Culture Without

The Newsletter of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre

Issue 12, Spring 2003

-·r 1 .~ I l

~ 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 establi shed in May 1996, T under th e auspi ces of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, England, and it commenced operations in October 1997. Its purpose is to monitor and report upon the damage caused to cultural heritage by th e interna­ ti onal trade in illi cit 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 wi ll raise publ ic awareness of the pro blems caused by this trade and seek appropri ate national and intern ati onal legislati on, codes of conduct and oth er conventions to pl ace restraint upon it.

ClIll lIre Witholll COlllexl is publi shed tw ice-yearl y. The next issue will appea r in autum n 2003. Subsc ri pt ion detai ls are ava il ab le from: Jenny Doo le IARC McDonald Institu te fo r Archaeological Research Downing Street Cambridge CB2 3ER UK e-mail: jd244@ca m. ac. uk

Front cover. Greek ivory head. possibly of Apollo. recovered in February 2003 (see p. 5).

Staff: Add ress for corres pondence: Editorial Boa rd, McDonald Insti tu te for Archaeological fARC Director: Colin Ren frew ewe Research, Downing St, Cambridge , UK, CB2 3ER. fARC Co-ordinator: Neil Brodie hllp:Jlwww-mcdonald.arch.cam.ac.ukJIARC/home.hlm fARC Researcher: Jenny Doole Correspondence relating to all aspects of the legal and illegal ewe Editorial Board: Neil Brodie trade in antiquities is welcome; we will make an effort to print Augusta McMahon reasonable . non-libellous lett ers . No unsigned letters will be Chris Scarre printed , but names wi ll be withheld upon request. Peter Watson © 2003 McDonald In stitute for Archaeologica l Research Dora Kem p ewe Designer: Printed by BluePrint. 6 Cli fton Road. Cambridge. UK, CB1 7W6. ISSN 1464-1925 Tel: +44 (0)1223 472400

2 Editorial either. Yet the absence of clear provenance did not deter their sale. I ndeed, absence of prov­ enance presents no legal impediment to their sale. ulture is not the first casualty of war, nor is Yet while Iraq i artefacts of unknown origin con­ C it the most important, but the sack of Iraq 's tinue to be sold openly it is probably safe to National Museum and other cultural in stitutions assume that somewhere in Iraq archaeological towards the end of the recent Iraq connict caused sites are being dug out in the search for more. outrage around the world. The US and UK Gov­ One of the first responses to the looting of ernments were put on the defensive as high­ Iraq's National Museum has been to mount im­ ranking officials set about explaining why the mu­ ages taken fi·ommuseum catalogues and other pub­ seums had not been a fforded some degree of lications of what might be stolen material on the protection, not even a tank. No convincingjusti­ Internet. Websites include The Arl Newspaper at fication has yet emerged. The events of April http :// www.theartnewspaper.com/i raq m us/ 2003 were hardly a surpri se, regional museums stol en.html and the Oriental Institute of the Uni­ around Iraq were first looted at the end of the versity of Chicago at http://www.oi.uchicago.edu/ Gulf War and since then archaeological sites have Ol/IRAQ/iraq .html. There have also been calls been subject to chronic looting (see correspond­ for the construction ofa searchable data base which ence at http://www. mcdonald.cam.ac.uk/McD/ will store descriptions and images of stolen objects. iraq/acr-Iooting.htm). More and more material of These are good, practical measures, but in them­ probably Iraqi origin but no clear provenance has sel ves they are not enough. Data bases and cata­ been appearing on the Western market, and nei­ logues of stolen objects can deter the sale of objects ther Governments nor dealers ha ve done anything stolen from museums, or they might aid their about it. The justifi abl e outrage over the Iraq identincation and recovery, but data bases can museums should not be allowed to obscure the do nothing to prevent the trade in material that basic fact that archaeological sites throughout Iraq has been secretly and illegally excavatedfi·om ar­ have been and continue to be targeted by gangs chaeological sites. More is needed. For example, of looters in search of saleable artefacts. with the help of the US State Department the Inter­ There is a ready market for Iraqi material. national Council of Museums is preparing the In the days immediately following the break in Emergency Red List o/fraqi Anliquilies at Risk, at the National Museum I located 53 in scribed which will describe and illustrate categories of cuneiform tablets and cones for sa le on the material under threat from looting and theft. At Internet. It took me about an hour in total and so the velY least, there should be an immediate mora­ it was hardly an exhausti ve search, and as many torium on the trade of any object of a type ap­ ifnot most trade outlets do not maintain websites pearing on the Red List, unless it is accompanied the true number up for sale worldwide is any­ by written documentation of good provenance. body's guess. But what is important about these It should not be necessary in 2003 to be tablets is that they constitute a sample, they pro­ calling for a moratorium on trade. In theory at vide us with a glimpse of th e bigger picture, and least, for the past decade or so, trade in Iraqi ar­ none of them had any indication of provenance. tefacts has been outlawed by the UN Security Indeed, if anything, th e reverse was the case. Council's imposition of trade sanctions, although Many of the tablets were claimed to have been in practice these sanctions have had no notice­ authenticated and translated by Professor Wilfred able effect on the antiquities trade. They might Lambert, which implies that they were fresh to as well not have existed. The United Nations will the market and previously unknown. Indeed, Pro­ now be looking to lift trade sanctions as soon as fessor Lambert said as much himself when he it is practicable to do so, but it is imperative that was interviewed by the Nelli York Times (30 April restrictions are left in place for archaeological 2003). He was reported as saying that he had au­ material , and that they are enforced. thenticated several hundred objects from Iraq, and In the immediate aftermath of the war both that he did not know where any came from. He the US and UK governments confirmed that it is suspected the dealers he worked for did not know illegal to trade in archaeological material that has

3 left Iraq since the Gulf War. In the United King­ criminal offence. Neither th e United States nor dom, on 14 April 2003, the British Prime Minister the United Kingdom have signed the Hague Con­ Tony Blair announced in the House of Com mons vention, but if they had we can be sure that those that the British Govemment would do everything responsible for securing th e National Museum in its power to prevent the sale in the United King­ and other cultural sites and in stitutions through­ dom of cultural objects looted from Iraq, and also out Iraq would have been far more di li gent in the to ensure that any such objects that appear in execution of their charge. Britain wi ll be returned to Iraq and not sold. Tessa Jowell , the British Secretary of State for Culture, ~ In October 2002 The Ar! Newspaper re­ announced on 15 April that she had written to ~ ported the launch oftheAmeri can Council colleagues in the UK Government reminding for Cultural Policy (ACCP), whi ch has 45 advi­ them that under UN Resolutions it is illegal to sors, including lawyers fro m major museums, and import Iraqi antiquities into the UK. However, aims to advise on aspects of US legislation as it by the 29 April it was possible to di scern a weak­ relates to the art trade. Members of the ACCP ening of resolve when in a DCMS press release met w ith the US De partme nts of State and the Secretary of State made no mention of Gov­ Defense in January 2004 and soon found them­ ernment plans to impose an embargo on trade, selves embroiled in a public debate over what and on the 8 May the Government spokesperson exactly did or did not represent ACCP poli cy as in the House of Lords announced only that the regards Iraq 's antiquities laws. This debate was Government have alerted Customs of the need rather tiresome, as it drew attention away ii·om to enforce the current embargo. more serious policy shortfalls, and could have At the time of writing ( 12 May) there have been avoided. The problem is that nobody reall y been no reports of British police or customs of­ knows what are th e aims ofthe ACCP, what is its fic ers seizing any Iraqi artefacts of unknown membership, and what is its funding base. A good provenance. What is needed now is an unequivo­ clear statement of th ese facts w ill save a lot of cal statement by the British Government that it future confusion and ill-feeling. is ill egal to sellunprovenanced Iraqi antiquities, and an explanation of how the law w ill be en­ ~ Ashton Hawkins, speaking for the ACCP forced on the ground. ~ in Th e Ar! Newspaper, said that World War II issues are more important to most museums 9 Britain and the United States have both than antiquities issues, and he is probably ri ght. ~ signed the 1970 UNESCO Convention on But why that should be so is not clear. Many mu­ the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Il­ seums around the world have recently establi shed li cit Import, Ex port and Transfer of Ownership programmes to research the provenance of any of Cultural Property. The UNESCO Convention, art in their collections that might have changed however, was not designed to cope with the ex­ hands in Nazi-era Europe. These are laudable treme forms of looting and despoliation that have initiati ves, and th ey are not being criticized here, taken place during wartime in countries such as but why are they restricted only to material that Cambodia, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is an instru­ might have been expropriated by the Nazis? The ment of inter- governmental cooperation, and may same museums no doubt contain many objects fail if, for whatever reason, cooperation is not of archaeological interest that were ill egall y re­ possible. The First and Second Protocols of the moved from their countries of ori g in during 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of wartime - fro m Cambodia, A fghanistan and Iraq Cultural Property in th e Event of Armed Con­ to name only a few. But the museums in ques­ fli ct, on the other hand, have the express purpose tion have show n no inte rest in researc hing of protecting archaeological and other forms of archaeological provenances. Perhaps it is because cultural heritage during wartime, and are not de­ of the disparity in monetary value between what pendent upon cooperation. The obli gations of are mainly paintings seized by the Nazis and ar­ guardianship fa ll solely upon a signatory State, chaeological artefacts - paintings are, by and and failure to comply with these obligations is a large, more expensive. Maybe it is because the

4 property stolen by the Nazis was fro m private they should be made expli cit, and genuine con­ rather than from public owners, and so in the le­ si d erati o n s hould be g iven to extending gal opinion of those who represent the museums provenance research to encompass all materi al it was a crime more deservin g of redress. Per­ that has changed hands ill egall y during wartime. haps it is simply because paintings are generall y Starting with Iraq. At the very least, museums accompani ed by a more complete provenance should be prepared to cooperate fully with schol­ than archaeological obj ects, and th erefore are ars who take an interest in such things, and not much easier to research. Whatever the reasons, block access to museum records.

Familiar route out of Italy dence that th e statue had been illegally excavated and smuggled out of Italy, and that the fresco had for looted ivory head been stolen, Symes' lawyers slllTendered the two objects at the Ita li an embassy. CECILIA T ODESCHINI & PETER WATSON Besides the face, which has its eyes, straight nose and sensual lips intact, a series offragments ne of the world 's rarest and most impor­ was also recovered - fingers, toes, an ear, some O tant looted antiquities has been recovered curls of hair. In antiquity, it was the practice for by Italian police in London. The object, a unique exceptionall y important statues to consist of ivory life-size ivory head, is thought to be of Apollo, heads, hands and feet, with bodies of stone or wood, th e Greek god of the sun , and perhaps dates from which were covered in gold sheets. Such objects the fifth century Be (Fig. I overl eaf). But it could were known as C/lI )'selephantine sculptures, af­ be more important still: the ivory is of such su­ ter the Greek for gold and ivory. Ivory was so perb quality that Itali an archaeologists who have expensive in antiquity that only emperors and examined the head, be li eve it may have been other major figures could afford such statues. carved by Phidias, one of th e greatest of classi­ Mr Symes is no stranger to controversy, or cal Greek sculptors, whose carvin gs graced the to the Carabinieri. In the earl y 1990s he sold a Parthenon and the Temple o f Zeus at O lympia. statue of the Greek god Artemis to an American Pliny, Pausanias and Lu cian all sang Phidias' coll ector who, when he attempted to sell it on praises but not a sing le work o f hi s has survived. openl y through Sotheby's in New York, found The head was seized fro m the London an­ that the sculpture had been stolen in 1988 from a tiquities dealer Robin Symes, who has premi ses convent near Naples. After a complai nt from the in Ormond Yard, St .l ames'. A fragment of a Italians, that too went back to Italy. And in 1997, fresco, stolen fro m a vill a near Pompeii, was also as part of an expose of Sotheby's, published in recovered at th e same time. The Tim es, and on Channel 4 Television, in whi ch The seizure of the head comes after a long it was shown that the auction house was selling in ves tigation, lasting several yea rs and rangi ng smuggled goods, it was also revealed that Symes from Italy, to Cyprus, to Munich, to London. In had, in conj unction with the salesroom, arranged the final stages, a raid on th e premi ses ofa known for an Egyptian statue of the god Sekhmet to be dealer in smuggled antiquities in Muni ch led two smuggled out of Italy, to London, via Switzerl and. officers of th e Itali an Carabi ni eri Art Squad to The ivory head and other fragments were London in February 2003, where they took pos­ originally di scovered in 1995 by Pietro Casasanta, session of the antiquities from Symes' lawyers, a IOllIbarolo (or tomb robber) ofA nguill ara, north Peters and Peters. Symes himself is currently of Rome, on th e shore of Lake Bracciano. Mr li ving in Geneva. Presented w ith irrefutabl e evi- Casasanta granted us an exclusive interview and

j by po li ce at Casasanta 's horn e when he was raided. These statues are still mi ss­ i ng, though C a sasanta believes one is in London. Mr Casasanta is no stranger to controversy e i­ ther. Si nce he began digging ill egall y, in 1960, he claims to have di scovered about a hundred vill as (he does not, he says, plunder tombs) and, before fi nding the ivory head, hi s greatest claim to notoriety was hi s di scovery, in 1970, of L' ln violata, a la rge settl ement, a temple c ult, w hi ch he says con­ ta ined 63 statues, 25 of them li fe-s ize. He re turned to L' ln violata in 1992 when he discovered the famous 'Capit olin e Tri ad', a six-ton marbl e statue of three seated gods - Jupiter, Juno and Minerva - th at is now in the Palestrina National Ar­ c haeo logica l Museum , southeast of Rome. This is the onl y marble sculpture in whic h the three gods of the Triad are intact. The Triad was recov­ ered by the carabinieri in Figure 1. Greek ivory Ilead. possibly of Apollo. recovered in February 2003. 1994 after a two-year ' Op­ e ration Juno ' . For th a t agreed to be photographed in the fi eld where he discovery, Mr Casasanta was sent to pri son fo r a discovered th e statue. year. The site is a few hundred yards from a well­ A ro ugh, portl y 65-year- o ld, and a wheezy known archaeological landmark, the Baths of chain-smoker, he in vited us into hi s ho rn e in Claudius, and Casasanta told us that he believes Anguillara itself, where we drank wi ne fro m a the statue carne from a large, lu xuri ous vi ll a that table made of looted Roman marbl e. A large pic­ belonged to the fa mily of the first-century Ro­ ture of the looted Tri ad hung on th e wall. He to ld man Emperor, C laudius. At the time he found the us that he usuall y pays an 'entrance fee' of 'about mask and fragments, Casasanta also di scovered 25 million li re' (roughl y £9000) to the owners of three Egyptian statues o f goddesses, two in green land for permission to di g, and in addition prom­ and one in black granite, and some pi eces of ises the landowner a share in any profits. mosaic. 'Thi s was obviously the residence of a Casasanta said that the minute he set eyes very rich, very important famil y,' he said. on the ivory head he knew it was the most im­ Photographs of the three statues were found pOl"lant object he - or any other IO lI/barolo -

6 had ever fo und. He smuggled the head and frag­ Rh odes and, like th e Colossus, was considered ments, and the three statues, out o Fltaly himself, one of th e seven wonders of the world. Phidias' and sold them to Nino Savoca, an Itali an deal er great gold and ivory statue of Zeus, seated, with based in Munich. They agreed a fee of $ 10 mil­ a fi gure oFVictory on hi s outstretched ri ght hand, li on. Savoca, he says, showed th e head to two whi ch stood in the main hall at Ol ympia, was Ameri can museums, one of whom attributed it taken to Constantinople and burned in a palace to Phi d ias, but neither of whi ch was willing to fire in AD 475. ri sk buying such an obviously looted obj ect. Fol­ Ivo ry sculptures, even in antiquity, were lowing thi s, Savoca stopped payin g him after ex tremely rare. Dozens offragments are known, $700,000, and they fell out. and some small statuettes. But onl y one other life­ Savoca di ed in 1998 and, during a raid on size fi gure is known to have survived in Italy, hi s premi ses, police discovered documentati on Fo und at Montecal vo (again , near Rome), and that helped them close in on a number of impor­ now in th e Apostolic Library in the Va ti can. And tant looted antiquities. Partly because Savoca had onl y one set of life-size CIII ),selepitanline sc ulp­ reneged on payment, possibl y calculating that the tures survives in Greece. This includes statues of Carabinieri had him in their sights again, Casa­ Apoll o and Artemi s at the Delphi Museum. They santa volunteered to th e art squad th at Savoca were un earthed by French excavators in 1939 in had sold the ivory head to a London deal er who, th e so-called Halos Deposit at Delphi, in a cache he told us, was 'a homosexual whose partner di ed th at had been damaged by fire. They ha ve since recentl y'. Mr Symes' male Greek partner di ed in been restored. an accide nt in 1999, when he fe ll down in a vill a But whereas th e Delphi ClII )'selephallline in Tuscan y and hit hi s head on a radi ator. Mr fi gure is From th e archaic peri od (c . 550 BC), the Symes was unavailable for comment. head just recovered has more refin ed features and Professor Antoni o Giuliano, emeritus pro­ detail s, and is therefore more likely to date fro m fesso r oFGreek and Roman art at Rome Uni ver­ the classical era of Phidias. Many of Phidias' sity, who has examined the statu e, whi ch is now sculptures were copied by Roman artists (thi s is at th e Central In stitute of Restorati on in Rome, one reason why we know how the ori ginal Athene provisiona ll y dates the ivory to the fiFth or fourth Parth enos looked) but usually th ey were much century Be. He considers th e main head to be of small er and made entirely of marbl e. Apoll o, and he thinks that th e associated frag­ The fragment of fresco returned with the ments are fro m a second, somewhat small er ivo ry statue shows a satyr pouring w ine or water statu e, possibl y Artemi s or Atona (th e toe, for fro m a pitcher. It was stolen in the 1970s fro m example, is on a smaller scale th an the head). He Caste ll amare di Stabi a near Pompeii. doesn't rul e out that th e arti st was Phidias. The recovery is a major coup For Li euten­ With Praxiteles, Polyclitus and Lys ippus, ant Colonel Ferdinanda Musell a, opera tional Phidias was the greatest of ancient Greek sc ulp­ head of th e Carabinieri Art Squad . The impor­ tors. Born about 500 BC, he died some 70 years tance of the statue is underlined by the fa ct that later. He or hi s pupils were responsible for many Itali an Minister of Culture, G iuliano Urbani , of the marbl e reli efs on th e Parthenon, and fo r hopes to persuade the country's President to di s­ two colossal - and colossall y important - ivory pl ay th e head at hi s officia l res idence, the and go ld statues that were th e ta lk of classical Quirinale Palace. Greece and Rome, and have been wondered about ever since, because they have been lost. These Cecilia Todeschini & Peter Watson were th e Ath ene Parthenos - th e Virgin Athene, McDona ld Institute for Archaeological Research dominating the Parthenon itse lf (it was 34 feet Downing Street hi gh) - and an equally huge statue of Zeus, in Cambridge hi s templ e at Ol ympia. This statue was said to be CB23ER larger th an anything, except th e Colossus at UK

7 In the News export of all antiques, antiquities, works of art, books and archives from Iraq; and an JENNY DOOLE immediate ban to be placed on the interna­ tional trade in objects of Iraqi cultural War in Iraq heritage.

Over a two day period, 10- 11 April 2003, • On 29 April an emergency meeting was Iraq's National Museum was broken into held at the British Museum in London, and sacked by looters. Initial estimates sug­ during which: gested that thousands of pieces, including large o Donny George, Director of Research at objects which required heavy lifting gear to Iraq 's National Museum, angrily accused move, had been removed, many others were American occupying forces of failing in smashed, and records were also destroyed. The their duty to protect the museum from National and Religious Libraries of Baghdad looters. and the National Archives were also burned o He a lso called for ti ghtened border and destroyed. It is difficult at the present time controls to stop stolen material being to provide an accurate assessment ofthe dam­ smuggled out of the country. age caused, or of the losses incurred. In the o British Secretary of State for Culture, days following the sack some material from Tessa Jowell, claimed that no-one could the National Museum was returned by local have foreseen the situation. residents, and there were other reports that o It emerged that records and photographs some of the Museum's collections had been were apparently safe, but scattered over moved into safe storage before the war began. 120 offices, making the job of collating On the 4 May it was reported that although and recording what is mi ssing so much the National Library was gutted, 80 per cent more difficult. of its holdings remained safe in mosq ues o The state of some storerooms, which are where they had been taken to for protection. possibly intact, cannot be established yet The situation remains confused but it appears because of lack of electricity and con­ that the damage might not be as severe as was cerns over safety. originally feared. Archaeologists and institutions world­ ICOM (International Council of Museums) wide who had lobbied the US and UK gov­ has secured funding for and is preparing a ernments on the danger that war would pose Emergellcy Red List oj'Jraqi Allfiqllities at to Iraq 's culture heritage reacted with anger Risk, now on the Internet (icom.museuml and di smay that such a sitllation could ha ve redli st/irak/en/index.html), which will indi­ been allowed to develop and that their warn­ cate categories of material for dealers, ings had apparently been di sregarded. museums and collectors to avoid handling and be a tool for customs and law enforcement • On 17 April, UNESCO brought to their officials . headquarters in Paris some 30 ex perts from all over the world, including the heads of • The Baghdad Mnsenm Project has been archaeological missions that had until re­ launched (see www.baghdadmuseum.org) cently been working in Iraq. Although the to lobby the US government to create an meeting was arranged at very short notice, Iraq Cultnral Heritage Act, which would it provided an opportunity for experts to prohibit the importation into the United propose a set of recommendations that the States of any archaeological or cultural press has disseminated widely. Among these material removed from Iraq without appro­ recommendations, the experts called for an priate documentation after the imposition immediate prohibition to be placed on the of sanctions on that countlY in August 1990.

8 On 7 May th e Chicago Tribune reported a Dispute over Mayan objects gun battle at Nimrud where an armed gang of looters eventually chased off the site's 26 Mayan stone and ceramic vessels and guards. There were al so reports of other figurines, worth $ 165,000 and with an ex­ archaeological sites being attacked, particu­ traordinary history, are the subject of a legal larl y in the northeastern parts of Iraq where di spute in the USA. The objects were im­ th e US military presence is still weak. pounded by US Customs agents in January 1998, when Patrick McSween and Judith Ganeles attempted to bring th em in to th e country without official permission from Italian discovery Guatemala. The items were packed in suit­ cases and described on customs documenta­ In February Italian authorities recovered a tion as ' 30 mtefacts and two books'. Fo ll owing unique ancient ivory after a six-year enquiry their seizure the objects were stored in the into a looting and smuggling ring (whi ch in­ basement of US Customs' offices in the World cluded, amongst others, an Italian uni versity Trade Centre, New York. They were recentl y lecturer) and following investigations in Brit­ rediscovered, undamaged, by crews sifting ain, Switzerland, Germany and Cyprus (see through rubble in the aftermath of the destruc­ p. 5). The Greek sculpture, possibly the head tion of the building during terrorist attacks on of a six-foot C/lI yselephantille statue ofApollo II September 200 I. McSween and Ganeles once covered in gold, had been smuggled from are fighting to keep the artefacts, arguing that Ital y and ended up in Britain. Police said the it cannot be proved that they were produced face and about 100 fragments of the statue in Guatemala. were excavated seven years ago from a site near Lake Bracciano, northwest of Rome.

Egyptian antiquities

French controversy • In November 2002, representatives of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities French president Jacques Chirac 's project, the (SCA) visited Basel and retrieved foUl· an­ creation of the Musee du Quai Branly (Paris) tiquities, including a black granite statue wh ich will di splay indigenous art and antiq­ of an 18th-Dynasty queen, wh ich had been uities from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the found in the possession of four Swiss col­ Ameri cas, has once again aroused criti cism lectors. ASwiss lawyer acting for the Massina (see also In the News, CWC issues 6, 7 & 10). Foundation, a charity whi ch helps restore Swissin/iJ ( II April 2003) reports that around stolen cu ltural heritage to its countries of hal f of the new museum 's acquisitions budget origin, was instrumental in fac ilitating the has been put aside to purchase works from the restitution. controversial collection of Geneva billionaire Jean-Paul Barbie,· - one of the largest pri­ lallUCII Y 2003: Egyptian customs police vate coll ecti ons of indigenous art in the world. arrested Mohamed al-Shaaer (merchant), Concern has been expressed that some of the Abdel Karim Abu Shanab (SCA official, re­ objects, especiall y those that appea r on the sponsible for in vestigating stolen artefacts) , ICOM Red Li st (see CWC issue 6) may have and Mohamed Abdel Rahman Fahmy (SCA been illegall y excavated or exported fj·om their inspector). The SCA employees are charged countries of origin. with allegedly accepting a bribe of$5000 from AI-Shaaer in return for a fake certiti- ~

9 cate certi fy ing that 362 genuine Pharaoni c, lelY, the giant sculptures are around 1000 years Roman and Greek antiquities were modern old and were given to one of Garcia's uncles replicas. Us ing the certificate A I-Shaaer at­ in 19 12, along with other stone and wood carv­ tempted to smuggle the pi eces (i ncluding ings, in return for hi s development work with 288 icons, 13 bracelets, 60 small sculptures Easter islanders. Chilean officials said they and the head of a large statue) to a private had not authorized the export of the a pri­ dealer in Spain, but they were intercepted vate collection of objects from the island. by airport police (see In the News, CWC Archaeologists expressed doubt that authen­ issue II ). tic statues could ha ve been smuggled out, and confirmed that while the pi eces are made fi'om • Two security gnards and two excavators genuine Easter Island stone they display mod­ worki ng with the french Mi ssion were ar­ em tool marks. rested for alleged theft in February. Three days later the Supreme Counc il of Antiqui­ ties received three important antiquities from the Sakkara area (Old Kingdom en­ Thefts in Pakistan grav ings depicting hunting and celesti al scenes, sawn from in side the funerary tem­ F ebrll{lI), 2003: Fri ends of archaeology in ple ofa Sixth Dynasty Queen), whi ch were Peshawar, Pakistan announced that more recovered by the Tourist Police. than 400 sculptures disappeared and were replaced with fakes when the store of the Federal Archaeology Department moved premI ses. Coin theft in Holland They also ex pressed concern that illegal ex­ In February thieves stole 19 Roman gold cavations were taking place at Rustam, coins from Utrecht city museum, Nether­ and that Federal Archaeology Department lands, probably during the crowded opening excavators had also stolen antiquities fro m of another exhibition. The coins form part of the site, causing locals to register complaints a hoard discovered in 1933 during excavations about both legal and illegal diggers. in the centre of the city whi ch was once a Roman fort. There are very well-documented which, it is hoped, will make them harder to sell. Thefts in India

The Tilll es a/india ( II Feb 2003) reports that up to 19 ancient Panchaloha idols, includ­ Easter Island mystery ing one orthe main deity Sri Laxmivenkatesha, have been stolen from Srilaxmivenkatesha JanuGI)' 2003: Two massive stone heads at temple, Bhatkal. the Cronos Gallery, Miami (put up for sale by Hernan Ga"cia Gonzalo, formerly a sen­ ior aid to General Augusto Pinochet as part of a collection of 15 Easter Island artefacts) be­ Afghanistan update came a source of speculation when the Chilean government began investigating whether they • Museum director Omara Khan Masoudi were genuine antiquities illegally exported, says that renovation has begun in several or fakes. According to press packs at the gal- rooms ofthe Kabul Museum, Afghanistan.

/0 The museum was emptied by looling in the ghanistan can claim that objects left the 1990s and artefacts considered idolatrous country during these years, without appar­ to the Taliban regim e were destroyed in ently breaking Afghan law. It is often 200 I. With the help of th e British Museum, impossible to prove when an item did leave the British Embassy in Kabul and British the country. Minister for Culture Dr Raheen peacekeeping forces the long process of has promised to strengthen the legal museum and artefact restoration has begun. framework. It is hoped that Afghanistan In addition, the Japanese have promised will soon ratify the 1970 UNESCO Con­ photographi c equipment, the Greeks are to vention. rebuild a wing, the Asian Foundation will help with documentation, while the US have pledged more money for the restoration department and UNESCO will work on the Museum declaration windows and water supply. 8 December 2002: A joint Declaration on the Sayed Raheen, Minister fo r Culture and In­ Importance and Value of Universal Muse­ formation in Kabul , Afghanistan, told The ums signed by more than 30 major museums Times that illicit excavation and trade in and research in stitutions in Europe and the antiquities is the worst of the country's USA (including the Metropolitan Museum, the problems at present and is getting worse Louvre, The Hermitage, the State Museums by the day, adding that for the criminals the of Berlin, and the British Museum) was re­ profit margins are bigger than in the leased following an October meeting in opium trade. Munich of the International Group of Organ­ isers of Large-scale Ex hibitions. The statement • Jim Williams of UNESCO confirmed that (prompted by what the group felt was increas­ London has long been the biggest mar­ ing politicization of the di spute over the ket for Afghan material. Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum) emphasizes the ideals of the uni versa l museum • Under questioning, a group of men arrested and articulates attitudes towal'ds I'estitution at the Afghan/Pakistan border carrying 24 of artefacts, but is prefaced by 'the convic­ Buddhist artefacts, incltJding statues (see tion th at illegal traffic in archaeological, In the News, ewe issue II ), admitted they artistic, ethnic objects must be firmly dis­ were looted from Kalir Kot, a little known couraged' - a view whi ch was welcomed by ancient site in the remote Kharwar district ICOM (I nternational Council of Museums). in central Afghanistan.

Confusion over past and present laws on protection of cultural heritage in Afghani­ Looting in the US stan is hampering attempts to stem the fl ow of illicit antiquities from the countlY An anonymous ca ll on 15 August 2002 to and facilitate their return. Although the 1958 the Army Corps of Engineers at Wappape ll o Code for the Protection of Antiquities in Lake, south eastern Missouri, led to the dis­ Afghanistan, passed under the royal gov­ covery and arrest of Steven Tripp and ernment, is still valid, a 1980 Law on William Cooksey as they were about to Cultural Heri tage introduced after the So­ leave a remote archaeological site they had viet in vasion is actually in use. Policies on been ill egall y digging in the area. They had cultural heritage during the Taliban years stolen about 15 arrowheads and artefacts, were conh'adictory so dealers outside Af- some of which were found in Tripp's shoes.

II It was not immediately clear to which cul­ Schultz appeal ture the artefacts belong as various Native American tribes li ved near the lake. The two New York a ntiquities dea le r F"cderick were indicted in October on charges of de­ Schultz, sentenced in June 2003 to a 33-month stroying archaeological resources on federal jail sentence (see CWC, issue 10) has ap­ land and damaging federal property (maxi­ pealed his conviction for receivin g illicit mum penalties of two years in prison and Egyptian antiquities (see the Art Newspaper $20,000 fin e and 10 years' jail and $250,000 December 2002). H is lawyers argue that: fin e respecti ve ly). I. The Nati onal Stolen Property Act (NSPA) , In November 2002 Tammy Woosley and applied in the case does not cover antiqui­ Danny Keith Rose pled guilty (as part of ti es regard ed as stole n under foreign a pl ea agreement) in federal court to mi s­ ownership laws; demeanours in connection with illegally 2. The court would not let a video be shown digging up a ancient Anasazi burial in which lawyers say would prove th at Schultz Reservoir Ruin, a federally protected ar­ believed US law did not recogni ze foreign chaeological site near Dolores, Colorado. ownership laws (the NSPA requires that When di scovered by a Federal Ranger dig­ offenders know they are dealing in stolen ging with a garden trowel and a collapsible merchandise); shovel in October 2000, Woosley said the 3. That the court was wrong to say it could couple had come to looking for cacti, saw convict him not only if he knew of Eygpt's archaeological material on the surface and antiquities ownership law, but also ifit were got carried away. found that he had 'consciously avoided Linda Farnsw0l1h, archaeologist with the learning' it, which Schultz deliberately San Juan Public Lands Center said such loot­ avoided confirming. In thi s case, it is ar­ ing is pretty widcspread and estimated 15 gued, a 'high probability' test should have incidents on US Forest Service or Bureau of been carried out; Land Management land in the region in 2002. 4. That the evidence from five other witnesses, called to testify their knowledge of Egyp­ • Decelll ber 2002: Jack Lee Harelson of tian antiquities laws to establish that 'even Grants Pass, Oregon was fined $2.5 mil­ an ignoramus' in the field would know of lion in civil penaltics for damagc and them, was prejudicial and did not refer to destruction caused when he looted EI­ what Schultz knew. cphant Mountain Cave, Nevada over several years in the earl y 1980s. He and hi s The US is contesting the appeal. wife removed the bodies and grave goods of a boy and girl they found in two large baskets burying the bodies in their garden. Among 2000 othcr artcfacts scized were China and illicit antiquities a pair of I O,OOO-year-old sandals - possi­ bly the oldest footwear known - indicating Th e Seattle Times (27 January 2003) car­ the archaeological potential of the material, ri ed out an in vestigation whi ch compared had it been excavated scientificall y. various th ermoluminescence dates regi s­ Harelson, who told th e court he dug a ' test tered in tests on a Chinese ceramic vessel hol e' to interest archaeologists in the site, purchased tt'om Thesaurus Fine Arts in indicated that he was unlikely to pay the Seattle. The piece came with certi fi cation, fin e, saying he is on Social Security and signed by Dr Po Lau Leung of City Uni­ crippled. versity of Hong Kong, stating the piece was

~

12 1200 years o ld - subsequent tests by Ox­ China (stolen during a raid in 1997 for ford Authentication (UK) and Daybreak which one of the perpetrators was sentenced Archaeometric Laboratory (USA) found to li fe imprisonment) was replaced on its it to be less than 100 and less than 45 years torso and the join reinforced by a steel old respectively. Leung could not explain rod to prevent future theft. Buddhist mas­ the difference, but admitted that he had, in ter Sheng-yen, founder ofthe Dharma Drum the past, turned a blind eye when Profes­ Mountain Buddhist Association of Taiwan sor Steven Cheung, operating under the received the head as a gift from disciples in trading name of Thesaurus Fine Arts and 2002 but immediately suspected it was an Dandelion Fine A,·ts had changed the illicit antiquity, as hi s enquiries subsequently 'dynasty ' of a pot to suit the thermolumin­ proved (see In the News, ewe issue II ). escence date achi eved. Cheung, a famous economi st with special interests in art and In China, officials said that around 50 East­ antiquities market behaviour, apparently ern Han d ynasty (2000-year old) tombs bought equipment to set up Adsigno Thermo­ in Bieli, Sichuan province, had been looted luminescence Laborato,'y in 200 I, whi ch after a farmer dug up a green, carved brick. certified a purportedly Ming Dynasty (400- It is believed that jades, bronzes and other 600 years o ld) tile bought at the same shop treasures were taken, leaving onl y less mon­ by Th e Seal/Ie Tim es. Again , subsequent etaril y valuable items for archaeologists tests at the laboratori es above indicated thi s scientific excavation and study. Some items, object was also fake. A few weeks later the in cluding coins were recovered from local newspaper, now banned by the gall ery from homes but most are believed to have been purchasing further items, noted that tiles of sold on. Since most ofthe fami lies in nearby the same type, confirmed as being from th e vi ll ages appear to have been in volved, po­ same group, were now mysteri ously being lice are concentrating on finding and marketed as Han Dynasty (more than 1000 detaining "ingleaders and middlemen. years older) and cost hundreds of dollars more. March 2003: Farmers in the northern prov­ Cheung claimed either The Seal/Ie Times ince ofShaanxi were praised for reporting or mailing service must have re-fired the their find of a hoa"d of 2900-year-old ceramics in order to alter the thermolumin­ bronze vessels, including a bronze cauldron. escence reading and frame Thesaurus Fine The artefacts are now on display in Beijing. Arts, but Oxford Authentication said their test would have detected such tampering. • Following reports in 2002 that the royal Hollywood Road antiquities dealer Vic­ mausoleum of Loulan/Kroraina (Lop Nur tor Choi told the newspaper that sale of region on the Si lk Road in X injiang Uygur fakes hurts the whole industry. Autonomous Region) had been looted, a fact-finding team of archaeologists fro m In a companion article Th e Seal/Ie Times Xinjiang C ultural Heritage and Relics In­ also looked at the long tradition in China stitute was sent to the area. They found: of making and selling "eproductions and o That the ransacked tomb, situated beneath how thi s tradition clashes with modern con­ a pagoda, was indeed a highly significant cepts of ori g in ality and ever-increasin g noble tomb, but not the legendary rest­ Western demand fo r genuine ancient Chi­ ing place of Loulan roya ls. nese materi al. o Smashed murals on the wall s of th e looted tomb nevertheless provided fresh On 17 December 2002 the decapitated head insights into the li ves of ancient inhabit­ oftheAkshobhya Buddha of the FOlll' Gate ants of the area after th e demise of the Pagoda, Shando ng Province in eastern Loulan Kingdom.

13 o At the ruins of Lou Ian City were around Israeli issues 50 looted graves with wooden coffins torn open, exposed human skeletons • Lawyers for collector Oded Golan (see In (some charred as thought they had been the News, ewe issue II) criticized the used by the tomb robbers to make camp­ Israel Antiquities Authority when they fires), and fragments of destroyed silk. cast doubt on the possibl e authenticity and o Two large tombs contained nothing but legality of an object (a black sandstone skeletons and broken coffins. tablet with a IS-line Hebrew in scription o Police found little evidence to work with, sa id to date from the ninth century Be) which although car tracks, old and new, were the collector offered to let them stud y. At­ visible. torney Lior Bringer argues that the ' King o The wilderness Lop Nur area (on the east lehoash inscription', if genuine, could stand of the vast Taklamakan Desert) was, un­ as the first external evidence of some bibli­ til petroleum exploration began in the cal events and so the question of ownership mid-1990s, almost inaccessible. New is ' irrelevant', and that the police and au­ roads have increased accessibility which thorities are unjustl y vilify in g a man has led to an epidemic of looting, some, ' thanks to his connections, is capable of judging from still-smouldering fires , veIY getting his hand on cultural tr'easures and recent. rare and va luabl e archaeological findings ' o An intact, decorated coffin from the area ( 19 March, Haaretz.com.). But the Antiq­ can fetch up to one millio n yuan uities Authority suggested that documents ($120,000) in Urumqi, the regional capi­ seized from Golan's house indicate that con­ tal. trary to his claims he docs own the piece, o A one-million yuan State Development that he may have obtained it in violation of Planning Commission and State Ad­ antiquities laws and that given the stone 's ministration of Cultural Heritage fund importance if genuine they are obliged to has been set up for the protection of the conduct investi gations. Loulan area, which has helped install satellite telephones and check points on October 2002: The Israeli Unit for the Pre­ major roads. vention of Antiquities Theft found 15 tons o Looters now apparently enter restricted of stolen antiquities, inc luding Roman archaeological areas claiming to be in­ marble pillars and a Second Temple Period volved in environmental protection or stone sarcophagus, in the home of an Israel i wildlife protection programmes, or ap­ man in Caesarea. He claims to have found proach from a different direction. the objects near hi s house. o Police are encountering looters with in­ The Unit says that most of the time dig­ creasingly sophisticated equipment and gers are looking for oil lamps, pottery, financial backing. glassware, bronze objects, clay stamps and inscribed items. Such objects sell for hun­ • In May 2003 the Archaeological Institute dreds, even thousands of dollars, or more if of America announced that their 2004 intact. awar'd for Outstanding Public Service to archaeology will go to He Shuzhong, Hershel Shanks and colleagues speculate founder and director of Cultural Heritage (BAR lan/Feb 2003) about the or-igin ofthe Watch in China. The prize honours individu­ considerable number of bullae (clay als or groups that have done most to promote sealings with sometimes important seal public understanding of, and interest in, ar­ impressions) that have recently surfaced on chaeology. the market. Very few bullae are known from

~

14 legal archaeological excavati ons whi ch whi ch has been proposed for 10 years, would seems to indicate that, ifthe source ofthose increase the peri od of limitation after whi ch now appearing is illegal excavation, loot­ cultural goods of unknown ori gin become le­ ers are much better at fi nding them than gal from 5 to 30 years, but has been strongly archaeologists. Rumour has it that they may opposed by deale .. s, museums and art as­ ori ginate from Jerusalem or Hebron. sociations who came together to create a counter-p ro posal. If passed by both houses of parliament the earliest it will come into force would be 2004. Andrea RascheI', who is re­ Japan and 1970 UNESCO sponsible for law and intern ati onal affairs at Convention the Federal Culture Offi ce, said acti on was considered after the extent of the problem of Agency of Cultu .. al Affairs offi cials voiced illicit trade came to li ght in recent years. scepticism that Japan's signing of the 1970 UNESCO Conventi on will affect deals involv­ ing stolen goods, since many are ' carri ed out behind the scenes' (Asahi .com, 22 November New law put to Parliament 2002). They drew attenti on to: • the left foo t of a sculpture of Zeus from na­ Liberal Democrat MP Ri chard All an intro­ ti onal museum o f Afghani stan, Kabul, duced to Pa .. liament a private members' Bill, which surfaced in Japan; proposing a new C ultu .. al Objects (Offences) a marked influx of china and porcelain from Act, which will make it a criminal offence to Thailand, Vi etnam and the Philippines dur­ knowingly acquire or dispose of any object ing the last 20 years. stolen from an archaeological site, monument or shipwreck, whether in UK or abroad. The Department for Culture, Medi a and Sport said the new Bill is aimed at profess ional looters Happy returns to Mali and dealers who accept suspi cious artefacts. It has the full backing of Government. Samuel Sidib6, director of the National Mu­ seum, Bamako, Mali was delighted at the .. eturn of 18 (16 te .... acotta, 2 wooden) statu­ ettes stolen from the central Bandiagara region Metal detecting in Ireland of the Niger river delta and believed to have been fo und in the possession of a private col­ In the weeks preceding Christmas, archae­ lector and F .. ench antiquities deale ... Sidibe ologists in Ireland advised people not to said the rehll'll was just reward for the efforts buy 0 .. accept metal detectors as gifts, and Mali has made in recent years to raise aware­ told shops and manufachlrers not to adver­ ness of the looting of its cultural heritage. tise them for fear of potential criminal use. It is illegal to di g for archaeological objects in Ireland, or to use metal detectors fo r ar­ chaeological purposes, without a li cence. New Swiss law Meanwhile obj ects (i ncluding a gold cov­ March 2003: The House of Rep .. esentatives, ered early crucifix, Bronze Age daggers, and Switzerland, approved in principle and with Iron Age pin, and hundreds of coins) from amendments a new law to tighten t .. ade in the 800 item hoal'd impounded from con­ illicit antiquities in the country. The draft law, victed illegal metal detectorist Anthony

15 Malloy, and hi s son Kevin (see In th e News, 1990 it became bi g business with outs iders ewe II ), were put on display at the Na­ coming from the city to dig materi al fo r sale. tional Museum, Dublin. Walter Alva, director of excavations at Sipan (see ewe issue 4), organi zed eight patrols (known as grupo de proteccioll arquea­ logica or la grupa) in the early 1990s in Endangered rock art response to this phenomenal growth in com­ mercial looting. Alec Campbell and David Coul son, founder Grupas stop peopl e occupy ing land on ar­ of TARA (the Trust for African Rock Art) chaeological sites, chase off or hold looters, are trying to draw intern ati onal attenti on to confiscate tools and call th e museum staff the possible extinction of Africa's rich and who call the poli ce. important rock-art heritage, some of whi ch Decline in demand fo r sugar has contrib­ dates back to at least 10,000 Be. Amongst other uted to economi c diffic ulties whi ch make threats identified, traders are carving out whole lootin g a lucrative option. secti ons to sell to art dealers in Europe. Most looters are not local vill agers. Many come from th e market town ofCayalti , well known in the region as the place where an­ tiquities are bought and sold. Archaeological discovery in Atwood bought a genuine In ka pot and bro­ Germany ken Moche portrait vessel fo r $3 each from a bl ack market dealer in Cayalti , who en­ quired if he was a museum d irecto r. Looters of an ancient bronze disc, depicting The hi story and importance of pre­ the sun, moon, stars, and a possible 'solar boat' Columbian cultures like the Moche, Chimll, (see In th e News, ewe issue 10), ha ve led Chavin is now taught in schools. archaeologists to the site where they di scov­ Alva says about 350 locals are now actively ered it along with axes andjewellelY four years in volved in patro lling, and have seized ago. Excavations at Nebl'a, 100 mil es south­ about 3200 obj ects . west of Berlin have revealed a wooden • The situation in the north west of the coun­ structure surrounded by a circula r ditch, try contrasts with that in th e Caiiete area from whi ch the summer solstice sun can be south of Lima (famous fo r its ancient tex­ seen setting behind th e hi ghest mountain of til es, worth up to $250,000 on the market), the Harz range. The site could be interpreted where huaqueros encounter less po li ce at­ as an ancient observatory, and appears to have tenti on and there are no citi zen patrols. been in use fo r more than a mill ennium. • On a ni ghtime raid by four looters on an Inka IllI aca, Atwood witnessed th em prob­ ing fo r and finding tombs 10 feet down, di gging down to them in 15 minutes and Peruvian case studies trashing and di scarding the materia l remains within (human bones, gourds containing Roger Atwood, reporting in Archaeology peanuts, knitting and mus ical instrUl11 ents, magazine (January/February 2003) describes children's toys etc.) because they were un ­ the efforts bei ng made by ' citizens' brigades' saleabl e. They took special care removin g in northwestern Peru to stem business-dri ven a textil e shirt wrapped ro und the body of a looting of archaeological sites. Among other male youth and sold it to an ' important things he notes: buyer' named Lueho earl y the next morn­ That until quite recently looting amounted ing for $ 1000. largely to souvenir collecting, but around ~

16 Sources: Th e GI/ordiall 1-laarcIZ.COIll A 11 (1110 va Arc haeo logical In stitute of Ameri ca tCOM Archaeology Th e indepelldellt The Art Newspaper Internati onal Council of Museums Asa hi. co lll Irish E.rolll iller Associated Press }\Ifiallli I-Jerald Tribune BBC News A4in el'v(I Th e New York Tillles Beijing lVeek~) ' Biblical Archaeology Review News 24 Th e Bosloll Globe People s Da ily Capital JOll/"llal (Soulh Dakola) The Register-GI/ard (Oregon) CBS News Th e Seallle Tillles Ch icago Trib une SUI1 SpOl.l1 el China Daily Th e Sunday Tillles Christiall ScieJl ce Nlol/ito/" Swiss in fo Cu ltural Herit age Watc h Th e Telegraph Cu ltllrai Propeny. net Th e Tilll es Durango Herald Online Th e Tim es of India Egyptian State Informati on Service Xinhu a News Agenc y Th e Frol11ier Post

Colombia, illicit antiquities graphs were of objects known to be stolen, for example the stone anthropomorphic figures sto­ and the ICOM Red List len in San Agustin, but many other objects shown Latin America were in fact only examples - examples of types of artefacts under threat from looting. And it was a long li st of examples: Sinll and Muisca gold, olombia has suffered as much as any coun­ Muisca pottery, Tairona poltery, La Miel pottery, C try from the attentions of archaeological Tamalameque pottery, Tumaco pottery, Calima bandits, probably more than most, and authori­ pottery, and Malagana poltery. ti es there ha ve been working w ith in creasing Not much is known about the looting of effect to rai se awareness of th e importance of archaeological sites in Colombia, nor about how cultural heritage, with a view to stopping its theft. much archaeological material has been illegally It is no surprise then that ICOM chose Bogota to removed. We can gain some idea from the w idely be the venue of their April 2002 work shop for reported plunder of a cemetery at Hacienda the preparati on of the Red List - Latill Allierica. Malagana in 1992, when something like 160 kg The meetin g was hosted by the Mini stry of Cul­ of gold were removed by more than 5000 peopl e ture of Colombia and attended by museum s and and one person was murdered (Figs. I & 2). Hun­ heritage professionals from Latin America, Eu­ dreds of tombs were destroyed in this one rope and North America. They compiled a li st of incident, and presumably it is a loss that has been categories of cultural heritage thought to be un­ repeated many times over throughout Colombia. der severe threat from looting and th eft, much Not much is known either about how much ar­ along the lin es of lCOM 's similar and hi ghl y ef­ chaeo logicalmaterial has left th e country, and it fe cti ve Red List - Aji-ica, published in 2000. probab ly never will , but very liltle has ever been ICOM 's 1997 volume in th eir One Hun­ recovered . Those objects that have been recov­ dred Mi ssing Objects seri es Lootillg ill Latin ered include some anthropomorphic figures from Allierica had already illustrated 22 objects miss­ San Agustin, an area which was badly looted ing from Colombia, but the reality that lies behind during the 1980s and 1990s. 17 statues are known the illustrations is far worse. Some of the photo- to have been stolen, although a number have been

17 Figure 1. Looting in progress at the cemetery site of MaJagana .

Figure 2. Pits left by looters at Malagana. returned. One pi ece, weighing over 1200 Ib, left Co lombia ill egall y in 1993 and was di scovered at a gall ery in Cali fo rni a whence it was returned to Colombia; th e French government has also returned another four figures that had been bought Figure 3. Returned San Agustin statue. by a private coll ector in Nantes (Fi g. 3). There is certainly a good market for Co­ At cin emas in Colombi a, adverti sements lombian materi a l. In 2000, fo r example, at th e produced by the National Campaign are screened annual Cuitura Fa ir, in Basel, Switzerland, one between films and graphi call y hi ghli ght the dam­ dealer offered a gold hoard from Colombia (con­ age done by archaeological thefi. They leave the sisting of 130 archaeological objects) for about viewer w ith powerful images in mind, such as $3 million. The Colombian institute of Anthro­ lifesize, Precolumbian San Agustin statues bl eed­ pology and Hi story reports that some pi eces ingas they are ripped from th eir contexts. Posters, leaving Colombia ill ega ll y may ha ve two certifi­ an effecti ve tool seen al so in other awareness cates: th e first, whi ch accompanies th e piece campaigns, are prominentl y placed (Figs. 4 & 5). through customs certifies that it is a replica; the They shout messages like 'Speak Gill! - DOllr second, whi ch is produced at point of sal e when al/ol\! Ihe deslmerioll olour hislorv ' and depi ct the pi ece has left Colombia, guaran tees its au­ cartoon hlloqueros going about their destructive thenticity as an archaeological pi ece. activiti es. In the National Mu seum, labels at­ tached to artefacts that have been returned - lik e Colombian response one of the San Agustin statues menti oned above, The energeti c and committed team at the Colom­ stolen in 1994 and repatriated from France in bian Ministry of Culture have publicized heritage 1998 - in clude references to the ' in calculable laws and created an innovative National Cam­ va lue of our heritage', and are des igned to en­ paign against Illi cit Traffic in Cultural Heritage. courage Colo mbians to care for and protect The aim of the programme is rai se awareness and cultural heritage. protect cultural heritage by means of press cam­ An example of such curation is very vis­ paigns, posters, community group and youth ibl e in the form of young members of the Vigia activities and educational initiatives. programme, whi ch was the brainchild of Direc-

18 PERMITAS QUE OESTRUYAN TU RISTORIA en-- ....c::t k .. ' :z-c.:t pe,milas que destruvan nuestra :z= ...a Figure 5. Poster produced by tile National Campaign promoting -- the preservation of Columbia 's cultural herilagG. INSTITUTO NACIDNAL DE CULTURA munities. In relation to the ongoing campaign TACNA against illicit antiquities their va lue is clear and explicitly stated, especially in the areas of docu­ mentation, promoting legislati on and education.

Figure 4. Poster produced by the National Campaign promoting the preservation of Columbia '5 cultural Beyond archaeology heritage. Archaeological artefacts are not the only category tor of Heritage, Katya Gond tl ez Rosa les and of cultural heritage under threat in Colombia, or Minster for Culture, Araceli Morales Lopez (Fig. indeed Latin America more generally, a reality 6). The Vigia initiative harnesses the enthu siasm that is acknowledged in the ICOM Red LiSI - Lalin and energy of ci vic-minded uni versity students Alllerica. In a paper issued by the Colombian from a ll over Colombia, who are prepared to be­ Ministry of C ult ure Mari a Isabel Gomez Aya la come vo lunteer 'culture scouts' as part ofa legally (the Coordinator of the Natio nal Campaign sanctioned, organi zed culture programme des igned against Illi cit Traffic in Cultural Objects) gave to encourage the protection and promotion ofCo­ an account of the theft of paintings by Colom­ lombia's rich heri tage. It is hoped that programmes bian artists and of hi storical artefacts which go like this will consolidate or change attitudes, help­ to feed the appetite in Spain and the United States ing to create a vision of a shared future. for 'Colonial Art'. She wrote': Vigia cu lture scouts are give n their di stinc­ As dawn broke 0 11 26 February 1993 a group of ti ve blue and yellow uniforms when they swear men arrived a\ th e church o f La Peiia in B ogo t~i. an oath to help fight for the preservation of the They bound and gagged the parish priest and an nati onal heritage bequeathed to them by th eir an­ employee, and proceeded to take II colonial paint­ cestors, and to help maintain and enrich that ings. ma inl y of the seventeenth and e ighteenth resource for the sake offuture generations. Their centuries. Some arc by anonymous artists. oth ers duties include supporting the work of the Mini s­ by Baltazar de Figueroa and one is by the master Go nzalo Ari za. None have been recovered. try for Culture by helping to inventory collecti ons, In May 1993 th e Museum o f Religious Art in organi zing and participating in cultural events, Santale de An ti oq uia was robbed o f 18 large for­ li ke National Culture Day, acting as educators at mat colonial pain ti ngs, of th e Qui teilo school and pl aces of in terest fo r local citi zens (Fig. 7), cam­ by pa inter Gregori o Vasquez de Aree y Ceball os. paigning against the destruction of moveable and Fort unately, these pi eces were listed in th e cultural heritage in ventory of Antioquia and, despite hav­ immoveabl e cultural heritage, conducting sc hol­ in g to be restorecl after recovery due to th e damage arly research on cultural themes and providing they had suffered. they escaped the fa te o r 1110st an example of citi zen parti cipation for their com- oth er listed it ems that have disappeared. Timely

19 Figure 6. Vigia logo.

notification, through press and television, together with publi c cooperation and efficient work by DAS, all owed the recovery of 15 of these work s in Octo­ ber. In vestigations suggest th e thieves belonged to a gang specia li zin g in lootin g art. The Art Museum orlhe National Universit y di s­ covered Ih [lI 35 e ng ravings fro m th e Pi zano co ll ecti on wen t mi ssing between 1992

20 doubt for adding a touch of auth enticity to a neo­ Co loni al cultural objects that are thought to be coloni al hacienda , and uninteresting as hi storical particularly at ri sk from looting and theft. The documents to those who buy them, but when categori es are critical in that they represent ma­ properl y studi ed they have much to tell us about terial most in danger, but they are certainl y not techniques of production and the organi zation of ex haustive. There is much other material in Latin the colonial econom y. Thi s is yet another gro up America under threat, and its non-inclu sion on of ill egall y ex ported cu ltural objects, and one the list is not intended to legitimise its sa le or whi ch deserves to be protected with the same zea l coll ection. The Red Li st is schedu led for full pub­ as stolen art or archaeology. li cation, in paper and elec tronic formats, in September 2003, when a full description of each Red List - Latin America category of object, photos and details of legisla­ The Red List - Latin Alllerica was agreed at the tion protecting those objects will be added. April 2002 works hop in Bogota and is now ava il­ ab le in preliminary form on ICOM 's website at No te http ://ico m.museumlred li st_lati na_ eng. ht mi. It 1. Translntcd fr om the origin al Spani sh by Alexa nder compri ses a li st of types of Precolumbian and Herrera .

Book review: Greek Vases VINN I E N0RSKOV in New Contexts

D AVID GILL

r John Di sney, the founder of the Di sney D Chair of Archaeology at Cambridge, once IN NEW CONTEXTS compared the discovery of fin e Greek pottery (' ficti Ie vases ') in the cemeteries of Etruri a to th e finding oftruffl es (G ill 1990). Greek Vcrses ill Neill CO lltexts is a major study of th e phenomenon of co ll ecting, di splaying, an d se lling these tasty and expensive treats - Greek figure-decorated pots ('vases') - from the fifteenth ce ntury onwards. It ranges from the explorations of Campan ian ce meteries by Sir William Hamilton to the di s­ play of (rep li ca) Greek vases in the Florida vill a AARHU~ UNIV[RSITY PROS of Itali an fas hi on-des igner Gianni Ve rsace. There are six main chapters that include 'The hi story N0rskov, Vinnie, 2002. Greek Vases in New Contexts: of co ll ecti ng Greek vases', 'Vases for sale: trade tile Collecting and Trading of Greek Vases - an Aspect and restri ctions', 'Vases in muse um s: case stud­ of th e Modern Reception of Antiquity. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 407 pp. ies', and 'A look at the market: ava il ab ility or choice' . At the hea rt of the study is an important now also Chippindale et al. 200 I, 20- 22), the di scuss ion of eight European and North Ameri ­ Na tional Museum in Copenhagen, th e Ny can co ll ections of Greek pottery: the Bri tis h Carl sberg Glyptotek, the Antik ensamI11lung Kiel , Museum , the Ashmolea n Museum in Ox ford (see Antikenmuse um Base l und Sammlung Ludwig,

21 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, faced" in the sale itself'), and of Apulian pottery and the Duke Classical Collection. The impact (Elia 2001, 147, 'some 94.5 per cent of all re­ of the Code of Practice by the (British) Muse­ corded Apulian vases have been unearthed ums Association can be seen in the Acquisition without the benefit of systematic archaeological Policy for both the Ashmolean Museum (p. 220; investigation '). It would have been helpful to see also Vickers 1992) and the British Museum have a more nuanced analysis of when the indi­ (p. 128). This contrasts with other museums vidual pots with some history first surfaced. The which are not bound by such clear rules: 'no firm most expensive 20 Greek pots sold at auction guidelines' (National Museum, Copenhagen; p. between 1969 and 2000, were worth more than 142), 'a general reluctance to acquire objects $15 million (p. 356 appendix C). How many of without secure provenance' (Ny Carlsberg the collections listed were in fact of recent for­ Glyptotek, p. 178). Some of the donors behind mation? One piece even appears to come from the expansion of the Greek and Roman galleries the realization of an antiquities investment port­ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (p. 165) are folio. For example a pelike from the Embiricos individuals whose collections have been the sub­ collection - a collection represented in the top ject of study elsewhere (Chippindale & Gill 2000, 20 - was sold at auction in 1993 but 'it did not 472-5): it is clear that these private collections have the documented history necessary for ac­ have been formed from newly-surfaced antiqui­ quisition by the British Museum' (p. 130). In the ties. The importance of Greek pottery as part of a top twenty were 5 pots once owned by the Hunt wider university 'art' collection can be illustrated brothers, sold for $3.8 million. This collection by the purchase of the Greek vases once owned was once presented as 'The Wealth of the An­ by the traveler William M. Leake in 1864. This cient World' (Tompkins 1983). This raises the in effect initiated the important collection of intellectual consequence of how modern mon­ Greek pottery held by the Fitzwilliam Museum etary (and aesthetic) values are placed on ancient in the University of Cambridge, supplementing pottery, which we know from ancient commer­ the founding gift of sculpture by John Disney in cial graffiti was in fact a humble medium (Vickers 1850 (compare p. 204 table 11 which gives the & Gill 1994). The unwillingness of contempo­ date 1848; see Gill 1999). In Oxford, 82 per cent rary 'vase' scholarship to recognize this tension of the antiquities acquired by the Ashmolean Mu­ between modern interpretation and the ancient seum during the 1930s consisted of Greek pottery evidence, perhaps reflects the way that 'vases' (Chippindale et al. 2001, 21). The problem of have been robbed of their original archaeologi­ forming a new collection of Greek pottery has cal contexts. All that scholarship can now provide been highlighted by the San Antonio Museum of is a superficial art-historical interpretation with Art (Shapiro et al. 1995). Not one piece from the attributions to anonymous pot-decorators, a situ­ 183 catalogued items comes with a stated prov­ ation not dissimilar to that for Cycladic figures. enance, and at least 86 per cent of the pots had One area which could have been explored is the surfaced since 1974 (Chippindale & Gill 2000, movement of Greek pottery from the cemeteries 479, especially supplementary tables 20-21). of Etruria to Switzerland, and then on to the auc­ One significant feature ofN0rskov's study tion rooms of London before being acquired by is the quantification of the pottery surfacing on private collectors and museums (Watson 1997). the antiquities market. Over 18,000 Greek pots The unmasking of this route led Sotheby's to dis­ from 596 catalogues were registered from auc­ continue its antiquities operation in London (in tion and other sales between 1954 and 1998. This spite of what has been said by a certain London sample suggested that 80-90 per cent of the pots dealer to a House of Commons Select Commit­ surfacing had no previous history ('provenance') tee: Gill & Chippindale 2002, 54), though all that suggesting that they were recent finds (p. 259). has happened is that it has moved the selling of This is consistent with other studies, of the Lon­ antiquities onto the internet (see now Chippindale don antiquities market (Chippindale et al. 2001, & Gill 200 1). Peter Watson identified the role of 19, 'just under 90 per cent of objects offered for Giacomo Medici, who also appears as one of the auction in the survey since World War II first "sur- dealers behind the Hunt collection (p. 270 n. 55).

22 A future study should attempt to identi fy the pots handled by Medici, and perhaps acquired by un­ suspecting museums and collectors in good faith believing that they came from ' old European col­ lections'. Norskov's index of personal names wil l also help to identifY the validity (or otherwise) of such 'old ' coll ections. The tables showing numbers and percent­ ages of Greek pots on the market between 1954 and 1998 will provide the basis for future re­ search. The low figure for East Greek pottety (59 pots) may suggest that the cemeteri es of Turkey and the Greek islands have yet to be looted in the systematic way of the Italian cemeteries. The quantification of the South Italian pottety is not dissimilar to the hi stogram created by Ricardo ".711. I ,l.,mlI Eli a for ' Sotheby's South Italian pottery sales, 1965-1998 ' (Elia 2001 , 149, fig. 18.2), though AARHUS UN1V(RSITY PRtsS Norskov has highlighted a further South Ita li an peak in 1990. Interestingly Attic pottery has J. Doole & C. Renfrew. (McDonald In stitute Mono­ ' highs' in 1985 and 1990: 1990 is the year of the graph. ) Cambridge: McDonald In stitute for Archaeo­ Nelson Bunker Hunt and the Erlenmeyer sales logical Research, 145- 53. (p. 275, table 15). Gill, D.W.J. , 1990. 'Ancient fictile vases' from the Dis­ ney Collection. JOllmal q( Ihe HislOIY of ColleCliolls Norskov has identified a number of mate­ 2(2), 227- 3 1. rial consequences for the collecting of Greek fine G ill , D.WJ., 1999. Winifred Lamb and the Fitzwilliam pottery, though the nettle of intellectual conse­ Museum , in Classics ill 19th and 20th Ceil/lilY Calll­ quences was not, perhaps, grasped. For pots bridge: Curriculum. Culture alld COllllll llllity, ed. C. attributed to 'the Berlin Painter', onl y so me 13 Stray. (PCPS suppl. vol. 24.) Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society, 135- 56. per cent comes a relatively secure archaeologi­ Gi ll , D.W.J. & c. Chippindale, 2002. The trade in looted cal context, and 50 per cent have no archaeological antiquities and the return of cultural property: a Brit­ context at all. This has implications for the inter­ ish parliament ary inquiry. International Journal of pretation of the development of style and the ClIlllIral Properly II ( I), 50- 64. dating of associated material, as well as the un­ Shapiro, H.A. , C.A. Picon & G.D. Scott (cds.), 1995. Greek Vases ill the San Antonio i\4useum o.lArt. San An ton io derstanding of the funerary function of pots (TX): San Ant onio Museum of Art. attributed to this hand. Tompkins, J.F. (cd.), 1983. Weallh o(lhe Allcielll World: the Nelsoll Blinker J-/Ul1t Gild William Herbert 1-lufIl References Collecliolls. Fort Worth (TX): Kimbell Art Museum. Chippindale, C. & D.WJ. Gill , 2000. Material conse­ Vickers, M., 1992. Recent acquisitions of Greek and Etrus­ qucnces of contemporary classical coll ecting. AII/eri­ ca n antiquities by the Ashmolea n Museum , Oxford cail JOllmal o[Archaeology 104(3),463- 511. Supple­ 198 1-90. JOllmal o/Hellellic Silldies 112, 246- 8. mentary tab les avai lable from www.ajaoniine.org. Vickers, M. & D.W.J. Gill , 1994. Ar!fiil Crafts: Allcielll Chi ppindale, C. & D.W.J. Gill , 200 1. On-line auctions: a Greek Silverware and POllelY. Oxford: Clarendon new venue for the antiquities market. Cli/ture Wifhollf Press. COlllexl 9 (Autumn), 4- 13. Wat son, P. , 1997. SOlheby:" Ihe fils ide Sial}'. Lo nd on: Chippindale, C., D.WJ. Gi ll , E. Salter & c. Hamilton, Bloomsbury. 200 l. Co ll ect ing the classica l wo rld : first steps in a quantitative hi story_ Int ernational lVI/mal a/Cu/ll1ral Properly 10( 1), 1-3 1. DAVID GILL Elia, R.J ., 2001. Analysis of the looti ng, se lling, and col­ Department of Classics and Ancient History lecting of Apulian red-figure vases: a quantitati ve ap­ University of Wales Swansea proach, in Trade in Illicit Allliquilies: lite Des/ruction Singleton Park q[lhe World ., Archaeological Herilage, cds. N. Brodie, Swansea

23