difficult to patrol with any regu­ fort, chunks of the eastern settlement, and several larity without access to 4x4 vehicles, and thus is tombs in Cemetery F had a ll been attacked by a more easi Iy prey to vandalism. loader. The two sett lements that were va ndalized Zahi Hawass, Director General of Antiquities, consisted of large mud-brick rooms, roofed by is hoping to improve the situation in the oasis by vaults, with, in th e case ofthe eastern settl ement, providing additional guards with motorcycles industri al areas on the roof. The tombs that were in order to protect this and other sites that are destroyed had been partially dug into the desert similarly in danger. It is hoped that this wil l also tajla with vaulted mud-brick structures con­ discourage antiquities' thieves, as well as un­ structed over these foundations. Several pottery scrupulous tourists who il legally collect artefacts vessels, painted and plain , as well as fragments from the more remote desert sites in Egypt. of mummies and skeletons were found littering the area. SALIMA IKRAM The site had earlier been vandali zed in 1995, Associate Professor when parts of the church were bulldozed by Department of Egyptology-SAPE 218 Ameri can University in Cairo thi eves in search of buried treasure that they Cairo thought lay under the altar. Presum ably a similar Egypt

In September 2004 the [ARC was awarded the European As­ sociation of Archaeologists Archaeological Heritage Prize at their tenth annual meeting in Lyon, France. The award recognizes the IARC's ' internationally unique' contribution to European and world heritage protection. Instituted by the European Association of Archaeologists in 1999, this prize is awarded annual ly for an 'outstanding contribution to the protection and presentation of the European archaeological heritage'. The IARC has helped achieve a major change of British public policy in this area, hi ghli ghted by ratification after 30 years of the 1970 UNESCO Conve nti on on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illi cit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

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