Trafficking Culture latest updates

Marketing, Narratives, and Consumer Desire within Auction Catalogs of Cultural Objects

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:07:58 +0000

This article uses the lens of commodity theory and, in particular, the scarcity effect to consider ways that consumer desire is reflected within auction catalogs for cultural objects. Taking Brodie and Manivet’s (2017:3) assertion that “auction sales do not offer a clear window onto the broader antiquities trade” as a motivating initial hypothesis, I find that auction catalogs do represent marketing material that can provide at least a blurry window onto the needs, wants, and desires of consumers acting within the market for archaeological and heritage objects. Consumer motivation at an auction is notoriously difficult to assess externally and has long represented a gap in the analysis of public antiquities sales. Failures to effectively regulate market consumption may relate to a misunderstanding of the people who are being regulated. Using more than 50 years of auction sales of Pacific cultural items as a case study, I present auction narrative analysis as a method to consider consumer desire and thereby inform heritage policy and market interventions.

Article available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.39

Cultivating desire: touch and transgressive thrill in the art fair

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 09:12:10 +0000

This article builds a framework for understanding both the observable and unobservable features of art fairs and how those structures are created through material and sensorial elements. It draws on the concept of atmospheres and broader discussions of affect to analyze the transgressive thrill present at art fairs, presenting an art fair as a space of commerce masked in the appearance of a museum-like space. This article explores how emotions and lures are structurally produced within the fair and how people are encouraged to collect. Within this space, a desire is cultivated via an opportunity to transgress the familiar norms of the museum environment, which fosters the development of a relationship between a person and an object. In this deeply affective space, rational responses to objects with unclear origins may be suspended. Through focusing on why people collect and how desire is generated we can better understand markets, including criminal markets, for highly desirable objects.

Article available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.36

Examination of Archaeological Attitudes toward the Publication of Unprovenanced Antiquities: The Example of Ancient Arms and Armor

Mon, 26 May 2025 12:56:23 +0000

This article explores archaeological practice as regards the study and publication of unprovenanced artifacts, particularly elements of ancient arms and armor. It describes the reasons why publication is thought to be prejudicial for archaeological research and considers the possible utility of some counterarguments by way of an examination of the publication policy of the European Association of Archaeologists. It concludes by arguing that archaeologists in favor of study and publication need to do more to validate their position.

Article available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.32

Scholarly facilitation of the illicit trade in cultural objects: providing a veneer of legitimacy

Mon, 26 May 2025 12:54:44 +0000

Cultural objects are sold via global, public networks, where market stakeholders rely on the services of other actors such as academics, authenticators, and restorers to facilitate and legitimate this trade. This article will build on Neil Brodie’s examination of the role scholarly facilitators play in the illicit trade in cultural objects by exploring the harmful consequences of such scholarship, using the case studies of Emma Bunker and Mary Slusser as examples. This article argues that those of us with intellectual authority and control interacting with cultural objects should reflect on the broader social context of our research and the consequences of our knowledge production—and reckon with the exploitative and colonial foundations of the knowledge we build on. Ongoing ethical awareness and reflexivity need to be integrated into our practice to support and foster social justice. The article ends with some recommendations on how to incorporate these ideas into academic practice.

Article available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.35

What deters antiquities looting and trafficking?

Mon, 26 May 2025 12:51:23 +0000

This article contributes to the debate on illicit antiquities and deterrence. First, I briefly examine what has been written about deterrence in the literature on illicit antiquities. Second, I review the criminological research literature on deterrence to define the concept and explain its mechanics; that is, how, according to the best state of current knowledge, deterrence “works” to persuade people not to commit crime. Third, I consider what this criminological knowledge base means for deterrence in the field of illicit antiquities. Deterrence remains a developing idea, rich with practical implications for crime prevention but also harboring some profound unresolved questions about precisely what drives human action in certain contexts. Nonetheless, we can aim to gain a more rounded understanding of the concept than has previously been applied to illicit antiquities studies.

Article available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aap.2024.37

Ritual Misdeeds and Dutiful Transgressions: The Agency of Sacred Fossils in Matters of Theft

Mon, 12 May 2025 07:32:33 +0000

This article explores the role of sacred fossils, specifically ammonites called “Shaligrams,” in criminal acts and norm violations. It challenges conventional theories of criminal motivation via object agency, where nonhuman entities significantly impact crime conceptualization and perpetration. Originating from Nepal, Shaligrams are revered as living manifestations of Hindu gods and possess unique agency that influences human behavior. The relationships that humans form with Shaligrams blur the lines between rational human choice and response to the needs and desires of “agentic” objects. By examining instances where Shaligrams inspire criminal actions or where they themselves violate norms, we broaden the understanding of criminal agency beyond human-centric perspectives. Inclusion of Shaligrams in criminal networks and their impact on decision-making highlights the interplay between humans, natural objects, and cultural beliefs. This anthropological approach to criminology offers new insights into the dynamics of crime, challenging traditional notions of agency and rationality in criminal acts.

Full article on the publisher’s website: https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/nature-and-culture/20/1/nc200104.xml

Looting and Conflict in Cambodia: The Latchford Case

Mon, 12 May 2025 07:04:08 +0000

“Blood antiquities” are cultural objects looted from archaeological sites or stolen from collections such as museums in conflict zones either to finance hostilities or exploit them for personal gain. The term gained traction with the exposure of a thriving illicit trade by Daesh (also known as ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, which has now been extensively documented. However, perhaps the best-understood case study from source to market comes not from the Middle East, but a global hotspot a generation ago, Cambodia. From 1970 on, this Southeast Asian kingdom endured decades of civil war, triggering the wholesale pillage of its cultural patrimony. In the post-conflict years, on-the-ground research in the country combined with law enforcement and media investigations overseas (and particularly in the United States) have pieced together the main trafficking network responsible. Its ringleader is thought to have been expatriate Douglas Latchford, who is said to have linked the Khmer Rouge and organized criminals operating out of Cambodian warzones with the elites of the Western art world. In this entry, we will document what is known about Latchford, his enablers, and methods, as an example of criminal patterns at the intersection of cultural heritage and armed conflict.

Available on the publisher’s website: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-61493-5_132-1

Aguas Calientes Stela 1

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:38:48 +0000

A Maya sculpture, stolen in the 1960s, that is currently missing

Aguas Calientes is a Classic Maya site located in the Petén Department of Guatemala. The site was first recorded by archaeologist Sylvanus Moreley who visited it in April and May of 1914. At that time Morley located the site’s first (and, so far, only) known Stela 1, which was referred to locally as “El Rey” (Morley 2023: 82). Herbert Joseph Spinden made a drawing of the stela on 4 April 1914, while Morley documented the glyphs on the piece and mapped its precise location (Morley 2023: 82).

Morley recorded that the stela was found broken into two pieces. The smaller piece containing the upper portion included the figure’s face. This smaller piece had “fallen down” sometime between 4 April and 25 May 1914, but according to Morley it was not damaged in the fall (Morley 2023: 123). Morley related in a 3 May 1914 letter that Spinden believed that the stela was “one of the finest in the Maya area” (Morley 2023: 107). Morley published a drawing of the stela in 1937 (Morley 1937: plate 99).

When Merle Greene Robertson visited Aguas Calientes in April 1968 to make a rubbing of the stela, “the upper left portion which includes the figure’s head was missing” (Robertson, 1972: 147). By the time she returned to the site in March 1969, the rest of the stela had been stolen. She observed that “the paraphernalia used in its removal was still at the site” (Robertson, 1972: 147).

The current location of Aguas Calientes Stela 1 is unknown.

[Image: Line drawing of Aguas Calienties Stela 1 via the Maya Hieroglyphic Text and Image Archive, University of Bonn, https://digitale-sammlungen.ulb.uni-bonn.de/maya/content/titleinfo/9619893]

Works Cited

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold (1937) The Inscriptions of the Peten, Vol. 5. Washington DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington. Publication 437.

Morley, Sylvanus Griswold (2021) The Archaeological Field Diaries of Sylvanus Griswold Morley, edited by Prudence M. Rice and Christopher Ward. Mesoweb: www.mesoweb.com/publications/Morley/Morley_Diaries_1914-1916.pdf Accessed 6 August 2023.

Roberson, Merle Greene (1972) Monument Thievery in Mesoamerica. American Antiquity. 37(2): 147–155.

Jimbal Stela 1

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:38:40 +0000

Mutilated and partially-stolen Maya sculpture used as an illustration on an ICOM Red List

The Maya site of Jimbal is located in Guatemala’s Petén department approximately 14 kilometres north of the core of Tikal (Fry and Cox 1974), halfway between the sites of Tikal and Uaxactun (Robertson 2013: 15). It was likely a satellite of Tikal. To date, archaeologists have recorded one carved stone monument at Jimbal. Stela 1 records a relatively late Classic Maya date (June 23, 879) and its existence may indicate some degree of breakdown of Tikal’s central control around that time.

Jimbal Stela 1 was photographed intact in May 1965 by Christopher Jones of the University of Pennsylvania (University of Pennsylvania Tikal Project Negative 65-43-705; http://research.famsi.org/uploads/tikal/Monuments/65-043-0705.jpg). Sometime after that date, a portion of the sculpture was stolen.

Merle Greene Robertson (1972: 151) was the first to record the theft, having detected the loss in July 1970. Three inches of the front of the top third of the stela had been sawn and then prised off, creating portable pieces. The result was the removal of two figures from the top of the stela, presumably for trafficking then sale, and the destruction of the face of the stela’s primary figure (Robertson 1972). The current location of the missing portion of Jimbal Stela 1 is unknown.

Robertson asserted early on that the missing portion of Jimbal Stela 1 was stolen only shortly before July 1970 (Robertson 1972: 151). In a short memoir written in 2010, Robertson recounts that she found aspects of her July 1970 visit to see the Jimbal Stela suspicious. She implied that a particular keeper at Tikal was involved in the looting of the stela based on how he acted during their trip to Jimbal (Robertson 2013: 16).

A photograph of the mutilated remains of Jimbal Stela 1 appears on the International Council of Museums’s Red List for Latin America (ICOM n.d., see: https://icom.museum/en/object/stela-1-jimbal-stone-high-2-3-m-museo-nacional-de-antropologia-y-etnologia-guatemala/). It is used to represent the category of *Maya Stela* which is considered to be at great risk of theft and trafficking.

[Image: Jimbal Stela 1 after the top portion was looted. Image via ICOM Red List]

Works Cited

Fry, Robert E. and Scott C. Cox (1974) The Structure of Ceramic Exchange at Tikal, Guatemala. World Archaeology 6(2): 209–225.

ICOM (n.d.) Red List – Latin America. https://icom.museum/en/object/stela-1-jimbal-stone-high-2-3-m-museo-nacional-de-antropologia-y-etnologia-guatemala/. Accessed 6 August 2023.

Roberson, Merle Greene (1972) Monument Thievery in Mesoamerica. American Antiquity. 37(2): 147–155.

Robertson, Merle Greene (2013) The Further Adventures of Merle (continued). The PARI Journal XIV(I): 13–16. https://www.mesoweb.com/pari/publications/journal/1304/Merle3.pdf. Accessed 6 August 2023.

Tomb of Minnakht Wall Paintings

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:38:33 +0000

Paintings stolen from an Egyptian tomb and purchased from an Amsterdam dealer by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Minnakht (or Nakhtmin) was an administrator during the reigns of the Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, who was eventually “promoted to one of the highest positions in the administration as the overseer of the double granary of Upper and Lower Egypt” (Díaz-Iglesias Llanos and Méndez-Rodríguez 2023). Minnakht was buried in Theban Tomb 87 (TT87), located in the “Tombs of the Nobles” necropolis at Sheikh Abd el-Qurna.

TT87 was discovered by archaeologist Robert Mond and published in 1905 (as reported in Díaz-Iglesias Llanos and Méndez-Rodríguez 2023, see Mond 1905). The tomb was excavated by Heike Guksch of the German Archaeological Institute from 1977 until 1988. The tomb contained numerous painted scenes displaying garden scenes and funerary rituals (e.g. see copies of some of the tomb paintings made in 1921 by Charles K. Wilkson, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544601).

In 1978 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) purchased nine stolen fragments of TT87’s paintings from an Amsterdam-based art dealer (Fatsis 1988), apparently without knowing that they came from TT87. The fragments were never displayed within the museum (Gold 1988). At some point after the purchase, a curator at the MFA raised concerns about the paintings and their origin (Washington Post 1988). Upon discovering that the paintings likely came from TT87, the MFA voluntarily offered to return them to Egypt (Gold 1988).

The MFA’s director at the time, Alan Shestack, told the press that “he was not surprised that it took 10 years for curators to raise questions” about the fragments (Gold 1988). He stated that museums were short staffed and that it could take them years to get around to investigating new acquisitions (Gold 1988). This is obviously not an ideal scenario if pre-purchase due diligence is considered important to preventing the traffic in looted cultural objects’.

In December 1988, the fragments were returned to Egypt (Washington Post 1988). Shestack stated that the dealer who sold them the fragments “signed an agreement guaranteeing that the art was not stolen” (Shestack quoted in Washington Post 1988). However, by the time of the return the dealer was reported to have passed away (Fatsis 1988) which meant that the MFA could not ask for their money back (Washington Post 1988). Shestack told the press at the time that the fragments were “not very expensive” (Shestack quoted in Gold 1988).

[Image (Public Domain): Facsimile of the tomb’s paintings made in 1921; they may not represent the pieces that were stolen and returned.]

Works Cited

Díaz-Iglesias Llanos, Lucía and Daniel M. Méndez-Rodríguez (2023) Epigraphical Study of the Burial Chamber Belonging to Nakhtmin (TT 87): Materiality and Scribal Hands. Journal of Near Eastern Studies 82(1).

Fatsis, Stefan (1988) Boston Museum to Return Purloined Tomb Artifacts. Associated Press. 30 December.

Gold, Allan R. (1988) Museum Returning Antiquities to Egypt. The New York Times, 30 December.

Mond, Robert (1905) # Report of Work in the Necropolis of Thebes During the Winter of 1903-1904. l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale. 5–76, fig. 11, pls. IV–IX.

Washington Post (1988) Boston Museum to Return Stolen Art. The Washington Post, 30 December. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/12/31/boston-museum-to-return-stolen-art/f381c52a-7344-4219-afc3-745564352e4e/. Accessed on 29 August 2023.

Casas Grandes Artefacts Returned to Mexico from the US in 1997

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:38:27 +0000

Artefacts offered to undercover US federal agents by a man who claimed to have looted them from a Mexican cave.

Casas Grandes, also known as Paquimé, is a large archaeological site located in the northwestern part of the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The site should not be confused with the similarly named Casa Grande archaeological site located in the US state of Arizona. The Puebloan-style architecture of the Casas Grandes includes “an estimated 2000 rooms, Mesoamerican style platform mounds, and ball courts” (Silva 2012). The site is known for its aesthetically appealing ceramics (Silva 2012).

There is a long and documented history of illegal looting in Chihuahua, particularly in the Casas Grandes area, and an equally long history of United States-based market actors and museums knowingly engaging with this looted material (see Kelley et al. 2011; Silva 2012). Silva (2012) notes that because the United States is only about 130 km away from the site, Casas Grandes represents “an ideal location where a market is extremely close to the source”.

Focusing specifically on the 1990s, archaeologists documented numerous incidents of looting at Chihuahua sites during that period. For example Kelley et al. (2011: 212) record major looting events at the Raspadura site in 1990 and 1991. Although Kelley et al. note that the Raspadura site looting was likely associated with an absentee landowner, generally looting at Chihuahua sites in the 1990s usually fit certain patterns. They have argued that visibility was a key factor: house mound sites were the most likely to be targeted by looters than flatter sites, and long droughts during the period reduced vegetation cover making such sites easier to see (Kelley et al. 2011: 213). They also note that these droughts exacerbated economic difficulties for the local population, perhaps inspiring them to supplement their income via artefact looting and sale.

In 1996 undercover federal agents approached a man named Rodolfo Acedo who was offering a rifle for sale (Associated Press 1996). Acedo offered to sell artefacts to the agents, claiming that he had personally looted them from a Mexican cave (Associated Press 1996). Acedo also claimed to have sold other objects to buyers in California and Colorado, and that he had been smuggling artefacts into the United States for about four years (Associated Press 1996). The agents paid Acedo $2000 USD for the pots, and Acedo offered them more artefacts shortly afterwards. Later the agents seized 31 artefacts from Acedo’s home and arrested him (Associated Press 1996). It was determined that the objects likely came from Casas Grandes.

Following his arrest, Acedo claimed that his story that he personally looted the artefacts was a lie meant to enhance his reputation (Associated Press 1996). He pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling and was sentenced to five years probation and community service (Associated Press 1996). The seized Casas Grandes artefacts were returned to Mexico on 10 October 1997 (Associated Press 1996).

[Image by Gary Todd, CC 0 1.0; This is not an image of one of the returned objects, rather it illustrates Paquimé ceramic style]

Works Cited

Associated Press (1996) Ancient artifacts returning to Mexico. 10 October.

Kelley, Jane H., David A. Phillips, A. C. MacWilliams, and Rafael Cruz Antillón (2011) “Land Use, Looting, and Archaeology in Chihuahua, Mexico: A Speculative History.” _Journal of the Southwest_ 53(2): 177–224. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41710084. Accessed on 29 August 2023.

Silva, Fabiola (2012) The Plundering of Paquimé: The History of Looting in Northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico. Master’s Thesis. University of Oklahoma. https://shareok.org/handle/11244/335827. Accessed on 29 August 2023.

El Perú-Waka’ Stela Fragment Returned to Guatemala in 1999

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:38:06 +0000

Maya sculpture stolen from a Guatemalan site and recovered from Sotheby’s auction house

[Image: (CC 0, Wikimedia commons) Detailed view of a different looted stela from El Perú-Waka’ now in the Cleveland Museum.]

The Maya site of El Perú-Waka’ is located in the Petén Department of Guatemala, within the Laguna del Tigre National Park, part of the Maya Biosphere Reserve. It was discovered in the 1960s by petroleum exploitation workers (Rich and Navarro-Farr, 2014: 4). Originally called “El Perú”, the subsequent decipherment of Maya writing has confirmed that the city was originally called Waka’, perhaps meaning something like Centipede Water or just Centipede City (Guenter 2014), leading to the hyphenated “El Perú-Waka'” which is commonly used by archaeologists. El Perú-Waka’ is located 115 km southwest of Calakmul and 72 km west of Tikal, the two major warring polities during the lowland Maya Classic period (Rich and Navarro-Farr 2014: 4).

In 1971, archaeologist Ian Graham mapped and recorded the centre of El Perú-Waka’ as part of the Maya Hieroglyphic Inscriptions programme supported by Harvard University; he recorded around 660 architectural features in an area of less than 1 square kilometre (Rich and Navarro-Farr 2014: 6). Among the features Graham recorded were 39 stela (Guenter 2014: 147), and more stela have since been located at the site and recorded. It was clear that looters had reached El Perú-Waka’ before archaeologists. Graham later stated that he “got there six years too late” and that looters “really trashed the site” (Graham, quoted in Shim 1999).

Among the stela that Graham recorded was one that had been distinctively cut by looters. Only one piece of the stela was missing, a fragment that formed part of the chest ornament of the stela’s central figure (Archaeology 1999). The fragment measured 30 cm by 60 cm (Cabral 1999), and had been removed with saws, leaving a flat place in the centre of the sculpture (Gardiner 1999). Graham believed that the fragment had been stolen within the previous 5 years, so after about 1965 (Gardiner 1999).

Graham took detailed photographs and measurements of the remaining portions of the stela, actions that would lead to a positive identification of the missing piece (Herrick, Feinstein LLP, n.d.). Also, because of the regularity of Maya iconography, Graham noted that he “could guess pretty much what the design was” on the piece that had been stolen (Gardiner 1999). In other words, if the piece ever appeared on the market, Graham would be prepared to identify it. This is what happened 27 years later.

In the autumn of 1998 the unnamed American possessor of the stela fragment offered it for sale at Sotheby’s auction house in New York City. The sale was brought to Graham’s attention, who confirmed that the fragment was the missing piece from the El Perú-Waka’ stela he recorded in 1971 (Herrick, Feinstein LLP, n.d.). Graham contacted the Guatemalan Consulate in New York with his concerns who contacted their lawyers in the US; the lawyers then contacted the US Customs Service who opened an investigation (Herrick, Feinstein LLP, n.d.).

Archaeology Magazine (1999) reported that Sotheby’s “suspected the stela fragment was hot” and advised the possessor to return the piece to Guatemala rather than face the risk of possible legal action. Other sources indicate that it was Guatemala’s lawyer, Howard Spiegler, who suggested the return to the possessor (Gardiner 1999; Shim 1999). The possessor chose to voluntarily return the fragment which was given to Guatemala in mid-1999 while remaining anonymous (Archaeology Magazine 1999; Gardiner 1999; Herrick, Feinstein LLP, n.d.).

It is unclear what happened to the stela fragment between its looting in the 1960s and its reappearance in the United States in the late 1990s.

At the time of writing (mid 2023), Graham’s notes about El Perú-Waka’ are not yet available online and we have not yet located a source that confirms what stela number the fragment corresponds to. We welcome that information, please contact us.

Works Cited

Archaeology Magazine (1999) Maya Stela Fragment Returned. Archaeology Magazine. 3 September. https://archive.archaeology.org/online/news/stela.html

Cabral, Elena (1999) ‘Indiana Jones’ helps in return of 1,000-year-old Mayan relic. The Record. 7 August.

Gardiner, Beth (1999) Stolen Mayan artifact returned to Guatemalan authorities. Associated Press. 4 August.

Guenter, Stanley Paul (2014) “The Epigraphy of El Perú-Waka'” In Archaeology at El Perú-Waka’: Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power. Olivia C. Navarro-Farr and Michelle Rich (Eds). University of Arizona Press

Herrick, Feinstein LLP (n.d.) Guatemala Announces Recovery of Thousand Year Old Stone Figure. Press Release. Available at: https://www.herrick.com/content/uploads/2016/01/bd7ea8dc8534d0a14391044e5895dc52.pdf

Rich, Michelle and Olivia C. Navarro-Farr (2014) “Introduction: Ritual, Memory, and Power Among the Maya and at Classic Period El Perú-Waka'”. In Archaeology at El Perú-Waka’: Ancient Maya Performances of Ritual, Memory, and Power. Olivia C. Navarro-Farr and Michelle Rich (Eds). University of Arizona Press.

Shim, Maria S. (1999) Harvard Archaeologist Identifies Stolen Mayan Artifact. The Harvard Crimson, 13 August.

Academic ‘ethics’ and the Schøyen Collection Aramaic incantation bowls: a personal narrative

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 07:22:07 +0000

Abstract

The Aramaic incantation bowls in the possession of the Schøyen Collection have been the subject of academic controversy and police search. This paper discusses the ethical dimensions of scholarly engagements with the bowls, with a special focus on the actions of University College London and the British Academy. It concludes that there is little evidence of ethical reflection on the part of these institutions, and considers the chilling effects exerted by a wealthy private individual upon academic freedom.

Yates speaks at “Preventing Art Crimes through Regulation and Self-Regulation”, Milan, 30 Sept.

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 09:54:30 +0000

Dr Donna Yates will be participating in this event hosted by the UNESCO Chair on Business Integrity and Crime Prevention in the Art and Antiquities Market to be held at the Palazzo Visconti in Milan on 30 September 2024.

Donna will speak in the session “Codes of Conduct, Codes of Ethics and other Soft-Law tools in Cultural Heritage Area”.

More information is available at: https://www.cnpds.it/attivita-ricerche/international-conference-preventing-art-crimes-through-regulation-and-self-regulation/

Yates presenting at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum summer school “Museums, Democracy and Citizenship”

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 09:39:11 +0000

Dr Donna Yates will be participating in The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum’s 3rd Summer School, under the theme “Museum’s Democracy, Citizenship”, in Lisbon, Portugal. Yates will be speaking on the panel “The museum as citizen: difficult histories, contested identities” and her talk is titled “Crime in museum collections: finding patterns towards hidden histories”

More information about the event, which will be broadcast live, is available on the museum website:

https://gulbenkian.pt/museu/en/agenda/summer-school-2024/

Irregularly regulated collecting markets

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 07:23:49 +0000

This paper examines the dynamics of ‘irregularly regulated markets’, specifically those dealing with what we term ‘criminogenic collectables’: antiquities, fossils, and wildlife. Through the lens of ‘irregular regulation’ we consider how inconsistencies and loopholes in legal frameworks contribute to criminal activities in these markets. We outline five ways that such markets can be considered irregular: socially, jurisdictionally, temporally, culturally and discursively. Through this discussion, we address the subjective nature of legality in these markets, contested by cultural, economic, and political influences, and the role of market actors in manipulating perceptions. This study offers a nuanced perspective on the sociology of crime which includes consideration of the objects of crime. Here we emphasize not only the significance of market regulation and legal frameworks in shaping criminal behaviour, but also the agentic qualities of the target objects themselves. We argue that the idea of irregularity is a useful hermeneutic device for considering the grey areas and hot zones of debate that constitute the current global market for contested objects.

Available Open Access: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10611-024-10171-9

Die Stele von Tell Sheikh Hamad

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:55:27 +0000

Cuneiform exceptionalism? Justifying the study and publication of unprovenanced cuneiform tablets from Iraq

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:55:27 +0000

Abstract

Through the 1990s and 2000s thousands of cuneiform tablets were looted from archaeological sites in Iraq and acquired by private collectors. Since then, scholars with expertise in reading cuneiform inscriptions (who call themselves Assyriologists) have been studying and publishing the texts. This scholarly engagement with what is generally understood to be illicitly-traded material has been controversial, and many Assyriologists have made public statements justifying their work. This chapter presents a brief overview of the controversy over publication, before using Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot’s theory of justification to examine the justificatory statements of Assyriologists for what they reveal about their reasons for engaging with illicitly-traded material. The chapter concludes by considering the harms such scholarship might cause to Iraq.

Some new evidence documenting the involvement of Da’esh in Syria with the illicit trade in antiquities

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:44:34 +0000

Abstract

We present here some new evidence documenting the involvement of Da’esh with the looting and illicit trade of antiquities in northeastern Syria. We have inter- viewed four people who have first-hand knowledge of its activities and acquired some images of looted objects and Da’esh administrative documents. We examine this new evidence in the context of previously reported accounts of Da’esh involvement with the antiquities trade. We also report looting at some previously unknown archaeologi- cal sites, describe extensive looting when northeastern Syria was controlled by the Free Syrian Army, and criti- cally examine the reliability of prices reported inside Syria.

The looting and trafficking of Syrian antiquities since 2011

Thu, 11 Jul 2024 09:36:34 +0000

Excerpt

This chapter presents an evidence-based overview and synthesis of what is known about the looting and trafficking of Syrian antiquities since the onset of civil conflict in 2011 (Figure 1.1). There is a special emphasis on the involvement of terrorist and other ANSA groups, particularly the Salafist- jihadist groups ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra (JAN) and its successor organization Hayat Tahrir as-Sham (HTS)2, and the potential profitability of the trade for such groups. The first section provides a necessarily brief introductory account of archaeological looting in Syria. The following two sections then describe the structure and operation of the antiquities trade, both generally and specifically for the case of Syria. The next two sections present a dia- chronic perspective on the trade, showing how over the past thirty years technological and political developments have increased its commercial reach and destructive potential, and radically altered the nature of material being traded. These observations are fundamental to the following four sections which consider the criminal organization of the antiquities trade, its financial structure and its likely profitability for terrorists and other ANSAs. In the final section, some thought is given to the problem of policy failure – why public policy has very obviously failed to suppress or obstruct antiquities trafficking out of Syria.