Culture Without The Newsletter of the Near Eastern Project of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre Issue 3, Autumn 1998 !J:I:I;! UNIVERS ITY OF A prOlccl 01 @ Contents: lho McDonald Ius"'uto , \lftI CAM BRIDGE lor Ndlaool09,cal Hosoard l Illicit Antiquities Research Centre 2 Editorial 3 IARC goes electronic The Illicit Antiquities~ Research Centre J ENNY D OOLE 4 News and Events In the News International Conventions Culture Without Context ('\.'lJIrI'''o.,.:1I Nro.':i(r:u "fmc lARC NEIL B RODIE 6 Contacts Re sources Pity the poor middlemen NEIL B RODIE 7 T'l. I lIi ~; t A"';<I,,;r;CS ItCi .;o .. d, Cent,. (iAlle) wo s co'ablishctl ill May 1996. ,,,,d cOII ,," .n.ed " porath"" in 0"0\1 0, 1997 " lI det Recording and preserving lh. 3, u pi ~ C i of'he ~ k l)", ,:dd IlIj' ;nll< for ,\Jd ,uolocic:d I:c><".ch in C:amb,;,I~c . E" cl:u,,1. Iu purl"". is '0 111"";'<>1 :and Gandhara's cultural heritage rcpo" up"n 'h< dcl,jlll.II,,,1 <fr«!! <l f the im. "" ,ion:ol u ade in i1~~it antiquities (i.e. aU(;'luir;u ",hid, h,,', b,.n ",olell or IHSAN Au & R OBIN CONINGHAM 10 <1."dc>';nc1y ' '; ~~'' OIed and il1c~ll1 ~' upo" ed). TI" "01"... , of tI ~ , Irad. b. s innu<ed e ll o m l o ll j l~' O, ',r ,h, p• .;, ''''<n'y )"C:US "",I i~ ' ho"ght h) 10 ,,>"( ''' '' ~ e ,I , h c brge·,""I. JlI" ", I,, ; ,, ~ o.) f Cyprus mosaics "' dIJcological , i. u "nd "'lIi''''''S ",o, u,d the .... ",1,1. TIr ~MrI)"nl1ld ,,,,,,;,,,,,, f"r" ,..""""lDrir.u P ETE R W ATSON 17 The IARC ""i11I,,i,,~ 10.) II" aucnlim. Oflh. ~e"cod p"b~c d,e /v.,..,.-II. C..".Jnq.,. •• :ile :u,d n.h"e of thi, d, .. ",.,ioll (H< S'. '<II' C" of hUCIII . 11 UK ",ill . 1.0 endu,'o,,, ' 0.) et"'e a dim.t. of op;nio" ,,-hid, " .;]I Conference Report d;' <0.)11' 3;:e th . ~o U .< ti " " "r iIlic;t :u.,iq"i.i<s by Clnpli O!i';IIg 'hat ,I" Illie . <hol:u lr "ol"e of "" :u .. r.et is it.'el,.,abl)' d.moged by CHRIS S CARRE 18 'he 10.> "r ,,,hunl j" f",,,,.,ioll ",hieh ;, u llied bl' ;h "",.. md.,1 di.-o l .. f,,,,,, (o"rul. ThUl lh, ~; " ,:.y eOllcem " f Ihe I;\I ~C: " ill b, '0,«I,,~ c Ih. I"" of kil ow Ied ge ,,,"sed by th. IARC Pol icy Statement 20 01 .. 0'';. d ..p " ~",i o ,, d .ir •• :H ,d uHII .."m . Is,u .. "( "bject o"~,,, ; hj p :ue of ",olld",y ioll"'''' but :u e "<w,d,,I ... floqucntly an ;II,cl'",able 1'31 ' of,he problem.. Staff: U ~ '''n' ,,, l DI'!lr I'. ,•• IARC Director: Colin Renfrew J~. "y {)x,1f (rJ."U i"~·r ~ m."f.~,t) IARC Co-ordinator: Neil Brodie !II"" I ,',;:"01. ,1,. , "'~.m::1t C~n l '" .'.' -r}'''-J'J(~''' '" ''' ··,'A ... I..M',=~I&:r~"·h IARC Researcher: Jenny Doole Do"""., !}nn CWOC Editorial Board: Neil Brodie C~ ,.,:~.J,." CF.' JEF'. Augusta McMahon P,ra "'",,"~I~.I OcIOWf. 1998:i.J<: ~r4>uJ .1"''''''<;>'. 1999.0 U"''"~'Fty ,,'('..r.d""".!.. Chri s Scarre Peter Wa tson Home page of the new IARC web site (see "IA RC goes CWOC Designer: Dora Kemp electonic ", pAl. Address for correspondence: CWOC Editor, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Re search , Downing St, Cambridge, England , CB2 3ER Correspondence re lating to al l aspects of the legal and illegal trade in antiquities is welcome; we wi ll make an effort to print reasonable, non­ libell ous letters. No unsigned letters will be printed, but names wi ll be withheld upon request. ISSN 1464-1 925 © 1999 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Printed by BluePrint, Severn Place, East Road , Cambridge CB1 1HY. Tel : +44 (0)1223 314315 o Th e Illicit Antiquities Research Centre is a project of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Res earch Illicit Antiquities Research Centre he Illicit Antiquities Research Centre (IARC) was established in May 1996, T and commenced operations in October 1997 under the auspices of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge, England. Its pur­ pose is to monitor and report upon the detrimental effects of the international trade in illicit antiquities (i.e. antiquities which have been stolen or clandestinely ex­ cavated and illegally exported). The volume ofthis trade has increased enormously over the past twenty years and the associated demand is thought to have caused the large-scale plundering of archaeological sites and museums around the world. he TARC will bring to the attention of the general public the scale and nature T of this destruction (see Statement ofIntent on back cover). It will also endeav­ our to create a climate of opinion which will discourage the collection of illicit antiquities by emphasizing that the true scholarly value of an artefact is irreparably damaged by the loss of cultural information which is caused by its unrecorded divorce from context. Thus the primary concern of the IARC will be to reduce the loss of knowledge caused by the chronic despoliation of sites and museums. Issues of object ownership are of secondary interest but are nevertheless frequently an inseparable part of the problem. 2 Editorial tori a and Albert Museum and the Brune i Ga ll ery of the Sc hool of Oriental and Afri can Stud ies (U ni versity of London). he main article in thi s issue is Recordillg The spectacle prov ided by the disp lays of T all d preservillg Candham s cultuml herit­ fi ne antiques, carpets and tex tiles was spo ilt, how­ age by Professor Ihsan Ali of Pes hawa r Uni ve r­ eve r, by th e presence of a sizeabl e quanti ty of sity and Dr Robin Co ningham of Bradford Gandharan (and other) antiquities. In their arti­ Uni ve rsity. Its arri va l on the editori al desk coin­ cle, Professor Ali and Dr Coningham desc ri be cided with the openin g of'As ian Art in London', how fo r most of thi s century the archaeology of a se ries of events and ex hibi ti ons whi ch ran from th is area has bee n open to plunder and the legacy 10- 2 I November and in wh ich the commercial of thi s was all too ev ident in Lond on. John and academi c worlds joined together to present Eskenazi mounted an ex hibition of Ga ndharan a ce lebration of Asian art. art with an accompanying catalogue in whi ch Financial support was prov ided by 50 dea l­ fragments of fri ezes and scul pture, all wi thout ers and there were 40 ex hi biti ons mounted in provenance, were descri bed , and the sombre tones commercial ga ll eri es. Over 4000 lots were so ld of th e sepia illustra ti ons seemed onl y to empha­ for over £8 milli on at fifteen separate a u c t io n ~ size the poignancy of loss. Other dealers were held by Soth eby's, Chri sti e's, Bonh ams and menti oned in the Il1Iem otioll al Hemld Tribune, Phillips. Ove r 90 per cent of participa ting dea l­ on 10th Nove mber and another Gandh aran an­ ers made sa les and 40 per ce nt of sa les were to tiquit y was illustrated: a gold funerary mask c. new clients, many from the Un ited States. In com­ 4th- 5th century Ii·o m Shirl ey Day Ltd. merci al terms, then, 'Asian Art in London' was a The orga ni zers are pl anning to hold another great success and there was a substan tia l increase 'Asian Art in London' eve nt nex t year. Respon­ in the size of the market. sib le dealers and concern ed academi cs should In the November issue of th e Art Newspa­ join together now and take ac ti on to ensure that per Robert Knox, Keeper of Oriental Art at the it will be possibl e to enj oy a visit with out aga in Briti sh Museum , suggested th at one of the rea­ stumbling over sad and fragmentary rem inders sons for London's success as a marketpl ace was of the Gandharan past. its depth of know ledge and scholarship, and dur­ ing 'Asian Art in London' thi s academi c support of the market was provided by ex hibitions at six museums inc ludi ng the British Museum , th e Vic- Neil Brodie Culture Without Context is pu bli shed tw ice yea rl y. The next issue will appear in spring 1999. Subscripti on detail s are ava il abl e from : Jenny Doo le IARC McDonald In stitute for Archaeol ogical Research Downin g Street Cambri dge CB2 3E R UK 3 IARC goes electronic http://www-mcdonald.arch.cam.ac.uklIARC/home.htm he Illi cit Antiquities Research Centre is of their sign ificance and hi story. All issues of T pleased to announce the launch of a dedi­ Cullure Withoul Conlexl are also posted on-lin e, cated Web site, through which information can in searchable format. be rapidly disseminated. For the last year, the The growing international focus on cu ltural IARC has been worki ng to raise awareness in propert y issues and increasing public awareness Britai n and internationally about issues concern­ has lead to a ra sh of publications, both paper and ing ill egal excavation, and has become a centre electronic, on related topics.