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

Sabrine, Isber, Ristam Abdo and Neil Brodie (2022) Some new evidence documenting the involvement of Da’esh in Syria with the illicit trade in antiquities. Journal of East Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage 10(2): 115-136.

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.