Neil Brodie (2006)

“An archaeologists view of the trade in unprovenanced antiquities.”

In:

Barbara T. Hoffman (ed.), Art and Cultural Heritage: Law, Policy and Practice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 52-63. possible to talk of a fu lly impartial standpoi nt from which a unique and objective account of the past ca n be del ivered, C HAPTER FI VE they continue to maintain that their methods do produce a body of rel iable historical knowledge that has general ut ility and that ca n protect against some of the wi lder fl ights offancy An Archaeologist's View of the Trade that are so metimes presented as fact to the public. A central archaeological concept is context; that is to say, in Unprovenanced Antiquities where an artefact is found and what is found with it. The methodology of archaeo logical excavation developed during Neil Brodie the nintcenth and twentieth centuries to recover and record context, which was then regarded as the set of relationships among artefacts and between artefa cts and their surround­ ing structures. However, the eve r-growing battery of scientific techniques that is now available allows the reconstruction of context to go much further. For example, the analysis oflipid res idu es ad hering to the walls of an cient pots makes it possible to identify the foodstuffs or goods that they may have con­ tained. The soils and sediments in which artefacts are found INTRODUCTION can also be analysed microsco pically to reveal info rmation about past cl imates and environments. So today, when sites Archaeological sites and monuments are important sources are excavated, contexts are carefully recorded. Indeed, in the of historical information. That is an archaeologist's view of expectation that methods of contextual analysis wi ll co ntinue archaeology, though it is not the only one and there are to improve, and given the fact that the archaeological record other perspectives that need to be considered. Today, many is a limited resource, there is growing recognition that, where archaeological sites have a cultural or rel igious significance, possible, archaeological sites should be conserved intact for sometimes they stand in the wayof (or are destroyed by) agri­ future generations. cul tural or industrial improvement, and so me may constitute Most ant iquities offered fo r sa le on the international mar­ an economic resource, to be exploited by mea ns of tourism or ket have no provenance, which is to say that they have looting. People even build homes in them. Thus the attitudes no accompanying information about findspot or previous towa rds sites of peo ple that live in their localities range fro m ow nership history. Most of these unprovenanced antiquities reverence, through indifference, to outright hostility. Diamet­ have probably been removed destructively and illegally from rically opposed opinions may exist in the sa me community, archaeological sites and monuments, so that their contexts sometimes even wi th in the same family, structured by the have been destroyed, too. As a result, historical information someti mes co mplex intersections of cultural, religious, and is lost, and the reliabil ity of any subsequent historica l recon­ econom ic interests. National governments, too, often take an structions is unavoidably reduced. The trade in unprove­ interest in archaeological heritage, which mayor may not nanced antiquities has exploded over the past 40 years as be in accord with that of local communities and archaeol­ barriers to communication have fallen and technology has ogists. Governments may view archaeol ogical heritage, or improved. Antiquities are torn fro m standi ng monuments, parts thereof, as a tangible and often very visible reminder ­ secretly dug out fro m archaeological sites, or stolen from whether true or not - of national history and purpose, a jus­ museums. They are cxported illegally and traded around the tifica tion of the na tion state. They are also we ll awa re of its world. It is a trade th at antagonises all pa rties outlined ear­ eco nomic potential. Archaeology, however, has no favou rites: lier with a stake in archaeological heritage. Local communi­ it can also be subversive when it provides a pole around wh ich ties may find their sacred monuments or statues defaced or dissident views might gather. Thus, governments take a close their ancestral rel ics removed. The laws of states are ignored interest in archaeological remains, and most countries today or subverted through corruption. But for archaeologists, an have subjected their archaeological heri tage to some kind of irreplaceable source of historical information is lost forever. state defi nition and control. In the past, perhaps, archaeologists have taken a rather proprietorial view of archaeological heritage, believing that STRUCTURE OF THE TRADE their scientific methods and objective research strategies have privileged their claim and lifted it above politics. However, it Although archaeological sites and mo numents an)'\vherc in follows from what was said earlier that archaeologica l prac­ the world may be plundered, most of the loot ends up in tice, whether as excavation or as an intellectual process, is the private and publ ic collections of Europe, North America, inherently political. Any phys ical or intellectual intervention and, increasingly, the Far East. However. antiquities collect­ carries social consequences, and archaeologists are increas­ ing in these countries is not an underground act iv ity, as ingly awa re of this. Yet, while recogn ising that it is no longer might be expected given the source of the collectables. People

52 An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Unprovenanccd Antiquities 53 do not gather furtively at night to view one another's latest U.5.$10,000 to $30,000 each. They comprise an unusual cor­ acquisitions. On the co ntrary, antiquities collectors see them­ pus of material in that they have been extensively catalogued selves as patrons of cult ure and the arts - as public benefac­ (so that any previollsly unknown piece that arrives on the tors. They expect others to see them in that light also. Ma ny market is of questionable origin), an d thei r looting and trade unprovenanced antiquities eventually come to rest in fa mous have been investigated by academic research and journalistic muse ums, which are the cultural repositories of Western soci­ expose. ety, a society that prides itself for being law-abiding, well­ During the 1980s and early 1990s, large numbers of educated, and democratic; in other words, for being decent. Apulia n vases were arriving for sale at Sotheby's auction How can it be, then, that this society is prepared to accept house in London.2 Many of them were consigned fo r sale by a into its very heart material that carries with it the guilt oflost Geneva-based dealer, who was shown to be acting as a front knowledge and the taint of corruption and criminality? How for an Italian dealer, who allegedly bought the vases directly can th is happen? from tomb-robbers in Puglia.3 The tombs (often dug out There are several factors in the antiquities trade that com­ with the aid of mechanical diggers) contained many objects of hine to discon nect the cultured world of museums and col­ interest, bul only the more valuable pieces were passed onto lectors from its antithetical underworld of criminal ity and the international market, and many archaeological assem­ destruction. Fi rst, all artefacts that are recovered by means of blages were irrevocably broken up, and contexts destroyed.4 clandestine excavations will not have been seen in modern The vases were probably smuggled out of Italy in refrige rated times, whether in a publication or in a museum's vitrine, trucks (customs officers are reluctant to search these trucks 50 that when they appear on the market they cannot be thoroughly for fear that their legi timate cargoes might per­ recog nised and identified as stolen. Second, many antiqui­ ish), in consignments of modern reproduction ceramics, or ties were removed from their countries of origin decades or in personal luggage (after fi rst having been broken).5 even centuries ago, at a time when it was not illegal to do so. In 1997, the Italian dealer was arrested in Italy and the Some of these antiquities are still in circul ation today and are Swiss police seized the contents of his four warehouses in therefore lega ll y on the market. In other words, th ey are licit. Geneva Freeport. The warehouses were reported to contain Fi nally, most antiqui ties (between sixty and ninety percent l) around 10,000 antiqui ties from all parts ofItaly, worth in total are sold without provenance, which means that legal and something like U.5.$40 mi llion.6 Also in 1997, the role played illegal mater ial have become hopelessly mixed on the mar­ by London 50theby's in marketing the vases was exposed in a ket. Because most antiquities have not been recorded in any book and on television,7 and the company stopped its London publicatio n or entered into any database, it is difficult to antiquities auctions soon afte r. 50theby's auctioned 1550 investigate the pedigree of a single antiquity and virtually Apu lian vases between 1960-98 but only 378 were known impossible to prove that anyone particular piece has been before their sale. No ne had any indication offindspot or con­ looted. When asked by a discriminati ng customer, the ven­ text of discovery.s dor will have at hand a comforting homily about the grand Even when information co nce rning the findspot of an tours of the eighteenth century, when European gentlemen an tiquity is provided in a sales catalogue, it is often ambigu­ travelled abroad and brought back with them antiq uities as ous, using geographical or cultural terms that make histori­ souvenirs for deco rating their country homes. It is nondisclo­ cal sense but are of little relevance today. One auction house sure of provenance that allows illegal antiquities to infiltrate was quite happy to sell Mayan material fro m Peten, an area the market, and nondisclosure is a policy actively defended of Guatemala, until the United States imposed emergency hy dealers on the grounds of commercial necessity (keeping rest rictions on the import of material deriving from there a source secret) or cl ient confidentiality. However, ma ny in 1991. Objects offered fo r auction were thereafter more archaeologists today take the pragmatic view that an artefact likely to be labelled "lowlands:' an area encompassing parts with no provenance is most probably looted. of Mexico and Belize as well as Guatemala ,9 which, perhaps Nondisclosure of provenance also blocks investigations into the nature of the trade, and makes it diffic ult for out­ Z R. Elia, 'Analysisoflhe looting, selling and collect illgof Apulian red-figure siders to penetrate the trade's in ner workings. Occasionally, vases: a quantitative approach,' in N. 13rodie, j. Doole and C. Renfrew (eds. ), Trade in l/Iicit Antiquities: Th e Destruction of the Archaeological however, often fo rtuitously, the economic and logistical struc­ Heritage (Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research tures of the trade are exposed. One example is the large­ 2oo \). scale plunder and subsequen t trade of Apulian vases that 1 P. Wa lson, Sotheby's: Tmide Story (London, Bloomsbury 1997). 4 D. Graepler, Fum/ort: Unbekamrt. Raubgrabrmg(1r Zerstorell dtls Ardliio­ occurred during the 1980s and 1990s. Apulian vases were logisdle £rbe (Munich, WaIter Bierung 1993). of Greek insp iration and made during the fourth century H.C. S G. Pas tore, 'The looling of archaeological sites in Italy.' In N. 13rodic, in what is today the southern Italian district of Puglia. They J. Doole and C. Renfrew (eds.), Trade ill Illicit Antiquities: The Destruc­ tioll of tile Archaeological Heritage (Cambridge, McDonald Institute for are to be fou nd in all major collections of ancient Greek art Archat"Qlogical Research 2001 ). and at auction regularly co mmand prices in th e region of 6 P. Watson, 'The sequestered warehouses,' Culture Without Context 2 ( 1998). 7 P. Watson, supm note 3. 8 R. Elia, supra note 2. l C. Chippindale and D. W. J. Gill, 'Malerial consequences ofco nlemporary 9 E. Gilgan, ' Looting and the market for Maya objects: a Belizean per­ classical collecting,' Ameriwlljourtlal of Archaeology 104 (2000). spcrtivc.' In N. Brodie, J. Doole and C. Renfrew (eds.), Trade ill 54 Neil Brodie fortuitously, made it more difficult for the V.S. Customs the ethics of museum acquisitions, and it has since been at Service to identi fy material coming from Peten. the forefront o f the fig ht against illicit traffic, w ith publi­ cations such as the Oue HUl1dred Missing Objects series and the Red Lists of African, Latin American, and Iraqi artefacts. SCALE OF THE ILLICIT TRADE AND Article 2.4 of the mosl recent (2004) ICOM Code of Ethics ITS CONSEQUENCES states that: The monetary value of the ill icit trade, or the damage it causes, have rarely been quantified, largely because it takes "Museums should not acquire objects where there is reasonable cause to believe their recovery involved the unauthorised, unscien­ place in secret. Interpol estimates that in monetary terms, tific, or intentional destruction or damage of monuments, archaeo· the illicit trade in CLIltura l property ranks third after drugs logical or geological sites, or species or natural habi tats. In the same and weapons. The re have been a few surveys of damage on way, acquisition should not occur if there has been a failure to dis· the ground. In 1983, a study showed that 58.6 percent of all close the finds to the owner or occupier oflhe land, or to the proper Mayan sites in Belize had been damaged by looters. 10 Between legal or governmental authorities."17 1989 and 1991, a regional survey in Mali discovered 834 archaeological sites, but forty-five percent of them had al ready This article clearly states that a museum should not acquire any object when there is reason to bel ieve that its initial been looted - seventee n percent, badly, I I Another survey in one district in northern Pakistan showed that nearly half the recovery involved damage to an archaeological site or monu­ Buddhist shrines, stupas, and monasteries had been badly ment. Given that most unprovenanced antiquities have been damaged or destroyed by illegal excavations. 12 In Andalusia, obtained this way, their acquisition contravenes the [COM Spain, fo urtee n percent of known a rchaeological si tes have code, a nd should be avoided. It is important that museums been damaged by ill icit excavation.l3 ft is estimated that some­ and thei r representative organisations ta ke a strong stand where in the region of 11,000 graves must have been robbed against the trade in illegal material because they set a moral to produce the number of Greek early bronze age Cyclad ic tone that the public will follow. As noted earlier, m useums figurines that are now in collections worldwide l4 and that are seen to embody ideals that lie at the core of Western soci­ several thousand tombs must have been emptied in southern ety. People trust museums, and it is for this reason that their Italy to produce the 13,600 Apulian red-figure vases that have actions sho uld be beyond reproach. Nevertheless, some museums are still happy to acquire been recorded. IS material without provenance, particularly new museums with grand designs. The Miho Museum, wh ich opened in Novem­ ROLE OF MUSEUMS ber 1997 just to the north-east o f Kyoto, Japan, is one such m useum (both literally and fi guratively). It is thought to have Some illegal material ends up in m useums, although many spent more than US$200 m illion on its collection, which has m useums have now adopted acquisi tion policies that are been published in a well-illustrated colour catalogue. How­ designed to stop this happening. As long ago as 1970, the ever, most of the pieces in the catalogue have no provenance Museum of the University of Pennsylvania announced that whatsoever, the imp1ication being that they arrived on the it would no longer acquire antiquities of unknown pedi­ market only recently and through dubious channels. This gree, and it was followed by several other major museums clearly makes archaeologists uncomfortable, and they are in the United States. Also in 1970, the International Council likely to decry the loss of co ntext, but there are da ngers too o f Museums (ICOM)16 issued an influential statement on for the museum that buys such pieces witho ut provenance­ the twin dangers of fa kes and stolen pieces. flIidt Allliquities: TIle Des/rllcrioll of Ihe Arcllaeological Herifllge, 82 (Gambridge, McDonatd Institute for Archaeological Research 2001). Within four years of its opening, the Miho Museum had 10 M. Gutchen, 'The destruction of archaeological resources in Belize, suffered. One of its most eye· catching displays is a collection Central America,' Joumal of Field Archaeology 10 ( 1983). of what is probably Iranian silver. This silverware is rumoured II M. Brent, 'The rape of Mali: In K. D. Vitelli (ed. ), Archaeological EtlLics (Walnut Creek, AltaMira 1996). to be part of what is known as the Western Cave Treasure, a 12 I. Ali and R. Coningham, 'R«ordingand preS<'rving Gandhara's cultural hoard of gold and silver thought to have been discovered by heritage,' CII/wre Witlroul Comext3 ( 1998). a shepherd in a cave in [ran in the late 1980s. 18 T he pieces IJ S. Fernandez Cacho :and L. G. Sanjuan. 'Site looting and illicit trade of archaeological objects in Andalusia, Spai n.' CJlltllfC Without (OU/exl 7 bought by the Mi ho Museum we re apparently authenticated (2000). by a Western academic whose identity has been withheld, but 14 D. W. J. Gill and C. Chippindalc 'Material and Intellectual Consequences of Esteem for Cydadic Figures: American JOl/run/ of Archaeology, 624 (1993). of museums and operates globally for the preservation of cultural her­ 15 Elia, supra note 2, 151. Many more figures are available in N. Brodie, itage through its 108 national committees. More information on the J. Doole and P. Watson, Stetl/ing History, (Ga mbridge, t-kDonald Insti­ organi.sation can be found al . tute for Archaeological Research 2000); and N. Brooie, J. Doole and C. 17 ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums, (Paris, [CaM 2004). Renfrew (oos.), Trade in Illicit Anti(luities: The Destruction of the Archae­ 18 D. Alberge and D. McGrory 'Art mole threatens to turn lables on ological Heritage (Cambridge, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Yard handlers,' TILe Times (January 29 2000); E. Bleibtrau, 'Een ver­ Research 2(01). guld zilveren beker van koning Assurbanipal.' In E. Bleibtrau and H. D. 16 ICOM is a non-governmental organisation that maintains form al reta­ Schneider (eds.), Rilueel eT' SchomllLci(/: Amieke meesterwerkell uit /rei tionswith UNESCO. [t isdedicated to the development and management Miho Mrlscum, Ja{Hw, 21 (Milan, Skira Editore 1999). An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Vnprovenanced Antiquit ies ss already the authenticity of one piece has been questioned. Art insiders suggesl that demand for Nepalese rel igious It is a gilt si lver beaker that carries two inscriptions, both sculpture dates back to the 1964 Art of Nepa l exhibition held ancient but of different dates and in different scripts. One at Asia House Society in New York.2l The ex hibition attracted of the inscriptions is associated with engraved decoration in the attention of U.S. private collectors and museums, and in neo-Assyria n style that covers the outer surface of the beaker the decades that followed, they acquired large quantities of in four registers. The V.S. archaeologist Oscar Muscarella 19 bronze devotional images and, when the supply of b ro nzes has pointed 10 inconsistencies in the ico nography of the dec­ began to dry up, stone sculpture. 22 Over the sa me period, it is oration and suggested that it might have been added after reported that Nepal lost more than half of its religious sculp­ the beaker's discovery in order to increase its value. On the ture, and by 1998 most bronze images had been removed,23 other hand, it is possible that 2,600 years ago an inscribed This sad synergy between the museum and the market has beaker changed hands as loot or as a gift and was subsequently now almost ended Nepalese ownership of Nepalese heritage, engraved and inscribed a second time. Perhaps the truth will and the pattern is one that has been repeated for many other never be know n, or perhaps scientific examination of the sur­ countries in AsiaN and, no doubt, for most other countries face wi ll dec ide. In any case, another deceit of an object with­ of the world. It is exactly th is type o f destructive co llecting out provenance has been exposed - many museum collections that the ICOM Code of Ethics is designed to prevent. Unfor­ containing such material are almost certainly adulterated by tunately, experience shows that all too often the ICOM Code fakes. is ignored. Comparable cod es formulated by V.S. museum Then there are stolen pieces. In April 2001, the Miho organisa tions are demonstrably weaker. Museum announced that it was ret urning (of its own voli ­ For example, the America n Association of Museum's tion) a stone Buddha to the People's Re public o f China . The (AAM)25 statement on the ethics of acquisition is briefer than Buddha, which stands nearly fo rty-eight inches high, had ICOM's, and far less specific: been stolen in 1994 from a public garden in Shandong Province before being bought by the Miho Museum from "Acquisition, disposal and loan activit ies are conducted in a mallller a dealer in London.2o that respects the protect ion and preservation of natural and cultural In the United States, art m useums are probably the la rgest resources and discourages illicit trade in such malcrials."16 collectors of antiquities. In an art museum, an antiqui ty is There are no direct recommendations in the AAM's state­ displayed as an art object, and little or no in formation is pro­ ment, although in the introduction to its code the AAM does vided about its history, fu n ction, or signifi cance. The object ask that museums com ply with applicable international con· is left to "speak fo r itself." Thus, the acquisitio n and display ventions, which would include the 1970 UNESCO Conven­ of an antiquity that has been d ivo rced from its context of d is­ tion on the Means of Prohi biting and Preventing the Illicit covery presents no challenge to the art museums' philosophy Import, Export and Transfe r of Ownership of Cultural Prop­ of purpose and preferred mode of display. Most art muse­ erty, implemented in the United States in as the Con­ ums in the United States that collect archaeological mate­ 1983 vention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA), rial were incorporated in the late nineteenth o r tw·entieth and in the afterword it emphasises that individual museums centuries, and since then have actively enlarged their coUec­ tions, so that as the twentieth centu ry wore on, art museum should frame their own individual codes of ethics, which should be in confo rmance with the AAM code and expand demand for antiquiti es grew progressively more acute. Unfor­ tunately, for the museums, over the same period, illOSt coun­ on it through the elaboration of specific guidelines. In 2004, the Association of Art Museum Di rectors tries of the world placed their archaeological heritage under (AAMO)27 published its "Report of the AAMD Task Force some kind of state control, which in most cases severely lim­ on the Acquisition o f Archaeological Materials and Ancient its or completely bans the export of antiquities. Thus, the Art," 28 which contains seven guidelines to assist museums in flow onto the market of legitimate material slowed at a time when demand was increasi ng, and the result ing shortfall was made good by looted material offered without provenance. 21 I~ Pal, Americml Collectors of Asiilll Art, 7 (Bombay, Marg 1986). Any museum that chose to enlarge its permanent collection 22 N. BrOOie and J. Doole, 'The Asian art affair: US art museum collections of Asian art and archaeology.' In N. BrOOi e and C. Hills (eds.), Mate­ (rather than embark upon a more ethical and economically rill/ ElIgagemellt5: Stut/in ill I-/ollollr of Colill Rellfrew, 101. (Cambridge, advantageous programme of international loans and exhi­ McDonald In5titute for Archaeological Research 2004). bitions) was fo rced to acquire unprovenanced material. The 23 J. Schick, The GOt/s are Le(l ving the Coulltry (Bangkok, White Orchid 1998). damaging effect of this co ntinuing policy of indiscriminate 24 N. Brodic and J. Doole, supra note 21. acquisition could be demonstrated in almost any country of 25 The AAM represenlS the inlerests of US museums and other cultural the world, but Nepal offers a well-documented example. institutions. It currently has 3100 institutional members. More informa­ tion can be found at . 26 AAr>.-t Code of Ethics for Museums ( 1993). 27 The I\A1I.·\ D represents the inlerests of art museums in the United States, 19 o. Muscarclla. The l.ie Became erent: Tire Forgery of Am:ieltt Near &15tern Canada and Mc;o,::ico lhrough its memberShip of up to 200 museum direc- Cultures (Groningen, Styx 2000). 10rs. More information can be fou nd at . zo C. Sims. 'Japanese agree to return a stolen statue to China: New York 28 AAMD Report on Acquisilion of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Times (April 182(01). Art (2004). 56 NeH Brodie the preparation or revision of acquisition policies as regards percent were unknown. Worse still. there was an indication antiquities (AAMD 2004). of the findspot in the case of only three of the objects.» The AAMD guidelines. too, ask that art museums co nform Inevitably, questions have been asked regarding some of the to the law, but contain nothing to discourage the acquisitio n Fleischman pieces.Ji For example, Item No. 126 in the cata­ of material when there is reasonable cause to believe that its logue is a fragment of a fresco from a first century B.C. Roman original recovery involved the destruction or damage of an house. No information about its provenance is provided. but archaeological site or monument (as under the ICOM code). the entry does reveal that the piece "matches precisely the Indeed, on the face of it, the requirement in Guideline 0 upper portion of a fresco sectio n in the Shelby White and that member museums should not acquire any archaeological Leon Levy collection ... and is from the same room .. "32 material or work of ancient art "known to have been 'stolen But where was the room. and in what state is it today? What from a museum, o r a rel igious, or secular public monument or was found in the room? From the style of the paintings, a similar institution'" or "known to have been paftof an official Pompeian provenance is suggested, but otherwise these are archaeological excavation and removed in contravention of questions that the catalogue is sadly unable to answer. the laws of the country of origin" seem carefully(or carelessly) Six months before acquiring the Fleischman collection, worded to allow the acquisition of material from excavations the Getty Museum had announced a new acquisitions pol­ that are not official - in other words, antiquities from looted icy whereby it would no longer collect pieces without prove­ sites. nance. However, the Fleischman collection was deemed to Fo r a museum, an antiquity without provenance is a poten­ have a provenance because it had been published (by the tial time bomb. It may have been in ci rculation fo r decades, Getty Museum!) before the November 1995 cut-off date.l3 which would make it a legitimate acquisition. It may have But the time bombs are ticking. By 1999, the Getty Museum been first obtained secretly through clandestine excavation, had already returned one of the Fleischman pieces - a Roman which would make it unidentifiable and therefore a safe, if head - to Italy. where it had been stolen from an excavation unethical, acquisition. However, it may also have been stolen storeroom. 34 from a preexisting collection, which would make it traceable. Museums may set the moral tone, but it is fair to say that At any moment, new evidence may come to light that exposes the largest private collectors set the financial pace. The "col­ the true nature of a piece. Public embarrassment, and possi­ lectors" themselves do not constitute a community, however. bly fil1an cialloss, will fo llow when the museum is forced to They are not unified by a common set of intellectual, aes­ return the piece to its country of origin. In the United States, thetic. or ethical dispositions, nor by social o r economic cir­ at leasl, by law, museum trustees have a fiduciary respon­ cumstances. Although most antiq uities collectors profess to sibil ity towards the institutions they serve, and it has been be collecting ancient "art," it is dear that this is not always argued that they are in breach of this respo nsibility if they their true motivation. Ma ny collectors collect antiquities as do not ensure acquisitions policies and diligence procedures an easy (and relatively inexpensive) means to acquire the that guard against such eventualities.29 appea rance, though not perhaps the substance, of connois­ seurship that allows entry into the gala world of museum receptions and gallery tours. Thus, antiquities provide a ROLE OF PRIVATE COLLECTOR so urce of cultural capital. Other collectors see antiquities as Museums are not the only acquirers of unprovenanced antiq­ an investment opportunity. or as the latest "must-have" in uities. At one time or another. most antiquities pass through chic interior decoration. But not all private collectors can private hands, either in collections or as interio r decorations. be disparaged as social climbers. Some do take a genuine Like museums, though. the largest private collections provide scholarly interest in the material they collect, and deplore the the market with some kind of social legitimacy and an aura of damage that indiscriminate collecting causes to archaeologi­ respectability, even though they are often composed largely of cal heritage. It is interesting to recall that. as long ago as 191 3. antiquities with no provenance- even more so than museum Charles L. Freer, whose collection formed the foundation collections. of the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Gallery of Art, recog­ O ne such collection was that of Barbara and Lawrence nised the problem and lobbied the U.S. Government to ban 3S Fleischman, which was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Muse um the import of Chinese antiquities of uncertain provenance. in 1996 by a mi:

collection was published in 1994. The dust jacket claims that JO C. Chi ppindale and D. W. J. Gill, supra note 1,474. "most of the objects have never before been publicly shown," 3L C. Re nfrew. Loot, Legitimacy and Ownership. 28 (London, Duckworth and closer study has shown this claim to be true. Thecatalogue 2000). H M. True and K. Hamma (eds.), A Passiollfor Antiquities: Allcient Artfrom co ntains entries fo r 183 objects of which only thirty percent the Collcctiotl of &rbara and Lawrellce Flei$Chmall, 251 (Malibu. j. Paul had been previously published and the remaining seventy Gctty Museum 1994). )) J. E. Kaufman, 'Getty decides publishing equals provenance: Art News· paper61, 17 (1996). 29 P. Gerstenblith, 'Acquisition and deacquisition of museum Co lle<:lions ).I D. Lee, 'Geny returns three stolen works: Art Newspaper90, 1,3 (J999). and Ihe fiduciary obligalions of museums 10 Ihe public: Cardozo Journal lS w. I. Cohen. East Asilln Art and American Culture, 58 (New York, of International and Comparative Law II (2003). Columbia University Press 1992). An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Unprovenanccd Antiquities 57

The fact that some collectors understand the value of a re ha eo­ Legislative attempts to protect cultural heritage in wartime logical context and the desirability of a legitimate and ethical can be traced back to the 1863 Lieber Code of the U.S. Federal trade has led to the notion of the "Good Collector':36 The Army, and were given force by the fi rst Hague Convention of Good Collector is also committed to making his or her col­ 1899. Today, the international disposition towards looting in lection avai lable as an educational resource, and to supporting wartime is determined by the 1954 Hague Convention for the initiatives that aim to benefit the archaeology and archaeo­ Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Con­ logical institutions of co untries whose heritage is being badly flict, and, fo r movable heritage in particular, its t 954 First depleted by the market. Protocol and 1999 Second Protocol. The Convention and its Protocols oblige a military force not to destroy or expropriate items of cultural heritage, but also require that it offers pro­ LOOTING DURING WARTIME tection to enemy cultu ral heritage when possible. 40 Neither Eve ntssince the 1992 Soviet with drawa l from Afghanistan and the United States nor the United Kingdom have ratified the the 1991 Gulf Wa r in Iraq have shown once more howvulnera­ Hague Convention, though both have signed it. The Un ited blearchaeological heritage is in times of war. Monumentsand Kingdom announced its intention to ratify the Convention historic buildings can be accidentally damaged or destroyed, and both Protocols in 2004. and some might be deliberately targeted for religious or polit­ The vulnerability of archaeological heritage during ical reasons. But although in 200 I the world was shocked by wa rtime and its attractiveness to thieves was highlighted by the demolition of the Bamiya n Buddhas for what were osten­ the ransack of Iraq's National Museum in April 2003. Befo re sibly ideological reasons, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, most wa r broke out, staff had done what they could to protect destruction has been wrought by ga ngs (that are often armed) the museum's collections, moving some into safe storage and searching for an tiquities that can be sold on the international protecting the larger or more fragile pieces in situ. Eventually, market. Archaeological sites around Afghanistan have been however, staff were fo rced to abandon the museum on Apr i1 8 wrecked, sometimes with the help of bulldozers. 37 The situa­ as fighting closed in. Ga ngs of thieves broke in on April! 0 and tion in Iraq is no better. Archaeological sites have been con­ were not chased off until Ap ril 12, when the staff returned. tinually attacked since the end of the 1991 Gulf War, and as It was not until fou r days later, on April 16, that U.S. troops the security situation has deteriorated through 2004, archae­ we re dispatched to gua rd the museum. ological sites in the south of the country are being plundered In the immediate aftermath of the museum's looting, wild on an unprecedented scale. estimates began to circulate of how many artefacts mi ght The reasons for widespread looting during wa rtime are have been stolen. A fig ure of 170,000 missing objects was fre­ obvious. As livelihoods arc lost and public order breaks down, quently mentioned, although this fi gure was nothing more archaeologica l sites and monume nts are left unprotected and than a guess, based on the size of the museum inventory. offer a ready source of income. Unfortunately, there is evi­ Nevertheless, it was frequen tly quoted by the media as a dence to suggest that much of the money made fro m the true assessment of loss. Once staff and military investiga­ sale of looted antiquities is siphoned off by powerful political tors ga ined access to the museum, more sober assessments figures or wa rlords.38 of the damage began to circulate, wh ich triggered a reaction What is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan is hardly a su r­ to the early sensationalist reporting. At a press briefing on prise. ln recent times, archaeological looting has been a regu­ 20 Ma y, for example, the V .S. Secretary of Defense Donald laraccompaniment of war,39 but then cultural "treasures" and Rumsfeld, keen to down play U.S. culpability, announced that fine art works were long considered legitimate spoi l for victo­ the theft at the National Museum was probably an inside job rious or conquering armies. The differe nce today is that the and that only an estimated 38 objects were confirmed as miss­ 41 international community has outlawed exp ropriation, so that ing. The situation has now been clarifi ed by the report of now it is an act ivity of criminal rather than military organi­ the official U.S. investigation in to the theft , led by Colonel sations (though it is not always clear where to draw the line). Matthew Bogdanos. On 10 September 2003, he revealed that at least 13,5 15 objects had been stolen, of which 3,500 had been recovered - more than 1,700 returned under an 16 R. T. Mclntosh, T. Togota and S. K. Mclntosh, 'The Good Collector and the premise of mutual respect among nations,' African Arts 27 (1 995); amnesty and 900 through raids within Iraq. A further 750 had S. K. Mclntosh, 'Proposition,' PuMic Archaeology I (2000). been recovered ab road. Th is figure of 13,51 5 is a minimum, '7 A. W. Feroozi and Z. TarJ.:i. 'The im pact of war upon Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage,' available at , accessed December 14 2004; see also the web site of 40 P. J. Boylan, 'Thcconccpt ofcuttural protection in timesofarmed conflict: the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage at From the crusades to fhe new millennium,' in N. Brodie and K. W. ,accessedDecember 102004. Tubb (eds.), Illicit AtIliquitieJ: Tire Theft of Cullllre lind the Extinction of :lS M. Garen, 'The war within the war,' Archaeology. 30 (July/August 2004); Archlleology, (London, Routledge 2002); P. I. Q'Keefe, The First Proto­ T. McGirk, 'A yearoflootingdangerously,' Indepel/dellt 01/ SlIlIliay{March col to the Hague Conlle ntion fifty yea rs on.' Art, Antiquity and Law 9 24 1996). (2004). 19 N. Brodie, 'Introduction.' In N. Brodie and K. W. Tubb (eds.), llIicit 41 'US Department of Defcnse DoD News Briefin g - Secretary Rumsfeld AntiquitieJ: The Theft of elllfllre alld the Extinction of ArclJaeology. and Gen. Myers.' (200). On line at . Acccssed 14 August (July/August 200). 2004. 58 Neil Brodie however, and might rise as recovery wo rk in the museum an tiquities wo uld have been much reduced, and the looting progresses.42 not so severc. Whether or not the sack of the Baghdad Museum co uld have prevented by the U.S. military is st ill a matter fo r con­ ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESPONSE jecture. In January 2003, archaeologists and museum repre­ sentatives had visited the V.S. Department of Defense and Proponents of thc antiquities trade often argue that it is the provided the locations of 4,000 (later increased to 5.000) rcsponsibility of countries to protect their own heritage and archaeological sites that should be protected from military to police their own borders, thereby implying that any mate· action in the event of war, and emphasised the danger that rial that slips out onto the market is fa ir ga me. Archaeologists looting wo uld break out aflcrwards:B By March 2003, the are genera lly sccptical of this argu ment, bccause most coun­ National Museum was in second place behind the Central tries whose archaeology is un der th reat are lIsually poor and Bank on a Pentagon list of places to be secured by V.S. fo rces cannot affo rd 10 enforce their heritage laws when they are to fo restall looting, although this obviously never happened. threatened by powerful outside interests. Even a rich country Clearly, in the event, conditions on the ground were diffi cult like the United Kingdom has problems. In contrast, archaeol· and dangerous. U.S. troops were engaged in heavy fighting ogists and museum professionals have, for the past 30 years or with Iraqi militia who had taken up positions in the museum's so, been calJ ing for the market to be made more transparent grounds. Nevertheless, the feeling persists in some quarters by means of statutory or voluntary regulation, so that illicit that a high-level decision not to offer protection was politi· material ca n be more readily recognised. They have also been call y expedient because the museum had no direct economic developing more ethical standards of professional behaviour importance. To some, it smacks of a conspiracy designed to with regard to th eir own activities. leave the museum unguarded for the purpose of allowing Some professionals - individuals rather than representative looters to fu lfi l "orders" placed by rich U.S. collectors. organisations - continue to sell their expertise on thc market. The need to protect the museum might not have arisen had Two of them have already been quoted: the specialist who it not been for the thriving black market in Iraqi antiquities. authenticated the Miho Museum's beaker (a for mer univer· Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, a lot of material sity professor) and the expert who wrote the catalogue entries from Iraq (and Afghanistan) - presumably plundered - was for the Roman fresco fragments (a museum curator}. It is the flowing through London. This trade was carried on despite participation or, some might say, the collusion of these indi· the fa ct that, under the 1990 UN Security Counci l Reso lution vid uals that ostensibly keeps the market free from fakes and 66 1, the export of materi al fro m Iraq was illegal. For all in tents stolen artefacts. They are the guaran tors of market confidence. and purposes, the Resol ution was simply ignored. However, (Dealers are ofte n sceptical of this "expert" knowledge, but soon after the outbreak of the current Iraq confl ict, in June acknowledge the reassurance that customers feel when they 2003, the UK Government im plemented UN Security Coun­ see a signed certificate decorated with an academic qualifica· cil Resolution 1483 by the Iraq (United Nations Sanctions) tion.) Although such behaviour may have been accepted in Order (SI 1519), which speci fi cally targets cultural material. the past, today it contravenes the codes of practice that profes· This instrument has proved controversial because it abro­ sional bodies have developed in recognition of the potential gates the usual requirement in criminal law to prove guilty for destructive syncrgism that exists between the market and intent. Instead, anyone caught holdi ngan Iraqi cultural object the professions. Two sllch codes of practice are mentioned without verifiable proof th at it was exported before August here, but th ey are representative of many others. 1990 is in breach of the law, and should turn the object over The Soc iety fo r American Archaeology (SAA}45 adopted to the police. Neve rtheless. the law is effective. By late 2003, eight Principles of Archaeological Ethics in April 1996. material that is identifiabl y Iraqi in origin had vi rtually disap­ Principle No. 3, "Commercialisation," reads in part: peared from open sale on the London market,"" thus confirm· "Whenever possible (archaeologists] should discourage, and should ing that most Iraqi objects offered for sale before June 2003 themselves avoid, activities that enhance the commercial value of without provenance had not been from old collections, but archaeological objects, especially objects that are not curaled in in all probability had been looted. If strong enforcement of pu bl ic institutions, or readily avai lable fo r scientific study. public UN sanctions had been adopted soone r, sometime during the interpretation, and display." I 990s, it is at least arguable that by 2003 the market for Iraqi Article 5. 1 of the 2004 ICOM Code of Eth ics for Museums includes the paragraph: 42 M. Bogdanos. Iraq Museum In\'estigation: 22 Apr- 8,Scp 03 (2003). On line at . "Where museums provide an identification service, they should Accessed October 14 2004. not act in any way that could be regarded as benefiting from such 43 M. Gibson, 'From the pren·ntion measures to the fact · finding mis­ activity, directly or indirectly. The identification and authentication sion.' Museum lrrtematjO"II~ 219/220 (2003). A. Law1er, 'Mayhem in Mesopotamia.' Scie,rce 301 (2003). 44 N. Brodie, 'The plu nder ofIraq's archaeological heritage 1991- 2004 and ~ 5 The SAA is an international association of more than 6,600archaeologists the London antiquities tr;ldc,' in N. Brodie, M. Kerse l, C. Luke and K. W. and other heritage professionals dedicated to the research, interpreta· Tubb (eds.), Tral1sformjllg Values: Archaeology amI tIle Arltiquities Trade tion, and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. More (Gainesville, Unive rsity Press of Florida, in review). informatio n on the organisation can be found at . An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Unprovenanced Antiquities 59 of objects that are believed or suspected to have been illegally or perhaps not as useful as tablets recovered through cont rolled illicitly acquired, transferred, imported or exported should not be excavation, but they are valuable nevertheless. Should these made public until the appropriate authorities have been notified," tablets simply be ignored? A related problem faces profes­ sional conservators. Without expert treatment, these tablets Codes of practice are all very well, but the trick is in the might deteriorate and be lost forever, yet their conservation enforcement. In 1998, the British Academy adopted a resolu­ supports the black market and may even encourage further tion on the illic it trade in antiqui ties that states in Article 7(d): 100ting.48 While the practicalities and ethics of worki ng with looted "Written certificiltesof authenticity or valuation (appraisals) should material continue to tax archaeologists, they also help to not be given for objects of doubtful provenance, and opinions on the monetary value of such objects should only be given on official reorient archaeological concerns. For a long time, U.S. and request from museums or competent legal, governmenta!, or other European archaeologists wo r ki ng in foreign countries were responsible public authorities. Where there is reason to bel ieve an able to excavate, study, and (eventually) publ ish with little object has been stolen the competent authorities should be notified." thought fo r the future of the sites, the sensibilities of local communities, the governments within whose jurisdictio ns Nevertheless, one Fellow of the British Academy has for a they worked, or even the publjcat home, whose tax money had long time put his name to statements of authenticity. In the in many cases funded their research. However, it is increas­ absence of any mechanism for enforcement, the resolution ingly accepted that archaeological research must have a public can function only as a set of guidelines, not a binding code of as well as an academic aspect, that it is the responsi bil­ practice. ity of archaeologists to ensure that their methods and aims However, the powerful effect that professional archaeol­ are more widely understood - the stereotype of the archae­ ogists and museum curators may exert on the market goes ologist as treasure hunter still pe rsists - that results should beyond direct authentication or valuation because the study be widely publicised and that, where appropriate, archaeo­ and publication of material without provenance will, in itself, logical si tes should be prepared for public presentation, so provide a provenance of so rts: an academic pedigree. Once that they can be incorporated into educational curricula and material is accepted into the validated corpus, its academic tourist it ineraries. When this happens, local communities are significance might translate into monetary value and provide included in the archaeological process and the sites in ques­ a spur fo r further looting. tion fall under their protection. Archaeologists should also One respo nse of the archaeological community has been to be prepared to support infrastructure development in host stop the study and publication of material that has no verifI ­ countries by training programmes aimed at archaeological, able provenance. However, archaeological opinion is divided m useum, and other heritage-related personnel. 46 on the effect iveness of this tact ic, for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, th is is still largely abstract rhetoric. In Mex­ In the first place, scholarly research on nonlooted material ico, for example, there is only one case of research headed may also increase the market value of looted material: as by a foreign institution that has concl uded with the restora­ more becomes known about a particular body of material, tion of the site in question.49 Archaeological exped itions still it becomes more collectable (and also harder to fake). In con­ conform to the research eth ic: the production of hard data trast, it has been argued that publication in the academic followed by evaluation and in terpretation in the academic literature has little effect o n the market. After all, who reads literature. T his ethic is structured by the debilitating sym­ 47 the academic literature? Then there is what Wylie calls the biosis of professional expectatio ns and fu nding constraints. "salvage principle." This principle asserts that some objects Generally speaking, funds for the conservation or presen­ are of importance in them selves, even out of context, and tation of sites or for training programmes are not available that their importance is such as to warrant their study, so from 'traditional' sources (usually government agencies or that some information at least is saved for posterity. A case in private fo undations). Instead, sllch funds are available from point is the large number of inscribed clay tablets that have organisations outside the "research" sector, but it is difficult to appeared on the market since the 1991 Gulf Wa r, in all prob­ identify and approach them because doing so requires a type ability extracted from sites in Iraq. The sale of these tablets of knowledge, more commercial than academic, that is not would appear to be illegal, and in violation of t rade sanctions, offered to archaeologists during their professional training. although once again th is would be difficult to prove in each T hi s is not to say that Western archaeologists wo rki ng individual case. These tablets could arguably derive from Syria abroad have consistently fa iled their host countries. There or other Middle Eastern countries, but they contain informa­ are a number of large international projects of the kind tion about ancient administrations and economies . T hey are

48 K. W. Tubb, 'Focusing beyond the microscope: ethical considerations in 46 A. Wylie, 'Archaeology and the antiquities market: The use of "looted" conservation: Art, Arrtiqllity mid Law 2 ( 1997). data.' In M. J. Lynotl and A. Wylie (eds.), Ethics in American Archaeology: 49 E. Nalda, 'Mexico's archac 'Rejecting reflexiv ity? Making post-Stalinist archaeology in those pre pari ng national development plans and site managers is Albania.' In N. Brodie and C. Hills (eds.), Material Ellgagemems: Studies ill HOIIOllf ofColitl Rellfrew (Cambridge, McDo nald Institute for Archae­ necessary to achieve a sustainable tourist industry and enhance the ological Research 2004). protection of heritage resources for future generations." SI M. 1: Starkand P. B. Griffin, 'Archaeological researc h and cultural herit age management in Cambodia's Mekong Delta: The search for the "Cradle It has been estimated that foreign tourists coming to see the of Khmer Civilisatio n. " In Y. Rowan and U. Baram (eds.), Marketing site and the excavated finds at Sipan spend something like Heritage. Archaeology mrd the Consumption of tire Past. (Wa lnut Creek, AltaMira 2004) $2 R. D. Hansen, 'Marvels of the Ancient Maya,' Arclweology (Septem ­ ss \V. Alva, 'The destruction, looting and traffic of the archaeological her­ ber/Oc tober 2001); sce also . itage of Peru.' In N. Brodie, J. Doole and C. Renfrew (eds.), Trade 53 S. K. McJntosh, 'Reducing incentives for illicit trade in antiquities: The ill llIicir Antiquities: Tire Destruction of the Arclraeologic(ll Heritage, 95 US implementation of the! 970 UN ESCO Convention.' In N. Brodie and (Ca mb ridge, McDonald Institute for Archarological Resea rch 200 I). K. W. Tubb (eds. ), Illicit Alltiqllilies: The TheftofCultureand tire Extinction 56 Y. Onuki, 'Kuntur Wasi: Temple, gold, museum ... and an experiment in ofArchaeology, (Lo ndon, Routledge 2002); T. Togola, 'The rape of Mali's community d('veiopment,' Museu m brternationaI5 1(4) ( 1999 ). only resource.' In N. Brodie and K. W. Tubb (eds. ), JIIicit Arrtiqrlities: Tire S7 Mclntosh, supra note 48, 243. Theft of Culture and tire Extinction of Archaeology, (London, Routledge Si! ICOMOS isan international non -governmental organisation that acts as 2002). UN r:-sCO's principal advisor in matters concerning the conservation and S4 W. Alva, W. and C. B. Donnan, Royal Tombs of Sip/m (Los Angeles, Uni­ protection of the world's historic monuments and sites. It has national versity of California, Los An geles 1994). committees in over 100 countries. An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Unprovenanced Antiquities 61

U.$.$1 4 million a yea r in the area, which provides a welco me practice profess to offer a stronger standard of protection than boost to the local economy.59 However, this effect is mod­ is st rictly required by law, by requir ing that membe rs show erated somewhat by the fact that, although some shops and some degree of dil igence when investigating the history of cafes have appeared in the area of the site itself, the major ben ­ a piece. In the United Kingdom, for example, there are two eficiary of the increase in tourism appears to be the nearby trade associations (Antiquities Dealers Association and Inter­ town ofChiclayo, which is located about ten ki lometres away national Association of Dealers in Ancient Art), each of which and handles all tourist arrivals and stopovers.60 has a code of ethics containing an identica l Article 2: Some tour operators have acted independently to protect threatened archaeological sites. The so-called Nazca lines in "The members of. [ADAfIADAAI ... undertake not to purchase or sell objects until they have established to the best of thei r ability southern Peru are ground drawings or "geoglyphs" that were that such objects were not stolen from excavations, architectural carved into the surface of the desert during the fi rst millen­ mOlluments, publ ic insti tutions or private property." nium A.D. The individual glyphs take the form of giant na t­ uralistic or geometrical figures, up to four-hundred metres Unfortu nately, what might constitute necessary dil igence is across, that are visible in their entirety only from the air. They not defined, and there is evidence to suggest that thi s article is area big tourist attraction, and it is estimated that the number often ignored, or at least only weakly respected. For example, of foreig n tourists visiting the town ofNazca itself has tripled large numbers of cuneiform tablets and other objects. proba­ since 1995 to 70,000 a year. However, the geoglyphs, which are bly from Iraq, have been offered for sa le over the past ten years foun d scattered over an area of about two-hundred sq km, are or so with a ce rtifi cate of authenticity and translation pro­ increasingly under threat from looting, infrastructure devel­ vided by an Emeritus Professo r of Assyriology at a top British opment, and even the weather. Tomb robbing, in particula r, University. Presumably, if a cuneiform tablet needs authen­ has become a major problem in recent years, eroding glyphs ticating and lranslating in this way, it is because it has not and leavi ng ugly scars across the la ndscape. The problem is previously come to the attention of the scholarly communit y, now so acute that the future survival of the Nazca lines is in and therefore is probably fres h on the market. The professor doubt. In response, the Peruvian airline Aero Condor has has said as much himsel f. When interviewed by the New York established a joint protection programme with the local police Times in April 2003,63 he was quoted as sayin g that when he and will mount airborne patrols to track thieves. 61 authenticates an object he does not necessarily know where it comes fro m, and he suspects that very often the deale rs them­ selves don't know either. Nevertheless, the high probability that these objects have been removed destructively and ille­ TRADE RESPONSE gally from Iraq has not prevented their enthusiastic sale and Several assoc iations have been established to represent the collection. In 1999, UNESCO adopted its International Code interests of the trade, and they state publicly that their mem ­ of Ethics for Dea lers in Cultural Property.64 To date, however, bers are required to adhere to certain standards of behaviour, this code has attracted little trade attention. which are sometimes formulated as codes of eth ics or practice. Although many archaeologists (and, indeed, museum The existence of these codes allows the trade to argue that it is curators, conservators, lawyers, and law enforcement offi­ self- regulating and that therefore statutory control is unnec­ cers) see the fundamental problem of the antiquities trade essary, an argument with political resonance in the ostensivel y to be indiscriminate demand, among many proponents of free-trade jurisdict ions of North America and Europe. whe re the trade there is a strong opin ion that many of its problems most of the end trading goes on. Unfortunately, it is ques­ are an outgrowth of overregulation. This type of argument tionable to what extent the codes are respected or enforced. can be traced back to Paul 8ator,65 at least, who suggested that In February 2002, for example, Frederick Sch ultz, a lOp attempts to stifle the an tiquities market by means of strong Manhattan antiquities dea ler and former president of the trade co ntrols are futile because the controls will inevitably be National Assoc iation of Dealers in Ancient, Oriental and circumvented by criminal means. Then, not only are archae­ Primitive Art, was convicted afte r appeal for trading in antiq­ ologica l sites offered no protection, but society is fo rced ui ties he knew to be stolen from Egypt.62 Schultz may have to suffer the adverse consequences of criminalization. The been an exception. Most dealers are not criminals. but then alternative strategy is to release more antiquities on to the they have no need to be. For reasons set out earlier, it is market. An increased su pply of legitimate antiquities would conveniently difficult to acquire knowledge of the illegal ori­ ameliorate demand, thereby removing the incentive to despoil gins of unprovenanced antiquities. But professional codes of 63 M. Gonlieb and B. Meier, 'Of 2,000 treasures stolen in Gulf War of 1991, only 12 have been recovered; New York Times (A pril 30 2003). !9 P. Watson, 'The lessons of Sipan: Archaeologists and huaqeros; Cri/ture 64 Available at ,accessed December 16 Without Context 4, 16 ( 1999) 2004. 60 Ibid, 18. 65 P. M. i3ator, Tire IIrtematiOllal Trade irrArt(Chicago, UniversityofChicago 61 A. Faiola, 'Ancient history imperiled in Peru,' Waslrington Post, A20 (May Press 1981 ). Paul M. Bator served as a memberofthc US delegation to the 202001 ). UN ESCO Special Committee that negotiated and drafted the Convention 62 P. Gerstenblith, Uni ted States v. Schultz. Cu/tllre Without Context 10 on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export (2002 ). and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. 62 NeiJ Brodie archaeological sites, and d iscourage the involvement of Alva, W. and C. B. Donnan. 1994. Uoya / Tombs o!Sip(lII. Los Angeles: criminals. The antiquities to be released would be duplicates, Universit y of Califo rnia, Los Angeles. or redundant, and either already exist in museum storage or be Bleibtrau, E. 1999. 'Ecn verguld zilveren beker van koning Assur­ banipal.' In Bleibtrau, E. and H. D. Schneider (eds.). Rillleel en provided through future eXC:lvatio n . Unfortunatel y, there are Sc!lOollheitf: Alllieke meestenverkcn /lit hel Millo Museum, Japa n. Illany objections to th is solut io n: stockpiles of objects might Milan: Skira Edi torc. pp. 2 1-31. not exist, duplicates would not appeal to collectors. excava· llato r. P. M. 198 1. The International Tradei" Art. Chicago: University l ions do not routinely recover saleable objects, the release of of Chicago Press. legitimate material would further commercialise the market Bogdanos, M. 2003. Iraq Museum Investigation: 22 Apr-8Sep03. On and act to increase rather than assuage demand, and more li ne at < http://www.defenselink.llliIt news/Sep2003!d 20030922fr. besides.66 These objectio ns have never been confronted. pdf> (accessed 14 October 2004). Boylan, P. J. 2002. ' The concept of cultural protection in ti mes of armed conflict: from the crusades to the new m illennium.' In CONCLUSION Brodie and Tubb (2002) pp. 43-108. 8rent, M. 1996. 'The rape of Mali'. In Vite1ti. K. D. (ed.). Arcllaeo- The problems caused by the trade in unprovenanccd antiqui­ logictll Etllic5. W:l lnut Creek: AltaMira. ties will only be solved when it becomes possible to discrim­ Brodie, N. 2002. ' Introduction.' In Brodieand Tubb (2002) pp. 1-22. inate between antiquities that are o n the market legitimately Brodie, N. 2003. 'Spoils of war.' Archaeology July/August: 16--19. and those that are not. Self-regulation on the part of the Brodie, N. 2004. 'Export deregulation and the ill icit trade in archae- ological m aterial.' In J. R. Richman and M. P. Forsyth (cds.). Legal trade has demo nstrably failed, and so the answer seems to Perspectives 011 Clllfllml Resources. Walnut Creek: Ah aM ira. pp. lie with museums. Museums can act by (1) acquiring only 85--99. material acceptable under article 3.2 of the ICOM Code of Brodie, N. In review. 'The plunder of Iraq's archaeological her­ Ethics, and (2) making publ ic their accession records to facil­ itage 1991 -2004 and the London a ntiquities trade.' In N. Brodie, itate provenance research.67 The challenge for archaeologists M. Kerscl. C. Luke and K. W. Tubb (eds.). Transformillg Valul.'5: is to develop more socially inclusive research strategies, and to Archaeology mill the Antiquities Trade. recognise their responsibilities to the public that both funds Ilrodie. N. and J. Doole. 2004. 'The Asian art affa ir: US art museum collections of Asian art and archaeology.' In Brodie and Hills and validates their activities. (2004) pp. 83-108. Brodie, N. and C. Hills (eds.). 2004. Material Engagemetlls: Studif.'j in HOllol" of Col in Rellfrew. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for QUESTIONS FOR DISUSSION Archaeological Research. I . What standard of provenance should be regarded as Brodic, N. a nd C. Luke. In review. 'Conclusion. The social and cul­ acceptable fo r a museum intending to acquire a cultural tural contexts of coll ecting.' In N. Brodic, M. Kersei, C. Luke and K. W. Tubb (eds.). Transforming Values: Archaeology and tile object? Alltiqui/ies Trade. 2. Sho uld the fid uciary responsibilities of museum trustees Brodie, N. and K. W Tubb (eds.). 2002. Illicit Antiquities: Tir e Tlreft impact upon the acq uisition policies o f museums as regards ofCllltllre and tire Extilletioll ofArchaeology. London: Rou tledge. unprovenanced cultural objects? Brodie, N., J. Ooole and C. Renfrew (eds.). 200 1. Trade in Illicit Antiquities: Tire Destrllction of tile Arcllae%giw/ Heritage. 3. Should private collectors receive tax benefits for donati ng Ca mbridge: McOonald Institute for Archaeological Research. unprovenanced cultural objects to museumsor other cultural Brodie, N., J. Ooole and P. Wa tson. 2000. Steali"g History. institutions? Cambridge: McOonald Institute for Archaeological Research. Chippindale, C. and O. W. J. Gill. 2000. 'Material consequences of contemporary classical collecting.' AmeriCti11 Journal of Archaeo/­ BI BLIOGRAPHY ogy 104: 463-5 11. MM. 1993. Code of Ethics for Museums. Coggins, C. C. 1998. 'A proposal for museum acquisition policies in AAMO. June 10. 2004. Report on Acquisition of Archaeologi­ the future.' IntenUltiollal Journal ofeulfllral Property 7: 434--7. cal Materials and Ancient Art at . Columb ia Un iversi ty Press. Alberge, D. and D. McGrory. 2000. "Art mole threatens to turn tables Elia, R. 200 I. 'Analysisof the looting, selling and collectingofApul ian on Yard handlers." Tile Times, 29 Janua ry, 2000. red-figure vases: ,\ quantitative approach.' In Brodie, Ooole and Ali. I. and R., Coningham. 1998. "Recording and preserving Re nfrew (2001) pp. 145-54. Gandhara's cultural heritage." Culture Without Context 3: 10-16. Faiola, A. 2001. 'Ancient history imperil ed in Peru.' Washillgton Post , Alva, W. 200 1. 'The destruction, looting and traffic of the archae­ May 20, A20. ological heritage of Peru.' In Ilrodie, Ooole and Re nfrew (2001) Fernandez Cacho, S. and L. G. Sanjuan. 2000. 'Site looting and iiticit pp. 89-96. trade of archaeological objects in Andalusia, Spain.' Culture Witlt­ Ollt Con text 7: 17-24. Feroozi, A. W. and Z. Tarzi. 2004. 'The impact of war upon 66 N. Brodie, 'bport deregulation and the illicit trade in archaeological Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage.' Available at WW\.... archaeologi­ materia l. ' In J. R. Richman and M. P. Forsyth (cds.), Legal Perspectives on Cullllml RC50flru'5 (Walnut Creek: AltaM ira 200<1). ca1.org. &7 C. C. Coggins, 'A proposal for museum acquisi tio n policies in the futu re.' Garen, M. 2004. 'The war within the war.' Arc/raeology, Ju ly/August: In/ana/jaunt /ormral aiCulmml Properly 7 (1998). 28-30. An Archaeologist's View of the Trade in Unprovenanced Antiquities 63

Gerstenblith, P. 2002. United States v. Schultz. Culture Without Nalda, E. 2002. 'Mexico's archaeological heritage: a convergence and Comext 10: 27-31. confrontation of interests.' In Brodieand Tubb (2002 ) pp. 205-27. Gerstenblith, P. 2003. 'Acquisition and deacquisition of museum O'Keefe, P. J. 2004. The First Protocol to the Hague Convention fi fty collections and the fiduciary obligations of museums to the pub­ years on.' Art, Antiquity and Law 9: 99--116. lic.' Cardozo ]oumal of illtemarional and Comparative Law 11: Onuki, y. 1999. ' Kuntur Wasi: temple, gold, museum ... and an 409-65. experi ment in co mmunity development.' Museum 1ntematiorlfll Gibson, M. 2003. ' From the prevention measures to the fact-find ing 51(4),42-6. mission.' Museum hltematiOlwl, 219-20: 108-17 Pal, P. 1986. American Collectors ofA sian Art. Bombay: Marg. Gilgan, E. 2001 . 'Looting and the market for Maya objects: a Belizean Pastore, G. 200 I. The looting of archaeological sites in Italy. In perspective.' In I3rodic, Doole and Renfrew (2001) pp. 73-87. Brod ie, Doole and Renfrew (2001) pp. 155-60. Gill, D. W. J. and C. Chippindalc. 1993. 'Material and Intellectual Ren frew, C. 2000. Loot, Legitimacy alld Owrtersllip. Lon do n: Consequences of Esteem for Cyclad ic Figures.' American ]ollrrull Duckworth. ofArchaeology 1997 Convention: 601 - 59. Schick, J. 1998. Tire Gods are teavillg tire Coul/try. Bangkok: White Gottlieb, M. and H. Mcier. 2003. 'Of 2,000 treasures stolen in Gulf Orchid. War of 1991, on ly 12 have been recovered.' New Yo rk Times, Sims, C. 200 1. 'Japanese agree to return a stolen statue to China.' 30 Ap ril. New York Times, April 18. Graepler, D. 1993. FUlldort: Unhekannt. Rauvgrabungen ZerstOren Stark, M. T. and P. B. Griffin. 2004. 'Archaeological research and das ArclJilologisclJe £rhe. Munich: Waiter Bieru ng. cul tural heritage management in Cambodia's Mekong Delta: the Gutchen, M. 1983. 'The destruction of archaeological resources in sea rch for the "Cradle of Khmer Civilisation." In Y. Rowan and U. Belize, Central America.' ]oumal of Field Archaeology 10: 217-27. l3aram (eds.). Marketing Heritage. Archaeology and the COllswnp­ Hansen, R. O. 2001. 'Marvels of the Ancient Maya.' Archaeology tion of tire Past. Walnut Creek: AltaMira, 11 7-41. September/October: 51--8. Togola, T. 2002. 'The rape of Mali's only resource.' In Brodie and Hodges, R. 2004. 'Rejecting reflexivity? Making post-Stalinist l ubb (2002) pp. 250-6. archaeology in Albania.' In Brodie and Hills (2004) pp. 145-64. True, M. and K. Hamma (eds. ). 1994. A Passion for Antiquities: ICOM 2004. ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums. Paris: ICOM. Anciem Art from tile Collection of Barbara ami Lawrence Kaufman, J. E. 1996. 'Getty decides publishing equals provenance.' Fleischmc/II. Malibu: J. Paul Getty Museum. Art Newspaper 61: 17. Tubb, K. W. 1997. 'Focusing beyond the microscope: ethical consid­ Lawler, A. 2003. 'Mayhem in Mesopotamia.' Science 301: 582-8. erations in conservation.' Art, Antiquity ami Law 2: 41-50. Lee, D. 1999. 'Getty returns three stolen works.' Art Newspaper 90: US Department of Defense 2003. '000 News Briefing - Secretary 1,3. Rumsfeld and Gen. Myers.' Online at . Accessed 14 Sunday, 24 March. August 2004. Mclntosh, R. , T. Togola, and S. K. Mcl ntosh 1995. 'The Good Wa tson, p, 1997. Sotlreby's: jnside Story. London: Bloomsbury. Collector and the premise of mutual respect among nations.' Walson, P. 1998. 'The sequestered warehouses.' Cultllre Without African Arts 27: 60-9. Context 2: 11 - 14. Mclntosh, S. K. 2000. 'Proposition.' Public Arcllaeology I: 73-6. Wa tson, P. 1999. 'The lessons of Sip fin: archaeologists and huaqeros.' Mcl ntosh, S. K. 2002. "Reducing incentives for ill icit trade in ClIlrl/re Wit/lOut Colltext 4: 15-20. antiqu ities: The US implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Con­ Wylie, A. 1995. 'Archaeology and the antiquities market : the use vention." In Brodie and Tubb (2002) pp. 241-9. of "looted" data.' In M. J. Lynott and A. Wylie (eds.). Ethics in Muscarella, O. 2000. The Lie Became Great: The Forgery of Allcietlt AmeriC01I Archaeology: Challenges for the 199Os. Washington DC: Near Eastern ClIlwres. Groningen: Styx. Society for American Archaeology. pp. 17-21.