Culture Without

The Newsletter of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre

Issue 5, Autumn 1999

Illicit Antiquities Research Centre 2

Editorial NEIL BRODIE 3

Euphronios kylix update PETER WATSON 4

In the News JENNY DOOLE 5 The concept of due diligence and the antiquities trade NEIL BRODIE 12

A symposium - 'Illicit Antiquities: the Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage', 22-25 October 1999, Cambridge NEIL BRODIE & PETER WATSON 16 Stealing history JENNY DOOLE 25

Conference report CHRIS SCARRE 26 IARC staff and contact details 27

@ The Illicit Antiquities Research Centre is a project of the Mc Donald 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 for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, England, and it cOl1U11enced operations in October 1997. Its purpose is to monitor and report upon the damage caused to cultural heritage by the interna­ tional trade in illicit antiquities (i.e. antiquities which have been stolen or clandestinely excavated and illegally exported). The enormous increase in the vol­ ume of this 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 h'ade and seek appropriate national and international legislation, codes of conduct and other conventions to place restraint upon it.

Culture Without Context is published twice yearly. The next issue will appear in sp ring 2000. Subscription details are available from: Jen ny Doole IARC McDonald Inst itute for Archaeological Research Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER UK e-mail: [email protected]

2 Editorial recorded provenance? Is it the considered opinion of an expelt? If such evidence is not forthcoming then the piece should be avoided. Indeed, in a re­ t was a privilege for the 1I1icit Antiquities Re­ cent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review Hershel I search Centre to host over the weekend 22-25 Shanks, not an extreme anti-trade figure by any­ October a symposium entitled: JIIicit Antiquities: body's reckoning, warned potential collectors to stay the Destruction of the World s Archaeological out ofthe antiquities market altogether unless they Heritage. Over fifty archaeologists, police offic­ were willing to risk acquiring a forgery. ers, government ministers and lawyers gathered to discuss papers on the looting of archaeologi­ 9 An Italian request for import restrictions cal sites, the size of the market, the culpability of ~ to be placed on archaeological material museums and the legal problems that face claims dating from the fifth millennium BC to the fifth for restitution. The symposium adopted a resolu­ century BC was discussed in October at a meet­ tion calling for an end to the collection and trade ing of the US State Department's Cultural of illicit antiquities and aImounced the formation Property Advisory Committee (CPAC). The hear­ ofa Committee to work towards the establishment ing was a lively one by all accounts as dealers ofan International Standing Conference on the Traf­ and archaeologists presented their respective fic in IIIicitAntiquities (ISCOTlA) whose members cases. But the hysteria which surrounded the event will be drawn from governmental, non-govern­ is hard to understand if the arguments of the trade mental and professional organizations worldwide. are to believed. If, as they maintain, nothing is A full report begins on page 16. now being smuggled out ofitaly, and newly sur­ facing objects come from legitimate collections 9 'Innocent until proven guilty' is a princi­ around the world, why were they worried? Why ~ pIe the trade is quite happy with when the did they even bother to turn up and argue? Im­ provenance of a piece is in question, but far less port restrictions after all would only apply to so when it is its authenticity. There are good material moved out of Italy after the date of any financial reasons for this. A piece without prov­ agreement. Perhaps, after all, there is some smug­ enance may be worth less than one with, but an gling going on. And perhaps the dealers know it. inauthentic piece - let us call it a fake - is in­ Meanwhile New York Senators Daniel deed worthless. But despite the best efforts of the Patrick Moynihan and Charles Schumer have pro­ trade fakes still continue to turn up. Our atten­ posed an amendment to the 1983 UN ESCO tion is captured by high profile cases such as the implementing legislation with the aim, they say, 'Getty Kouros', an Archaic Greek statue which of making the CPAC more public. It is a shame may (or may not) be authentic, but more worry­ that their desire to see an open society does not ing perhaps is the entry onto the market of large reach as far as the trade. It is, after all, the con­ numbers of smaller pieces. Last year in the New tinuing refusal ofthe trade to carryon its business Yorker for instance Alexander Stille told of a in public which is the cause of all the problems small factory near the city of Xi' an, burial place in the first place. of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang (with his famous telTacotta allllY), where workers quite le­ 9 Still, within a couple of years it will, hope­ gitimately turn out replicas of the ceramic soldiers, ~ fully, be possible to read about British hear­ complete with signs of wear and added mud to ings in the editorial columns of Culture Without make them look freshly excavated. When Chi­ Context. [n October Parliament announced its in­ nese archaeologists visited the United Kingdom tention to hold an inquiry into, amongst other recently to reclaim 3700 pieces of stolen archaeo­ things, the advantages, disadvantages, require­ logical material they rejected nearly 500 as fake. ments and consequences of United Kingdom rati­ When a dealer guarantees the authenticity of fication of the 1995 Unidroit Convention on a piece the customer should ask for the evidence Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and upon which the guarantee is based to be produced. the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Is it a thermoluminescence date? Is it a properly Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import,

3 Expo rt, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Committee, Committee Office, House of Com­ Property. Those who wish to draw attenti on to mons, 7 Mil lbank , London SW I P 3JA. matters relevant to the inqu iry should write to Co lin Lee, Clerk of th e Culture, Medi a and Sport NEIL B ROD IE

Euphronios kylix update

PETER W ATSON

ragments of an Attic Greek red-figured F terracotta drinking cup, or ky li x, produced by the Ii ft h-ce ntury DC potter Euphron ios, we re returned in .I anualY 1999 by the.l. Paul Getty Mu­ sellin in Los Angeles to the government of Ital y. Thi s followed revelat ions in Rome that three other fragm ents from the sa me kylix had been di scov­ ered by the carab ini eri's art squad in th e The Euphronios kylix. possession of Giacomo Medici. Mr Med ici is currently awa iting trial in Italy set at 10 bill ion lire, or close to $5 milli on. Mari on on charges of smuggling antiq uiti es out of the True, curator of antiquities at th e J. Paul Getty country. He was the subject ofa Channel 4 docu­ Museum , would not di vulge the name of the Eu­ mentary in 1997, which showed that many of the ropea n dealer from whom the mu seum acqui red unprove nanced antiquities whi ch passed through the fragments, or th e price paid. Th e kyli x wa s hi s hand s were subsequently so ld at Soth eby 's returned vo luntar il y, following the mu se um 's new auction house in London. ( 1995) acq ui sitions poli cy for co ll ecting antiqui­ The Euphronios kylix, which dates from ties, which ca ll s for ' prompt return of objects to c. 490 Be, was painted by Onesim os and shows thei r country of ori gin should information come scenes of the Trojan war, featuring Hel en and to light that convin ces us that thi s is the appro­ Menelaus, fi gures of duell ers, and Apo ll o and Ajax. priate action to take ' . In exchange for the carabinieri agreei ng to The carabinieri's aim in publicizing this case drop charges (in thi s one case) against Mr Medici, is two-fold. First, they wish to 'burn ' the name of he has agreed to cooperate fu ll y in their inquiries. Giacomo Medici in the antiquities trade, to publi­ These have shown that the lirst [·j·agment of cize as widely as possible hi s involvement in illi cit thi s vase came to light in the 1960s, in the posses­ antiquities so that no one can be in any doubt that sion of Dietrich von Bothmer of the Metropolitan objects once in hi s possession are suspec t. Museum in New York . He passed it to the J. Paul Second , the Itali an police are se nding out Getty Museum. Other fragments were acquired by signals to other owners of fragm ents of the kyl ix. the Getty beginning in 1982, after which the ky li x They have made it plai n that, in return for not was publi shed in an article by Geoffrey Williams. be ing prosec uted in thi s one case, Mr Med ici has The carabinieri believe that the bulk of the revealed to them who else owns the remaining vase wa s ill ega ll y excavated 'about twenty yea rs mi ss ing rragments. We may take it therefore that ago' from Ce rveteri , an Etru sca n site near Rome. the carabinieri are using official diplomatic and Apa rt from the fragments housed in the Getty law enforce ment channels to recover th ese other Museum , other fragmen ts were ill ega ll y ex ported fragm ent s. Thi s story is not yet over. to Sw it ze rl and in May 199 1 and photograph s of these fragments were offered on the Pari s market. P ETER W ATSON The value of the three fragment s returned McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Downing Street by the Ge tty has been put at $5 00,000 by the Cambridge carabinieri , wi th the va lue of the compl ete ky li x CB23ER 4 In the News Museum Matters

JENNY DOOLE Eth ical problellls/or museums once aga in feature in th e lIews: Greek Discoveries • The major museum exhibition, The Maya, • A wreath of 138 golden olive leaves, dating has transferred from Venice's Palazzo Grassi from the Helleni stic peri od and stolen in June to Mexico without some of its exhibits. The from HalkidaArchaeological Museum, on artefacts, ori g in all y removed illegally from the island of Evia, Greece, has reportedl y Mexico, were reportedl y withdrawn by Eu­ been found in hidden in a garden shed. Po­ ro pean museum curators who beli eved that li ce questioned an unemployed man who had the Mexican government mi ght impound allegedl y made arrangements to sell th e them in Mexico. According to Dolo res wreath. There had been no sign of a break­ Beistegui , director of the San IIdefonso mu­ in at the museum and other obj ects in the seum, 'Bringing them here would seem to same display case were untouched. be asking for trouble'. Th e Maya al so in­ cludes some stolen pi eces whi ch have been 271 artefacts, stolen nine years ago from recovered by the Mexican government. the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth, were recovered by the FB I from 316 NativeAmerican artefacts recently do­ 12 fi sh crates in a Miami storage depot in nated to the Nevada State Museum in Carson Septembe r. Athens Po lice C hi e f Pavlos Cit y, by the moth er of coll ector Stephan Roubis said in vesti gators had acted on a tip­ Mueller (now deceased), were apparently re­ off. No arrests have been made although a moved ill egall y from public lands in remote spokesman for the Greek Embassy in Wa sh­ areas of Utah and Nevada. The collecti on ington indicated that Greek police know who contains tools, seed bags and moccasin s with was responsibl e and are preparing a case. an estimated value of more than $ 10,000. During the raid, ea rl y in the morning of Offi cials say Muell er's moth er has now va n­ 12 April 1990, four robbers overcame an un­ ished. The material will re main at the armed guard. The obj ects - in c luding museum for the time being. pieces such as a fi fth-century Be marbl e head of a Kouros, a small marble statue of Pan, 13 Hell eni sti c and Roman marble heads, as Italy: Stolen Columns, Souvenirs well as 164 varied ceramic vessels - were & Etruscan Tombs recovered in good condition and were taken to FBI offi ces in New York as evidence. A A 3-ft high, 265 Ib pink marble column was skyphos fro m the haul had appeared for sale stolen in September from th e Nympheum, in an intern ational catalogue in 1997. Three of Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli near Rome. Thieves items are still mi ssing: a marbl e bust of.Julius are believed to have scal ed a 5-ft-high fence Caesar, and carved marble heads of Eros and and loaded the column onto a truck. Super­ Serapis. intendent of Archaeology, Anna Maria Reg­ giani regretted the timing and symbolism of the theft, which foll owed the £ I° mi Ilion res­ torati on of th e ruins.

General Roberto Conforti, head of the Cara­ bini eri Anti-ArtTheft Squad sa id that columns have also di sappeared from the Appian Way.

5 • Three German tourists were arrested in ca l sites in the country have been recovered Siena, given six-month suspended sentences by the government during the past year, seized and fi ned £ 150 each fo r taking bricks by the federal attorney general's office or re­ stamped with heraldic emblems from a Ren­ turned via Mexican consul ates and embassies aissance palazzo undergoing restorati on. abroad. She commented that nearl y all such General Conforti commented that tourists looting occurs in non-tourist areas. unabl e to resist taking a 'souvenir' often cause as much damage to sites and monu­ It is repOit ed that 90 per cent of objects con­ ments as professional th ieves, saying that fi scated in the international airport at Lima, Italy's penalties for such thefts constitute an Peru are souveni r replicas while many genu­ in sufficient deterrent. ine artefacts are thought to slip through.

/', A./' 'VV" A v V'v"v V The Guardia di Finanza (I talian tax poli ce) have announced the discovery of a large Underwater Treasure Hunting ninth- to fourth-century DC Etruscan ne­ cropolis at Cerveteri, west of Rome. Ar­ Spain has won her first victory in the war chaeologist Mari a Antonietta Ri zzo descri bed against treasure hunters. In July a US CO Ult the di scovery as 'a great victory in the fi ght ruled that two frigates, the Juno and La against th e illicit trade of Etruscan works' Ga /ga, shipwrecked off Vi rg ini a in 1802 be­ whi ch are in ever-increasing demand by col­ long to Spain and not to the professional lectors. For the first time archaeologists will treasure hunter who found them. be able to apply modern archaeological tech­ The Spani sh government has outlawed niques to study some 280 unlooted tombs, commercial salvage in its own waters and containing thousands of artefacts including clai ms a ll wrecked Spani sh shi ps as state funerary vases,jewellery, local and imported pro perty. A Spani sh foreign ministry spokes­ bronzework. The cemetery was found dur­ man said ' Any Spani sh gall eon fo und in ing an archaeological survey of the area car­ future will be reclaimed by the Spani sh au­ ri ed out because of concern about rampant thori ties' . looting. In recent years Spani sh museums have paid out vast sums of money to buy, or rent fo r display, antiquities fo und by private treas­ Statistics ure hunters. Experts say it woul d be cheaper fo r the Spani sh to mount their own salvage Abdellah Salih, of Morocco's M ini stry of operati ons, especiall y since treasure hunters' Cultural Affairs, estimates that 40 per cent main informati on resource for locating po­ of ancient rock engl'avings and 10 per cent tentia ll y va luable wrecks is Spain 's own of rock paintings in the region have been Archi ve of the Indies, in Seville. stolen or damaged by looters. Some countri es, li ke C uba and the Domini­ Itali an poli ce stati sti cs report a sha rp drop can Republic, have signed deals with com­ of almost 40 per cent in theft from archaeo­ mercial compani es w hi ch a ll ow them to logical sites in the last yea r. search their waters in return for a percentage of any treasure fo und. The Association fo r June: Teresa Franco y G onzalez, di rector the Salvage of Spani sh Gall eons whi ch sup­ of Mex ico's National Insti tute of Anthro pol­ plied some of the legal research used in the ogy and Hi story, announced that more than US court case be li eves th at legal acti ons are 10,000 artefacts looted fro m archaeologi- unlike ly to be effecti ve in these cases.

6 Cambodian Update & Thai fakes, which were being kept underwater to Crackdown 'age' them .

The lootillg crisis ill Call1bodia COl1lillll eS to • Sho rtly afterwards Thai customs agents .!ealllre.!i·eqllelltly illllews reports, along with seized 29 wooden crates containing 43 increasillg evidence ofa Thai crackdowlI on Cambodian antiquities including Buddhist slllllgglillg. Many reports highlight the link and Hindu sculptures, weighing several tons betweell stolell andfaked antiquities: and estimated to be worth millions of dol­ lars. Although usuall y such consignments are SO l' Vathana, researcher wi th the Cambodian smuggled over land, these are bel ieved to Government's Department of Antiquities have arri ved in Bangkok by sea fre ighter via high lighted the case ofa small Buddha head Singapore fro m the Cambodian port of recently hammered and chiseled out of a wall Sihnoukville. Three Thai men listed as re­ in the temple ofKroal Kor. She commented ceiving agents o n th e in vo ices, whi c h that usua ll y looting techniques are ' much described the shipments as polished sand­ more sophisti cated'. There is speculati on that stone, were arrested. looting has reached epidemi c proporti ons in recent months partl y because of the regional A crackdown on a ntiquities smugglers or­ economi c crisis. dered by Thai acting Ed ucation Minister Somsak Pri sall a-anantak ul resulted in the im­ Poli ce investi gators believe that about ten pounding by poli ce of II 0 artefacts be lieved freela nce ga ngs are now looting the 15- to have been smuggled from Cambodia af­ square-mile Angkor area. ter forced searches of antique shops in the Riverside Shopping Mall, Bangkok. If the • Two truck dri vers whose lorries were im­ items prove to be genui ne then legal action pounded at the Cambodi an/Thai border in will be taken, said a police spokesman. January carrying 117 pieces of sandstone re li efs looted from the Khmer temple of Acting minister Somsak sa id that Thailand Banteay C hmar (see ' In The News', Issue is in the process of dra fting tougher laws 4) are now injail. The loot has been returned against illicit antiquities dealers. to Cambodia by Thai authorities. vvvvvvvA A A vvvv

Ten people, including two police officers, 'Steinhardt Phiale' Decision are reported to have been alTested si nce late May in connection with looting at four an­ On 12 July, the Second Circuit Court of Ap­ cient temples in the Angkor complex. A peals in New York made its ruling in the case newspaper reported that the th ieves had re­ of U.S. v. An Antique Platter of Gold, otherc moved ten statue heads, a full statue a nd w ise known as 'the Ste inha rdt Phiale' , a bas-relief carving of an elephant. affirming that it should be forfeited as the Federal District Court had ordered 1'.\'o years

In July, Thai officials announced their bi o" - ago. The phiale, a fourth-century Be gold pl at­ gest ever recovery of ill icit antiquities - ter, was apparently illegally expol·ted from probably smuggled from Cambodia. They Caltavutoro, northern Sicil y, and imported into discovered 40 tons of stone cal'vings dat­ the US from Switzerland where it was pur­ ing back to the eighth century after dredging chased by antiquities coll ector Michael ponds in the old royal capital of Ay utthaya, Steinhardt fo r $1.2 million in 1992. It was seized north of Bllllgkoic Subsequent reports in­ by US Customs agents in 1995 in response to a dicate that the hoard probably consisted of request for assistance by the Republic of Ita ly.

7 The appeals court decreed that misrepresen­ anything for th e ri ght price. Their suspi cions tation of the country of origin (entered as had reportedl y been aroused earli er this year 'Switzerland ' rather than Italy) on its documen­ when £ 150,000 of antiques were stolen from tation misled customs officials and violated his shop, but no crime reported. PI A's securi ty customs regulations. The judgment avoided the manager and a customs clearing agent appar­ key question as to whether, given that in Italy entl y told poli ce th at Kh alil had bribed them to archaeological materi al is the pro perty of the ignore the consignments. State, the phiale counted as stolen property in the USA under the National Stolen Property Act. In a letter to the Art Newspaper in June More 'Just Returns' Robert Haber, the dealer who imported the phiale into the US stro ngly denied that he made Four ancient sculptures looted from Nepal any fa lse representation to the Customs Serv­ have been returned by a Los Angeles-based ice expl aining that a computer default on hi s art collector to the N ational Museum III broker's system caused the 'country of ori gin ' Kathmandu. They are: box to be completed with name of the country o a ninth-century Buddha image; from whi ch the item was being shipped: Swit­ o a tenth-ce ntury Garudasana Vishnu image; zerl and . The accompanyi ng invo ice, he argues, o the mutil ated head of a twelfth-century stated clearl y that the pl atter was 'classical' Sa rawati image; dating to 'c. 450 Be' and, as such, was clearl y o a fourteenth-century Surya im age. not Swiss. He did not address the issue of the Nepalese Department of Archaeology offi­ value discrepancy (reportedl y li sted on cus­ cials did not reveal how the pieces were toms documentati on as less than one quarter of recovered nor how they were smuggled out the sale price), whi ch had al so been highlighted. of the country. The court rej ected Steinhardt's' innocent Jlirgen Schi ck, author of The Gods are Leav­ owner' defense. ing the CountlY: Art Theft jiVI1I Nepal noted that this restitution was a ' histori c event'. I-Ie added that Nepal has experi enced less mt theft Seizures in Pakistan in the nineties, commenting 'I guess there is not much left to steal' . Many remaining statues Six gun-metal boxes containing stolen antiq­ in Nepal are now protected by iron bars ce­ uiti es were seized in May by Pakistani customs mented into the ground to deter looters. . authorities at an airstrip in Peshawar. Labell ed as ' handicrafts of no commercial va lue', but es­ • In Jul y Jordan handed over to Iraqi auth ori­ timated to be worth at least £20 million, they ties more than 1000 Mesopotami an antiqui­ included G andharan carvings, coins, metal ti es se ized during a smuggling crackdown. weaponry, tiles and gold jewellery probably Some were cuneiform tablets, statues, iu­ plundered fro m museums and excavati ons in cantation bowls and cylinder seals whi ch Afghani stan. an Iraqi archaeologist sa id ' fi ll ed gaps in our The boxes were bound for London, Frank­ knowledge of ancient languages and deeds furt and Dubai via Pakistanlnternational Airlines of Mesopotamian monarchs' . A three-foot­ (PI A). Two were addressed to Artworld Ship­ hi gh statue of a Sumerian monarch was ping of London, a fi'eight forwarding agency who also among the hoa rd, although it is im possi­ told The Sunday Times that they could find no bl e to te ll whi ch kin g is depi cted since the record of a consignment due on that date. looters chopped off hi s head. The crates were di scovered after poli ce in­ Jordania n officials said th e police had vestigated the activi ties of Peshawar dealer stopped a plane that was about to take off, Haji Khalil who had boasted that he could get but wo uld give no further details.

8 In August Jordanian officials renlrned to ga llery in Kathmandu wi th a Tibetan partner, Egypt 28 artefacts seized from thi eves at has good connections in the internati onal art the Red Sea port of Aqaba in April. The world and travell ed frequently to Hong Kong. smugglers remain in custody, but Egyptian Media coverage indicates thatTsering Tashi 's officials have hinted they were Egyptians arrest may be lin ked to an earl y morn ing raid with a history of art smuggling. on Yumbu Lagang palace in Lhoka prefecture, The pieces, estimated to be worth tens in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TA R) in Feb­ of millions of dollars, were looted from ruary, during whi ch three men apparently stole Egypti an archaeological sites in the spring. 37 cultural relics including a copper statue of They included the 66 Ib head of a statue of Tibetan deity Chenresig. Ancient statues and a the god Sera pis, six turquoise and brown set ofthangkas were stolen from Nalendra mon­ magic charms and 2 1 shawabtis. astery, Phenpo, TAR at around the same ti me.

New York lawyers Howard Spiegler and Lawrence Kaye, acting on behalf of th e Dino-Mania Guatemalan government, have once again secured the return of a stolen antiquity - II seems worlh menlioning Ihal pa/aeonl%gisls in thi s case a section hacked fro m a 1000- are jClcing a similar silualion 10 archaeologists 1 year old, 7 /2 ft , white wilh sites and specimens /ooled 10 Ieed Ih e stone stela carved in cO lllmercia/markel. the shape of a standing fi g ure. The carving, • One of Mongolia's top palaeontologists, whi c h depic ts a Pagmin Narmandakh has reported increas­ masked, bej ewe lled ing incidence oflooting of dinosaur skeletons human fi gure was of­ in the Gobi dese,·t, recognized as a cradle of fered fo r sa le by an dinosaur li fe . She says she doesn't know who anonymous American is buying th e skeletons, or how they make it collector who agreed out of the country, but the money trail a ll eg­ to return it to Guate­ edl y leads to China and Japan. ma la when its provenance (the site ofEI Peru in Peten) and In August the FBI recovered from Europe a histOlY were revealed. Spiegler would not dis­ T-rex jawbone whi ch had been stolen, in cuss how the coll ector had obtained the pi ece. 1994, from a laboratory drawer in the Mu­ G uatemalan Consul General Fabiola seum of Paleontology, University of Fuentes Orell ana patticularl y thanked archae­ California, Berkeley. ologist Ian G,·aham, who recogni zed the Mark Goodwin , princi pal scientist at the stolen piece and alelted US Customs, and the museum said that when the theft was di scov~ collector for their co-operation. She empha­ ered he was careful not to raise the alallll too sized that Guatemala will continue its tireless loudly for fea r that the thi eves would go to efforts to ensure that all antiquities ill egall y ground and the fossil di sappea r. From 1997 removed are found and ' brought home'. onwards he began to notice replicas obviously made from the distinctive original appearing in fossil catalogues and museums. FB I agents Arrest in Tibet working with local authorities tracked the fos­ sil markets in Germany and Belgium and Reports of the arrest of prominent T ibetan art located the fossil , but could provide no further dealer, Tse,·ing Tashi have appeared in offi­ details as the in vesti gation is still active. cial media in Lh asa. He owns an exlusive art

9 US Bi-Iateral Agreements Lebanon continues its work documenting the country's archaeologica l heritage (see ' In The On September 16, 1999, a cultural prop­ News', Issue 4) noting that at the ruins ofa Ro­ erty request was received from the man temple at AI-H usayn indications of illicit Government of the Republic of Italy. It excavation were still clearly evident. Although seeks U.S. import restrictions on catego­ broken column pieces were found, there was ri es of archaeological materi al in stone, no sign of a single column base or capital. metal, ceramic, bone, and glass, and wall A/V' A/'''A/'v''''vv'' paintings from the fifth millennium Be to the fifth century AD. The Cultural Property Ad­ Illicit Antiquities in Israel visory Committee met to review th e request on 12 and 13 October. It was vehemently Amir Ganor, chi ef of the theft prevention di­ opposed by dealers and Democrat senators vision of the IsraelAntiquitiesAuthority says Moynihan and Shu men (see Ed itorial). that arrests fo r antiquities thefts have more than quadrupled since 1996, when onl y four illegal December: In response to a request from the antiquities traders were arrested. He says that Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia dealers want to stock up on ancient knik-knaks under Article 9 of the 1970 UN ESCO Con­ to sell to the many tourists expected to make a vention, the US Government imposed an millennium pilgrimage to the country in future emergency import restriction on certain months. Authoriti es have been working to im­ Khmer stone archaeological material prove surveill ance usin g infrared and night­ ranging in date from sixth- sixteenth century vision binoculars, install ing alarms and increas­ AD. The Cultural Property Advisory Commit­ ing foot patrols. tee, which reviewed Cambod ia's request and In Israel it is legal for li censed dealers to recommended this action, fo und that the buy and sell antiquities. There are 70 licensed material is a part of the remains of the Khmer antiquities dealers in the country, but Ganor culture 'the record of whi ch is in jeopardy estimates th at 95 per cent of their merchan­ from pillage, dismantling, di spersal , or frag­ di se is stolen, alth ough he cannot prove it. mentation which is, or threatens to be, of Both Israe li and Palestinian authorities cri sis proportions' . The U.S. Department of acknowledge that antiquities theft has increased State press release notes that the Un ited in newly-Palestinian controlled areas. The States takes thi s action in the hope it wi ll fledgling Palestinian Antiquities Authority reduce the incenti ve for further pillage of the has promised to create an anti-theft division. cultural heritage of the people of Cambodi a.

AAAA v v v V'vv May: A local man was apprehended com­ pleting a £ 13,000 sale of300 antiquities ­ Theft in LA including 84 decorated oil lamps (Hellen­ istic to Islamic period), Egyptian scarabs, In Los Angeles, a coll ection of rare Roman amulets and other items - to a Jerusalem and Byzantine coins, worth an estimated shopkeeper. $ 1, 000 ,000 was stolen from a third floor apart- ment in a off-campus office and classroom used An unlicensed antiquities dealer was by Loyola Marymount university staff some­ caught in Jaffa in July, after a lengthy intel­ time between 25 and 27 June. li gence operation. I-Ie was offering for sale /' A/' /'0 /V' ./' v v Hellenisitic and Roman coins probably sto­ Looting in Lebanon len from sites in the Jerusa lem area. One was a rare bronze coin dating to the time of the The Directorate-General of Antiquities In Bar-Kokhba revolt. After pleading guilty

II! to unauthori zed commerce in antiquities the Local Hero man was freed on 5000 N ISba i I. Archaeology enthusiast Alex Pastrana set off an unexpected chain of events when he con­ Powers of Seizure fronted two men extracting antiquities from the ground near Blue Creek, a Maya site in north­ British Arts Minister Alan Howarth has empha­ e rn Be li ze . The me n had com e across a sized that H.M. Government will use its powers ProtocIassic (All 50-250) tomb in a earli er stor­ of seizure to prevent the illegal export of ar­ age pit and re fu sed to stop di gging when chaeologicalmaterial , foll owing an incident in Pastrana chall enged them. They all owed him which an American attempted to smuggle out to make notes and photograph in situ burial his metal detecting finds. The several hundred goods such as a jade necklace, bracelet and coins and metal items, found in Norfolk, are 28 pots, but outnumbered and with no author­ now owned by the Norfolk Museum Service. ity to sei ze the artefacts, Pastrana had no choice but to leave. The next day he awoke to find all the pots piled outside his front door, but the Australian Mufti following morning, alerted by rumours, gov­ ernment officials and police arrived to arrest The controversial Mufti, leader of Australi a's him. The authoriti es changed their tune when Moslem community who was arrested in Feb­ they saw Pastra na's drawings and numbered li sts. rumy for alleged in vol vement with a smuggling syndicate (see ' In The News', Issue 4) has told The Sydn ey Morning Herald that he was the Sources: target of a conspiracy by elements of the Egyp­ APB 91 1 News tian authorities who want to ruin hi s reputa ti on. Archaeology Th e Art Newspaper Although he claimed that a judge had cleared Associated Press him of any charges, the Austra li an Department The Bergen Record of Foreign Affairs said the ir understandi ng Biblical Arc/I(le%gy Review from the Egypti an authorities was that the case Cable NeHlS Netl\lork remained unresolved and the Mufti would face Challuel 4 News another court hea"ing in Egypt. Th e Christiall Science j\l/ollitor CllelVs eNN /JIler aclive The De/roil News Latin American Workshop Pa lly Gerslell blil/r Feillsleill Herrick A regional workshop entitled Fighting the Tn!!: Israeli All tiquities AIII"Ol"ily LA Tim es jic of Objects 0/ Cultural Heritage was held in Lebanese Daily Sial" Cuzco, Pel'U early in Octo ber. Representatives Clare Lyolls of govelllmentand private cultural institutes Ii'om " Messaggero Latin Ameri ca, and staff fi'om art and antiquities Th e lv/jam; Herald units of Interpol , the FBI and Scotland Yard, met Ivlusell lJl Seclirily Net Natiol1al Geographic JHaga:ille to explore options for preventing illicit trade. Th e Nell' Yorker Maria Isabel Gomez, M inistlY of Culture, Co­ Relllers lombia identified lax laws as a major problem, but Th e Salt Lake Tribl/n e once again the cl1lcial issue was seen to be educa­ Th e Sunday Tim es ti on and awareness. The conference agreed on the Th e Times need to create 31t registri es and train poli ce and cus­ toms agents, especiall y in recogni zing fakes. We are always pleased to receive "elevant press clippings and news items. " The concept of due kn ew that th e transaction was carri ed out in great haste; diligence and the • made no enquiry about the status of the frag­ antiquities trade ments to any Cypriot, cultural or commercial orga ni za ti on. Any or all of th ese circumstances should have NEIL BRODIE put her on her guard, and she could not in a ll honesty claim that she had not been aware of the n March 1999 the Counc il for the Prevention illi cit nature of her purchase. I of Art Theft (CoPAT) lI1troduced two codes of due diligence for use by art dealers and auc­ The 1995 Unidroit Convention tioneers. They were prepared in response to Arti cle 4(4) of the 1995 Unidroit Convention concerns mounting about the theft of art and other makes a similar set of recommendati ons for the cul tural material and its subsequent movement exercise of due diligence in transactions involv­ through the market. The high incidence of theft ing cultural material: and the circulation of stolen material erodes In cietennining wheth er the possessor exercised due public confidence and di scourages potential pur­ di ligence, regard shal1 be had to a ll the circlIm­ stances of th e acquisition, in cluding the character chasers, and it also generates financial ri sks. of the parties, th e price paid, whether the posses­ Di shonest dealers are few and far between but sor consulted any reasonably accessible register of even an honest dealer, or coll ector or museum , stolen cultural obj ects, and any other relevant in­ may lose money if caught inadvertentl y in pos­ formati on a nd doc ume nta ti o n whi c h it could reasonably have obtained, a nd whet he r th e posses­ session of stolen goods. Thus all sectors of the so r consu lt ed ac cessible agencies or look an y step art market stand to benefit from a reduction in lh at a reasonabl e person wou ld have tak en in th e criminal acti vity, and it is against thi s background circul1l stan ces. that the new CoPAT Codes should be considered. Lyndel Prott ( 1997,46) has di scussed Article 4(4) The concept of ' due diligence' has come in some detail. When considering the circum­ into focus over the past ten years fo ll owing the stances of the acquisition regard should be paid judgement in Indiana on the return of the Kana­ to the pl ace and time of transfer and the type of karia mosaic fragments to Cyprus and the dra fting packaging. Objects from areas known to have of the 1995 Unidroit Convention (where demon­ recentl y been heavil y looted must be treated as stration of due diligence at time of purchase is a suspect (e.g. Cambodia, Mali) and more ri gor­ necessary prerequisite of compensati on should a ous in vesti ga ti on of their original acq ui siti on is stolen object be reclaim ed). ca lled for, whil e the illicit orig in of some classes of antiquities can be presumed (Cycladic figu­ The Kanakaria mosaic decision rines, Apulian vases). Simple checks with registers In the 1989 Kanakari a case the Indiana Di stri ct or data bases of stol en art are not recogni zed by Court judge di smi ssed Peg Goldberg's claim of Prott as su fficient for cultural objects as, gener­ a good faith purchase on the grounds that she had all y, they are not li sted. She recommends instead not been adequately diligent at the time of pur­ that full use should be made of other resources chase (Gerstenblith 1995, 11 3). In parti cul ar, she: such as the dupl icate catalogue for th e Kabul knew that the mosaic fragments came from an Mu seulll held at Musee Guimet and that of the area under military occupation; Angkor Conservation Centre held at the Ecole knew that the fragments were unique objects fra nGai se de l'Extreme Orient. of a type that do not ordinarily enter commerce; knew that there was a great disparity between The 1999 CoPAT Codes the apparent va lue of the fragments and the The 1999 CoPAT Codes now set a standard of price paid; diligence whi ch, ifadhered to , is designed to pro­ knew very li tt le about the seller or the dealers tect honest dealers and auctioneers from the in volved, although she did know that one had activities of thieves and their accomplices, and a criminal record ; also to impede the free flow of stol en material

12 through the market. The dealers code recom­ seem at first sight to be largely irrelevant. Their mends that they should endeavour to: purpose is to combat straightforward theft and • Request a vendor to provide their name and they are designed accordingly. They are not in­ address and to sign a form identifying the item tended to solve problems caused by the illegal for sale and confirming that it is the unencum­ export, smuggling or cross-jurisdictional trans­ bered property of the vendor and they are acting of antiquities. Thus, for instance, as pointed authorized to sell it, and this form will be dated. out by Prott, material recovered during unre­ • Verify the identity and address of new vendors corded and illegal excavation will not appear on and record the details. any stolen property register and its absence is no • Be suspicious of any item whose asking price guarantee of its legality does not equate to its market value. • If there is reason to believe an item may be Money laundering stolen: It is interesting to note, however, that the CoPAT a) Attempt to retain the item while enquiries Codes draw attention to money-laundering regu­ are made. lations. This marks a significant departure from b) Contact the officer with responsibility for previous professional codes, and definitions of art and antiques within the local police force due diligence, and extends the concern of the area. CoPAT Codes to areas of international crime out­ c) Check with relevant stolen property regis­ side of straightforward theft and handling of ters. stolen goods. It is not surprising. According to d) Pass to the police any information which Scotland Yard the majority of art is stolen for the may help to identify the person(s) in pos­ purpose of laundering money, and art sales are session of such items. often components of the laundering process e) If still uncertain, refuse to buy, sell or value it. (Mayes 1996, 1; Ulph 1998, 343). • If requested, submit catalogues to the officer Antiquities dealers are at risk from the ac­ with responsibility for art and antiques within tivities of money launderers just as surely as they the local police force area. are from those of thieves, and dealers in un­ • Look critically at any instance when requested provenanced antiquities certainly have more to to pay in cash and avoid doing so unless there fear from recent legislation. Since the late 1980s, is a strong and reputable reason to the contrary. Parliament has approved a series of Acts aimed In the absence of such a reason, pay by cheque at discouraging crime by depriving criminals of or other method that provides an audit trail. its proceeds, and which have been co-ordinated • Be aware of money-laundering regulations. and given better focus by the Money Laundering • Appoint a senior member of staff to whom em­ Regulations of 1993 which passed into British ployees can report suspicious activities. law as the implementation of EU Directive 911 • Ensure that all staff are aware of their respon- 308/EEC of 10 June 1991. It is now recognized sibilities in respect of the above. that these new laws offer a better means of Previous codes of professional conduct have combatting art crime and, by extension, the il­ warned dealers to act with probity but the CoPAT licit trade in antiquities, than those contained in codes go further in describing a set of specific the 1968 Theft Act. Indeed, one senior police precautions. Their introduction was accompanied officer has gone so far as to describe these new by the appointment of an art and antiques liason laws as a 'godsend' (Hill 1996, 288). officer in each of the United Kingdom's 47 police forces in a move to maximize their effec­ Suspicion or belief? tiveness. Under the Theft Act a dealer can be found guilty of handling stolen goods provided that it can be The archaeological point of view established that he or she had reasonable cause From the point of view of the archaeologist con­ to believe that they were stolen. Mere suspicion cerned about the destruction of archaeological oftheft is not strong enough for a successful con­ sites around the world, the CoPAT Codes may viction. But now, under the 1988 Criminal Justice

/3 Act and the 1994 Drug Trafficking Act, it seems ostensibly designed to tackle the problems caused that a dealer or auctioneer acting as an interme­ to the art market by theft, the threats posed by diary to arrange a transaction can be convicted launderers were also given some thought. As a of assisting another person to retain the proceeds result, the Codes are at some points similar to of a crime, if there is good reason to suspect that the money-laundering regulations (Snaith 1999), one of the parties to the transaction has engaged but there are also some significant omissions. in or benefited from a criminal action (Snaith An audit trail is a central defence against 1998, 381). Legal commentators have not been laundering as it records the movement of money slow to point out that suspicion implies a more through the market. The CoPAT Codes require uncertain state of knowledge than belief (ibid., the identification and verification of vendors, and 381). emphasize the need to create an audit trail by Yet it remains the case that the majority of payment by cheque, but there is no similar re­ antiquities on the market are without a full and quirement to record and verify the identity of a properly documented provenance, and if the purchaser, so that any trail is lost at point of pur­ method of their original acquisition is unknown chase. Dealers are also warned to be suspicious then it must be suspect. The appearance on the of asking prices which seem to depart from the market of a previously unreported Apulian vase, apparent value of an object. But there are other for instance, must immediately arouse the suspi­ circumstances which might provide grounds for cion that it has been recently looted or smuggled. suspicion, including payment by cash for high And how could any reasonable person fail to re­ value objects and the unusual transfer of funds alize that the flood of unprovenanced material across jurisdictions, or from off-shore financial now pouring through the market from the major centres. The circumstances discussed by Prott in drug producing areas of central and southeastern relation to Article 4(4) of the Unidroit Conven­ Asia and Latin America is anything other than tion are also relevant, but not highlighted in either suspect? Direct links between drugs trafficking of the codes. and antiquities smuggling in Central America for instance have been reported on more than one Provenance occasion. In Belize and Guatemala jungle airstrips But although there are many circumstances that are used by criminals to smuggle out drugs and may arouse suspicion, none do more than the antiquities (Yemma 1997; Dorfman 1998; absence of a properly documented provenance. Varadarajan 1998) while at the receiving end a Yet members of the antiquities trade continue to smuggler's plane arriving in Colorado from emphasize their policy of 'innocent until proven Mexico was found to contain 350 lb ofmarijuana guilty' when considering the source of an acqui­ and many thousands of dollars-worth of Pre­ sition, arguing that it is not their job to carry out Columbian antiquities. exhaustive enquiries into an object's provenance. There is also evidence to suggest that an­ But in consequence, time and again, auction tiquities are being used to launder money. In houses at least have been caught offering stolen September 1999, 271 artefacts which had been material. In future their claim that there was no stolen from the Corinth Museum in 1990 were reason to believe that the material was stolen will recovered in a warehouse in Miami stored in be no defence. They have every reason now to twelve fish crates (Lynch 1999; also see 'In the suspect that unprovenanced material may well News'). Yet in Miami where, over the past ten be stolen or otherwise connected with a criminal years, there have been several seizures of stolen activity. The CoPAT Codes would have done well or looted archaeological material (from Greece, to point out that at points of purchase the princi­ Ireland, Peru and Guatemala), US Customs have ple of 'innocent until proven guilty', whatever discounted the presence of an organized 'antiq­ its ethical basis, begins to look increasingly naIve uities smuggling racket' and blamed instead the in the international arena of late twentieth-cen­ large quantities of 'dirty' money present in south tury crime. Florida (Tasker 1999). To protect themselves any dealer purchas­ Although the new CoPAT Codes were ing unprovenanced material should ensure that it

14 is accompanied by proper documentation, includ­ When launching the CoPAT Codes the ing export certification, from the country of \-lome Office Minister Paul Boateng looked for­ origin. An export li cence from an intermediary ward to 'a straight and uncorrupted market',' and country is of no value whatsoever in this con­ for the art trade generall y the Codes are indeed a text, and indeed, in itself, is a cause for suspicion. large step in that direction, and can only be wel­ I f the correct documentation is not forthcoming comed. But for the antiquities market th ey are then the purchase should be avoided. not enough. There are longer steps yet to be made EU Directive 9 113 0S/EEC was designed to before Boateng's ideal is finally realized. combat money laundering across Europe by im­ posing statutory regulation on the financial sector, Notes and it is a measure of its success that launderers are now thought to be turning their attention to I. Quoted in Amiqlles Trade Gazelle 7 November 1998, less well-regulated sectors of the economy, in­ 1. 2. Quoted in Allliqlles Trade Gazelle 13 March 1999, 2. cluding the art market. It was in view of this that Mark Dalrymple, the C hairma n of CoPAT, References warned the trade that if a workable code of self­

regulation cannot be achieved then statutory Dorfman, 1. , 1998. Archaeo log ists and the looti ng trncl e. regulation wi II be imposed. ' I ndeed, the time for LingIlo Franca 8, 28- 33. self-regulation may already be past. The money­ Financia l Ac ti on Ta sk Force on Mon ey Laundering, 1998. laundering regulations of some EU countri es 1997- 98 Report 01/ ,Holl ey La llndering Typologies. already encompass antiquities dealers (Greece, Gerstenblith , P. , 1995. Th e Ka naka ri

15 A symposium - hi story. Dr George Abungu, Director General of the Museums of Kenya, was elected Chai rm an 'Illicit Antiquities: the of a new International Standing Committee on Destruction of the World's the Traffic in Illi cit Antiquities (ISCOTIA). The committee was formed following three days of Archaeological Heritage' presentations from around the world. These pro­ 22-25 October 1999, vided new and alarming evidence of the devas­ tation caused by vanda li sm to hundreds of thou­ Cambridge sa nd s of arc haeo logical sites worldwide. Among the symposium's most important NEIL BRODIE & PETER W ATSON revelations were: • The first comprehensive details on looting in he illegal excavation or looting of archaeo­ more than 20 countri es. Stati stics of this ki nd T logical sites and the despoliation of historical have never been co llected before. It is now pos­ monuments for commercial gain are now well­ sible to grasp the dimensions of the disaster. described phenomena. The sca le and nature of the The widespread use of exp losives in ill ega l destruction caused by these activities, however, have vanda li sm. Dynamite, hand grenades, rocket not yet been fully documented. In order to redress launchers and other violent materials are now this situation some fifty archaeologists, police, gov­ regularly used to steal antiquities and frighten ernment ministers and lawyers met in Cambridge the local population. To talk about 'illegal ex­ over the weekend of 22- 25 October 1999 to ex­ cavation ' is no longer tenable. Plunder, more change information and discuss new ways to head often th an not, in vo lves violent destruction. off the global disaster of plunder which threatens Collectors must realize that. the world 's oldest civilizations and cultures. • A sini ster link to drugs and money launderin g. A special 'Cambridge Resolution' was This was reported by representati ves from passed which aims to encourage effective national Belize, Cyprus, Greece, Guatema la, Italy, legislation for the protection of cul tural heritage Mexico, Peru , Thailand and Turkey. and seek agreement among governments, muse­ An aggressive change in co llecting hab its, from lllllS and coll ectors that it is wrong to purchase the classical world to artefacts found in Africa, antiquities without documented provenance or the Far East and Latin America. This is a dis-

Participants at the Symposium, 'Illicit Antiquities, the Destruction of the World's Archaeological Heritage'.

16 aster for deve loping countries. Jordan, Mex ico, Peru, Syria, Tha il and . • New initiatives by many countries, as the situ­ An idea of cul tures known to be parti cul arl y ation deteriorates: Belize, China, Cyprus, Italy, threatened.

Some statistics Cambodia: 300 armed bandits surround Angkor Italy: 120,000 antiquities seized by poli ce in Conservati on compound, using hand gre­ fi ve years; nades to bl ow apart the monuments; 93 Bud­ Italy : 100,000+ Apulian tombs devastated; dha heads intercepted in June this year, 342 Niger: in southwest Niger between 50 and 90 per other obj ects a month later; cent of sites have been destroyed by looters; Syria: the situati on is now so bad a new law Turkey: more than 560 looters arrested in one has been passed whi ch sends looters to jail year w ith 10,000 obj ects in their possession; for 15 years; Cyprus: 60,000 obj ects looted since 1974; Belize: 73 per cent of major sites looted; China: catalogues of Sotheby's sales fo und in Guatemala: thieves now so aggressive they the poor countryside: at least 15 ,000 sites even looted from the laboratory at Tikal; vandalized, 110,000 illi cit cultural obj ects in­ Peru: 100,000 tombs looted, half the known tercepted in four years; sites.

The papers read at the symposium were 0/ a uni/ormly high standa rd. Th e brie/ summaries which follow C({JlIlOt hope to do them /l.tlljustice and in each case only afew o/the many valuable observa­ tions andfacts provided are reponed. The/itlltexts will be published in due CO urse as a monograph of th e McDonald fn stitute jar Archaeological Research.

The Destruction of the A"chaeological Heritage of C yprus SO PH OC LES HADJI SAVVAs (Department of Antiquities of Cyprus)

Tomb looting in Cyprus has a tradi tion of over collecti on, although most of the unprovenanced 3000 years but since 1964 has intensif ied, par­ antiquities offered are probably from illegal ex­ ticul arly after the Turkish invasion of northern cavati ons. The Cypriot poli ce have recently Cyprus in 1974. Since then it is estimated that establi shed a specia li zed al1 squad and cam­ more than 60,000 ancient artefacts have been paigns of public awareness are carried out by illegall y transferred to different countries of the the Department of Antiquities and the Mini s­ world, together with perhaps another 16,000 try of Ed ucation and Culture. In April 1999 a icons and mosaics stolen fro l11 churches. In one bil ateral agreement was signed with the United case it is known that an aucti on house in Lon­ States to protect Byzantine antiquities. don offered antiquities stolen frol11 a registered

Some Remarks on the Destruction of Turkey's Archaeological Heritage ENGIN OZGEN (Hacattepe Uni versity, Ankara)

Regions in the south, east and southeast ofTur­ it would be necess3lY improve the present laws key are open to constant looting by local people and make avail abl e the resources necessary fo r suffe ring from economic hardship. In 1997,565 their enforcement, develop an understanding people were arrested who had more than 10,000 of Turkey's cul tural heritage by educati on at objects in their possession but the actual number school, and prepare a proper documentation of of unrecovered, illegall y excavated objects I11U St the country's archaeology in readiness for a be three times that number. To stop the illicit trade possibl e bilateral agreement with the USA.

17 Mexico JAIME LITVAK KING (Instituto de Investigaciones Antropologicas, Uni versidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico)

The looting of archaeological and hi stori cal the numbers of antiquiti es fo und and one conse­ sites fo r supply of ill egal private coll ections quence was the growth of professional groups of has been quite frequent in Latin Ameri ca fo r dealers. Today the problem is further complicated many years. Its causes have, however, not a l­ by the touri st trade and industrial development. ways been the same. It began w ith antiquities The international market is fUliher boosted by fro m sites in the estates of co ll ectors. The for- the lootin g on a massive scale of antiquities in mati on of an urban eli te made owning antiquities countries with internal wars, where their sale a mark of ari stocracy. Agrari an reform increased helps to fund the fighti ng. I ======--- Collecting the Classical World: the Idea of a Quantitative Histor y CHRISTOPH ER C HI PP INDALE (Uni versity of Cambridge), D AV ID GILL (U ni versity of Wales, Swansea), EM ILY SALTER & CHRISTIAN HAMilTON (U ni ve rsity of Cambridge)

The authors pose the queston: Are the obj ects has become or will shOitly become impossibl e? in present times being extracted from archaeo­ Afte r prese nting the results of fo ur logical sites and surfacing without record of quantitative studies (CycIadic fi gurines, con­ their archaeology and hi story a small , or even temporary classical coll ecti ons, movement of an inconsequential proportion of what has sur­ classical materi al through auction houses, long­ vived from ancient times to the present? Or are term hi story ofa classical museum coll ection) they an overwhelming propoliion - to the point they tend towards the latter view, that the ma­ that producti ve new understanding of these an­ teri al consequences of co ll ecting have been ci ent obj ects and of the societi es they record very damaging.

Destruction of the Archaeological Heritage: Illicit Excavation in C ontemporary China I HE SH UZI·IONG (National Admini stration on Cul tural Heritage)

The archaeological heri tage in China has been too are being attacked with increasing frequency. damaged seri ously by illicit excavation during the Although China has ratified international con­ past ten years. In Inner Mongoli a, fo r insta nce, ventions on the protection of the cultural the area ofthe Neolithic Hongshan Cul ture, about heri tage and the customs service is active it is whi ch velY little is known, it is estimated that at still di fficult to stop the looting ofarchaeologi­ least 4000 tombs, and perhaps as many as 15,000, cal sites. Educati onal initiati ves have been have been illegall y excavated. Undelwater sites successful but more are needed.

Apulian Vases RI CK EllA (Boston Uni versity)

In another quantitative study the author foc uses to produce th em several thousands of ancient upon the red-figure vases of Apulia, Ita ly, tombs must have been plundered. Much of thi s which have been comprehensively catalogued looting has probabl y been carried'out over the by Professors Trendall and Cambitoglou. Onl y past ten years. Sixty per cent of a ll known 753 of these vases were recovered during an Apulian vases are no longer in Italy. Most are a rc haeological excavati on, the re maining sold in Britain or the United States. 13,000 are without contextual in fo rmation, and

18 Examples from Kenya and Somalia GEORGE H.O. ABUNGU (National Museums of Kenya)

With the opening up of the world market in an­ Population pressure and unemployment coupled tiquities and the realization that Africa has a rich with the quick money emanating from antiq­ but unprotected heritage, the dealers have de­ uities dealing have not helped the situation. scended on the continent. They operate through Archaeological heritage - seen as cul­ middle persons who come from within local tural heritage in developing countries - is not communities and who do not feel tied to the cus­ the priority health, education, water, and job tomary or traditional beliefs which have in the creation are to governments. It will take some past protected sites. The wars in Africa have also time to sensitize governments on the role of created a conducive atmosphere for this destruc­ archaeology or, for that matter, culture, in the tion. Even in countries subject to the rule of law, development of a national or social identity. some sites are located in remote and ungovern­ The destruction of archaeological heritage is a able areas making it easier for looters to operate. problem for the international community.

Destruction of Archaeological Heritage in Tanzania: the Cost of Ignorance BERTRAM B.B. MAPUNDA (History Department, University of Dar es Salaam) Illegal excavation for valuable artefacts is not law requiring land developers to conduct ar­ a very serious problem in Tanzania although chaeological impact assessment and to adhere some sites, including rock shelters, especially to mitigation measures thereafter. those with art, are damaged by people digging Over 85 per cent ofTanzania is rural, and for 'hoards' which are rumoured to have been a good number of its archaeological sites are buried in colonial times and before. Sites are located in rural areas, so that they will always also vandalized and accidently destroyed by be in danger until the rationale of fully involv­ large construction projects or by smaller agri­ ing local communities in heritage resource cultural improvement at a local level. These management is recognized. problems are amplified by the lack of a clear

---.---.------.------Niger BouBE GADa (Institut de Recherches Sciences Humaines, Universite de Naimey) In the north of Niger, which is mainly desert, Looting of these sites has since 1994 been sys­ palaeontological and prehistoric sites, when tematic and it is estimated that 90 per cent have exposed, are damaged by individual collectors, been damaged. some unauthorized. The situation is more se­ The protection of the cultural heritage rious in the southwest of the country where should happen through its integration into the historical sites are particularly attractive to process of development. This would promote looters. The situation was made worse by the the judicious exploitation of archaeological re­ international 'Valleys of the Niger' exhibition sources by creating long-term employment which toured France and West Africa and opportunities through craft production and brought to the attention of western collectors tourism for the local population. the funerary art from sites in the area of Bura.

19

I Protecting th-e Past for the Future: Federal Archaeology in the United States VELETTA CANOUTS & FRANCIS P. McMANAMON (National Park Service)

In 1979 it was estimated that nine out of every destruction by a factor of almost 2 to 1, 2282 ten known archaeological sites in the United mounds to 1198 respectively. The looting of States had been disturbed, although the statis­ Native American graves at Slack Farm in Ken­ tics to back up this claim are difficult to come tucky caused such an outcry that it provided by. Activities that disturb and destroy sites run the impetus for new state legislation in Ken­ along a continuum from land development and tucky and Indiana, and helped the passage resource extraction to commercial looting and through Congress of the Native American

intentional vandalism. In a study of mounds in Graves Protection Act (NAGPRA). Many ar- I the Lower Mississippi region it was shown that tefacts are now being purchased by European looting was second to agriculture in causing and perhaps Japanese collectors.

I;h~at to Cultural Sites in India from Ille~IExcavations: Case Studies, Proble': and Solutions • AJAI SHANKAR (Archaeological Survey of India) Illegal excavation for personal gain is one of between 1987-89 and was recovered from the the major causes of destruction of the cultural Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in heritage. Many examples could be reported, 1999. The Indian Government in 1972 passed such as the village of Katingra, Uttar Pradesh the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act which where moulded bricks and panels which con­ provides for the compulsory registration of no­ tain inscriptions from the epic Ramayana are tified categories of antiquities, regulation of probably from a temple of the Gupta period. export and other protective measures. India is Stolen objects have often been recovered from a signatory of the 1970 UNESCO Convention individuals and institutions in the United States and encourages other nations which have not and Europe, such as an eighth-century sculp­ yet done so to ratify this Convention. ture of Buddha, which disappeared from Bihar

~-~~---- ~~~~

The Destruction of the Cultural Heritage of Thailand and Cambodia RACHANIE THOSARAT (Fine Arts Department, Thailand) In Thailand the evidence of looting is patchy, might be kept locally instead of being 'lost' to but in some areas is severe. The continuing de­ the National Museum. struction of prehistoric sites is such that it is Historic sites in Thailand are better pro­ now perhaps impossible to investigate the tected but they are being badly looted in Neolithic and Bronze Ages properly. In the Cambodia. Famous Angkor period temples Bangkok plain whole sites are sluiced for beads such as Banteay Chmar and Angkor Borei are and other small items and virtually none re­ being systematically dismembered. Even at mains intact. The Thai Fine Arts Department Angkor itself the Conservation compound was has realized the importance of involving local attacked in 1993 by 300 armed bandits. Looted people in protection and has plans to create material is normally shipped overland through L~cal museums in each province ~o that finds _ Thailand to Bangkok.

21 Destruction, Looting and Traffic of Peru's Archaeological Patrimony WALTER ALVA (M useo Arqueologico National Bruning de Lambayeque, Peru)

Since the I 960s a continuing pillage has sup­ ethnographic material from Peru. Prod ucers plied the national and international markets. A and exporters of craft items often mix in ar­ great number of collections formed in Peru be­ chaeological pieces. Sometimes counterfeits tween the 60s and the 80s, for ' patriotic are manufactured from archaeological mate­ reasons' have actuall y now disappeared - ri al. Si nce th e signing of the bilateral abso rbed by the market. It is estimated that 90 agreements with the United States the traffic per cent of all ancient Peruvian go ld now now tends more to be directed towards north known in co ll ections around the world was and central Europe. At Sipan a programme of looted from the si ngle si te of Batan-Grande. protection initiated by the mu seum and carried After the looting of Si pan an agreement was through in co llaboration with local po li ce has reached with the Un ited States in 1997 restrict­ reduced the numbers of/ooters in the area from in g the import of Pre-Columbian and something li ke 100 per site to a few indi viduals.

Altering Information from the Past: Jllegal Excavations in Greece, the Case ofthc Cyclades MARI SA MARTHARI (M ini stry of Cu lture, Greece)

According to Greek law, an antiquity can only - 81 objects looted from a Mycenaean cham­ be lega ll y exported for temporary display pur­ ber tomb cemetery sometim e early in the poses. Illega l excavations concentrate on the 1970s - was recovered from a ga ll ery in Bronze Age cemeteries of southern Greece and New York in 1996. The archaeo logy of the the Iron Age cemeteries and sanctuaries of cen­ Cyclades is known mai nl y from its figurines, tral and north ern Greece.Antiquities often most of which were ill ega ll y excavated and leave Greece in lorri es, sometimes packed in some of wh ich are fakes. The estab li shment of watermelons, and tra vel to the major markets an archaeologica l museum on the island oflos, in Switzerland and Germany. The trade in an­ presenting the archaeology of the island in its tiquities and the trade in narcotics is ev idently entirety, has shown the people of the island that very close as the police often arrest people in th ere is more to archaeo logy than figurines possession of both. Fakes are also noticed and , perhaps, dealt a strong blow to antiqui­ amongst genuine pi eces. The Aidonia treasure ti es theft. ------

The New Syrian Law on Antiquities AMM AR ABDUL RAH IAN (Directorate General of Antiqu ities and Museums) The Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities millennium site of Meskeneh-Emar. In re­ and Mu seums has had to deal with a number spo nse to thi s illegal acti vity the Syrian of cases of illi cit excavation over the past few Government in 1999 passed a new law on the years. In the area of the so-called 'dead cities', protection of antiquities. But no law can be of Byzanti ne date, south of Aleppo, digging is fully effective without the cooperation of ca rri ed out by squatters. More worrying is everyone involved. Thus education at when previously excavated and important sites sc hoo ls and uni vers ities can help diminish il­ are attacked, such as the third-millennium legal digging and internati onal coo perati on too cemetery at Tell l-I alawa and the second- is essential.

22 The first interim International Standing Committee on the Traffic in Illicit Antiquities shall be the following:

DR G EO RGE AnuNGu PROfESSO R R ICK ELlA Director General, National Museums of Kenya Boston University, USA

(Chairmal/ ) P ROfESSO R PATTY GERSTEN llLlTl1

DR W ALTER ALVA De Paul University, USA: Editor, Inlernalional Institute Nacional de Cultura, Museo Journal oj" Cullural Properly

Arqueologico Nacional BrUning de MR H E SHUZ HONG Lambayeque, Peru National Administration on Cultural Heritage,

H .E. PROfESSO R S ENAKE B AN DARANAYAKE People's Republic of China

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to UNESCO, and PROFESSO R COLI N RENfREW Chair, International Committee on McDonald In stitute, Cambridge, UK Archaeological Heritage Management of (Secretmy) ICOMOS DR R AC HAN IE T HOSARAT DR NEIL B RO DIE Fine Arts Department, Thai land McDonald Institute, Cambridge, UK (Executive Secreta/)I)

The interim Committee shall have the power to co-opt. It was agreed that the interim Committee should also have so me representation from the Mediterranean region.

Why arthoeoiogyl Why i00i1

Press c~nference introducing tile Interim International Standing Committee on the Traffic in Illicit Antiquities. Left to rIght: H. S/lUzhong, R. Thosarat, G. Abungu, C. Renfrew, W. Alva, R. Elia & N. Brodie.

23 International Standing Conference on the significance of cultural objects and artefacts Traffic in Illicit Antiquities: resides in the information which they the Cambridge Resolution provide about the human past, that this in­ formation comes principally from their We, the participants in the Symposium 'Illicit context of discovery as documented by sys­ Antiquities: the Destruction of the World's Ar­ tematic excavation and careful publication, chaeological Heritage' held at the McDonald and that such information is irretrievably lost when objects are separated from their Institute, Cambridge from 22 to 25 October context of discovery without full documen­ 1999, hereby resolve that there be instituted an tation; International Standing Conference on the Traf­ (v) seek agreement among museums and private fic in Illicit Antiquities (ISCOTIA), whose collectors that the appearance on the market members shall be the heritage and antiquities of antiquities without provenance is likely directorates of national governments, national to be the result of looting (i.e. clandestine and international governmental and non-gov­ excavation and illegal export) and that it is ernmental organizations concerned with the consequently inappropriate to purchase an­ protection of the world's cultural heritage, uni­ tiquities without documented provenance versities and research institutes in the fields of (unless these can incontrovertibly be shown to have been known prior to 1970); archaeology and conservation, and national and (vi) persuade collectors (and museums) that the international learned societies and professional ownership (and display) by. them of un­ bodies concerned with the protection of the provenanced antiquities should be seen as world's cultural heritage. We hereby appoint an shameful and offensive to those concerned interim International Standing Committee on for the world's cultural heritage, and that far the Traffic in Illicit Antiquities with the objec­ from according protection to the heritage by tives of (a) organizing the first meeting of the curating such antiquities their cash and en­ Standing Conference, and (b) promoting the couragement promotes the looting process; aims of the Standing Conference. (vii) persuade conservators, scientists and schol­ Among the aims and objectives of the In­ ars that it is inappropriate to undertake con­ ternational Standing Conference on the Traffic servation work, authentication or scholarly research in connection with unprovenanced in Illicit Antiquities shall be to: antiquities on the grounds that such work ul­ (i) seek the protection of archaeological and timately facilitates the marketing of antiqui­ historical sites, monuments and landscapes ties and hence contributes to the cycle of from destruction or damage through public looting and destruction; works, commercial developments or unau­ (viii) persuade the tax regimes of national govern­ thorized excavation by looters and others; ments that tax benefits should not be (ii) promote the understanding by local commu­ accorded to those collectors who donate or nities of their own cultural heritage through bequeath unprovenanced antiquities to mu­ education, the development of local museums seums and other charitable organizations, and site museums, and the organization of and to persuade museums that they should an effective antiquities service in every nation; not accept donations or bequests of un­ (iii) institute effective national legislation for the provenanced antiquities; protection of the cultural heritage and the (ix) encourage national governments to protest support of international agreements, includ­ formally when unprovenanced antiquities ing specifically the ratification by every originating within their borders are publicly nation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on offered for sale in other countries the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the (x) engage the media of communication to pro­ Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Own­ mote effectively these aim and objectives and ership of Cultural Property and the 1995 to expose the 'prestige culture' still surround­ UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Ille­ ing certain museums and wealthy private gally Exported Cultural Objects; individuals who continue conspicuously to (iv) make widely understood that the principal collect unprovenanced antiquities.

24 Stealing history

JENNY D OOLE

It has long been recognized by those fig hting the illicit trade in anti qu iti es that public ed uca ti on is key. Indeed, one of the aims of the IARC is to raise pu bli c awareness of th e scale and con­ sequences of looting. This point was emph as ized by Manus Brinkman, Secretary General of . ICO M (the Internat ional Council of I Mu se um s) in hi s keynote speech to the Mu se um s Assoc iation Conference 1998. Comm enti ng that he did not Stealing know of many educationa l pro­ grammes in schools, or museum s that I~ dea l with illi ci t antiquities iss ues , he said it wo uld be helpful if UK museums ran such communica ti on ini­ tia ti ves. Muse um s in bad ly looted co un­ tries are increasingly doing just that. There are examples of imaginati ve edu­ ca ti onal campaigns ex pl ainin g th e damage ca used by archaeological de­ structi on - and th e value of archaeo logy - in co untri es li ke Mali , Stealing History: a portable display. Peru , Jordan, Italy, Mexico. But there has been very little equiva lent coverage in mar­ case stlld ies from arou nd the world , including the ket countri es. Sa li sblllY Hoard and the Icklingham Bronzes, the To try and redress thi s balance, the IARC, palace of Senn ac herib, th e Weary Herakl es, with the help of the A.G. Leventi s Foundation Sipan, the Kanakari ,\ mosa ic , Cambod ia, Ma li has produced a portabl e di spl ay, ca ll ed Slealillg and Kabul Mu seum . HistDlJl. It is ava il abl e on loan, free of charge to I f you wo uld be interested in more infor­ museums, libraries and su itab le institutions in the ma tion about Stealillg HiS/DIY, pl ease contact: United Kingdom. Und er th e headings ' Illi cit Anti qui ties', J ENNY D OOLE ' Why Archaeology?', ' Why Loot?', and 'The IARC Way. Forwa rd ' the ex hibi t expl ains the bas ic is­ McDonald Insti tute for Archaeological Research sues: why the genera l publi c shou ld be concerned Downing Street Camb ridge about arc haeological lootin g, the benefits of ar- CB23 ER chaeology as opposed to looting, and possib le UK ways forwa rd. The di spl ay also highli ghts famo us e-mail : [email protected]. uk

25 Conference report of the secrecy in whi ch the antiquities trade is enveloped, and in another paper Neil Brodie asked why it was that antiquities dealers were CHRIS SCARRE so unwilling to be more open about the sources European Association of from which they obtained their materi al. The very secrecy of the h'ade has made it vulner­ Archaeologists: Bournemouth, able to thieves who wish to pass off stolen 14-19 September 1999 antiquities, and to organi zed crime, where an­ tiquities are coming to be employed as The illicil trade in antiquities was the subj ect coll ateral in money-laundering schemes. of a session in thi s year's conference of the Given these developments, it is hard to under­ European Association of Archaeologists, held stand why dealers find it so difficult to accept at Bournemouth from 14-19 September. Sev­ the need fo r greater transparency, especially eral aspects of the problem were presented in as most of them openl y declare that they do a seri es of papers whi ch once again sought to not deal in ill egall y-acquired material; they convey the scale of the damage whi ch is be­ should therefore have nothing to hide. in g caused, and argue the case for more A leading issue to emerge from the effective action. Bournemouth session was the continuing un­ The session began w ith papers by w illing ness of Britain and severa l other Kathy Tubb of the In stitute of Archaeology, European governments to subscribe to the London, and Paula Kay Lazrus of Boston 1970 UNESCO and 1995 Unidro it conven­ Un iversity, who poi nted out the need for edu­ tions. Tim Schadla-Hall of the In stitute of cation to dri ve home the message to local Archaeology, London, made the point force­ communities that it was not onl y archaeolo­ fully that despite abundant evid ence of gists, but they themselves who were losing widespread illicit trade in the UK there is lit­ knowledge of their past through the w ide­ tle sign of the Government taking a clear line spread destruction of local sites. It was at th is on reform or on tackling the problem. level - by recruiting the support of local peo­ This issue was the subj ect of a resolu­ ple - that protection on the ground was likely ti on which was adopted in the Annual Business to be successful. Meeting at the close of the conference. The A full er picture of the trade is begin­ European Assoc iation of Archaeologists ning to appear from detailed studies of antiq­ agreed that further action was needed to stem uities sales. Thi s was illustrated by the paper the fl ow of ill egall y acquired or illegally ex­ given by Vinnie Norskov from the Uni ver­ ported antiquities, and accepted that all si ty of Aarhus in Denmark, who summarized European governments should sign and ratify the results of five years' research on Greek the UNESCO and Unid ro it conventions as a vases appearing in saleroom catalogues. She matter of urgency. The EAA President, Wi lI em approached the question from two angles: the Willems, has undertaken to wri te to all Euro­ vases which are being presented for sale by pean governments enquiring about their poli cy the major auction houses from 1953 to 1998, on these conventions. The replies will be and the acquisiti ons of material by museums brought to the next meeting of the EAA at Li s­ over the same period. Her results show clearly bon in 2000, where the next stage of action how museum acqu isition policies have wi ll be di scussed. changed over the five decades in question. A The final paper in the Ill icit Antiquities more di sturbing stati stic is the very small session at Bournemouth was given by Roger number of vases offered for sale which have Bland, who is currently on secondment from any kind of archaeological provenance. the British Museum to the Department for The lack of provenances is symptomatic Culture, Media and Sport. He noted that the

26 legal protection afforded to portable antiqui­ Min ister in the Department of Cul ture, Med ia ties in England and Wales is both more li mited and Sport. For many archaeologists, however, in scope and more liberal in its treatment of the chi eF result of the new provisions is likely finders than in virtuall y any other country in to be a depressing demonstration of how rap­ Europe. The wide toleration of metal detect­ id ly and in what numbers portable antiquities ing in Britain has posed particular problems, in Britain are being ripped fro m th eir archaeo­ and the recent Portable Antiquities Recording logical contexts. In the absence of political wi ll Scheme has taken onl y the very moderate step and oFa unified response from archaeologists, of encouraging fi nders to register their find s. museum curators and others, thi s is a problem Dr Bland reviewed the results of the first year wh ich appears unlikely to find any imminent pilot proj ect of registrati on and outlined some solution. of the add itional information which had been made avai lable in this way. A similarly up­ CHRIS S CARRE McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research beat appraisal of the Portable Antiq uities Downing Street scheme had been given to the con Ference the Cam bridge previous day by the Rt Hon Alan Howarth MP, CB23ER

Front cover. Warehouse of allegedly smuggled antiquities sealed by Swiss police at Geneva Freeport.

Staff: Address for correspondence: IARC Director: Colin Renfrew CWC Editorial Board, McDonald Institute for Archaeolog ical Research, Downing St, IARC Co-ordinator: Neil Brodie Cambridge, England , CB2 3ER IARC Researcher: Jenny Doole Correspondence relating to all aspects of the CWC Editorial Board: Neil Brodie legal and illegal trade in antiquities is welcome; Augusta McMahon we will make an effort to print reasonable, non­ Chris Sca rre libellous letters. No unsigned letters will be Peter Watson printed, but names will be withheld upon request. CWC Designer: Dora Kemp

ISSN 1464-1925

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