Time for Malefactor Source Countries to Take Some Heat

Arthur Houghton III
distinguished numismatist

Arthur Houghton, former State Department diplomat, White House official, museum curator and CPAC member is promoting US interests against the machinations of foreign malefactor source countries ("Time for Malefactor Source Countries to Take Some Heat!"). He is at this time engaged in high-level talks in Washington in Congress and reports that there is now considerable interest in ensuring that Americans are not disadvantaged by the practices of other countries with regard to cultural property matters. It is good to learn that US Politicians are actively discussing listing countries that willfully destroy their own past, either by allowing their domestic markets to flourish or by permitting and even encouraging public and private development that destroys their past history and their archaeological sites. The proposal is punishing malefactor source countries to ensure that they began taking care of their own history. Any existing MOU with a malefactor country would be made null and void and would remain so unless and until the country involved could demonstrate compliance with the Convention. Other acquiring countries would be encourage to do the same. All the archaeological community's selective outrage against collectors has had the effect of diverting attention from poor stewardship of cultural resources in countries like Greece, Italy, and China. Under the circumstances, this new US initiative should be welcomed by everyone who truly cares about cultural heritage.

The New Governor of Luxor

“Ex-militant to run bloodied Luxor tourist region” NBC News, June 17, 2013

A member of the movement whose gunmen killed 58 foreigners at a temple in Luxor in 1997 was sworn in by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi on Monday as governor of the vital tourist region. Adel Mohamed al-Khayat, who now represents the Building and Development Party, political wing of the once violent al-Gamaa al-Islamiya movement, was one of 17 new governors, several of them Islamists, who took their oaths with the president. 

Khayat, then in his mid-40s, was a leader of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya in another province when, on November 17, 1997, six young men from the group shot their way into the Temple of Hatshepsut near Luxor's Valley of the Queens. The attack was part of a broader campaign by the group, at that time
linked to al Qaeda, to cripple tourism revenues for the government of then-president Hosni Mubarak. Of the 62 people killed in the next hour, 58 were foreign tourists, more than half of them Swiss and the rest were Japanese, British, German and Colombian. The gunmen, reported to have trained at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, committed suicide. Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, also implicated in the 1981 assassination of Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, renounced violence and condemned al Qaeda in ideological U-turns a decade ago. It moved into public life after the revolution in 2011 which ended Mubarak's military-backed rule.

In Egypt, we are now seeing some more of the tragic consequences of Obama's epic foreign policy failures. Adel Asaad al-Khayyat has been appointed the new governor of Luxor, in charge of the region's tourism. He belongs to a group, Gamaa al-Islamiyya which carried out terrorist attacks that killed dozens of tourists, soldiers and police officers in the same city that he has now been appointed to govern. Under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood, a slaughterer is exalted, rewarded. This would never have happened under Mubarak. This is the beginning of a world where America is absent. A world where the leader of the free world is absent.

These salafists despise the monuments of places like of Luxor. Some Salafi leaders have expressed disregard, and even hostility, toward Egypt’s pre-Islamic relics and monuments, which they consider pagan. Salafi political leaders have not actively moved to eliminate the country’s ancient sites, but their contempt for the ways of non-Muslim tourists is well known, “because tourist villages have aspects that anger Allah, including alcohol, gambling and other forbidden things.” Adel Asaad al-Khayyat's group was blamed for splashing blue paint on a statue of a mermaid in Alexandria last month. And in 2011, they wrapped cloth around a fountain that depicted mermaids. They are sending a message with this appointment.  Luxor is a major attraction, and tourism has been vital to the Egyptian economy.

 The ancient treasures of the world are in danger. The new Egypt sounds positively seventh-century.

See: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2013/06/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-appoints-terrorist-to-new-governor-of-bloodied-luxor-tourist-region.html

Ayn Rand on Evil

Ayn Rand nailed it when she said, “The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

US Collectors Being Invigillated?

In the light of all the recent revelations of Government misconduct at State, the IRS and NSA, the latest revelations from Peter Tompa are disquieting. It seems that the FBI, Criminal Justice Information Systems, has begun to surreptitiously monitor the "Cultural Property Observer" blog, which represents collector interests. This information comes directly from sources that are internal to the Bureau. This is consistent with what we now know about the monitoring of US citizens by our national security services. It is highly probable that there are others, perhaps many others, who are being subjected to the same secret surveillance.

"Breaking News: CPO Subject to Government Surveillance?"

Transparency and Erosion of Civil Liberties

"Let me say this as simply as I can, transparency and the rule of law

 will be the touchstones of this presidency"
~ Barack Hussain Obama on January 21, 2009.

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, his pledges of openness and transparency were not ancillary to his campaign but central to it. He  repeatedly denounced the Bush administration as "one of the most secretive administrations in our nation's history", saying that "it is no coincidence" that such a secrecy-obsessed presidency "has favored special interests and pursued policies that could not stand up to the sunlight." He vowed: "as president, I'm going to change that". Within a few months of those words his administration passed laws restricting imports of artifacts from ancient civilizations under circumstances that are still unclear, despite efforts of the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild to obtain the promised transparency, that were stalled at every step of the way.

 Now we have this: "Obama's Verizon surveillance reveals massive erosion of US civil liberties". Thanks to a secret court and compliant politicians, this administration is running an ever-expanding security state, the government has ordered Verizon (and presumably other carriers) to turn over all calls made within the United States and calls between the United States and other countries. The administration is creating a massive databank for all calls, including calls within the United States.  Civil libertarians have been complaining for years about these programs and have met a wall of silence from Democrats protecting President Obama and Eric Holder, there appears no concern over excessive surveillance or the ever-expanding security state. It is the final evidence of how Obama has truly crippled the civil liberties movement in the United States. With each passing day of this, the idea of giving up our right to arms is becoming more of a nightmare. We are rapidly coming to a point when all patriots will be needing them.

Novice unearths 'nationally significant' find during first treasure hunt

Exciting news from the British press:

Wesley Carrington was just 20 minutes into his first metal detecting trip when he unearthed a hoard of Roman gold coins estimated to be worth £100,000.  The novice revealed he had bought a basic detector from a local shop and headed straight out to woods to try his new gadget. His initial finds included a spoon and halfpenny piece but then the machine started bleeping to indicate metal some way beneath the ground. After digging down around seven inches he unearthed the first of 55 ‘solidi’ – gold coins – dating back more than 1,600 years. Stunned experts later returned to the site and discovered a further 104 coins, describing the haul as ‘spectacular’ and of ‘national significance’. The remarkable story behind the find emerged yesterday at a formal inquest which was held to decide if the coins qualified as ‘treasure trove’. Hertfordshire Coroner Edward Thomas ruled that they did and the coins will now be sent to the British Museum for a formal valuation before they go up for auction. Any proceeds made could be split between Mr Carrington and the owner of the land where the find was made. 

Read more:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2336423/I-Roman-coins-worth-100-000--20-minutes-buying-metal-detector-Novice-unearths-nationally-significant-treasure-hunt.html#ixzz2WjzUEIqR
 

Poor Stewardship - Israeli, Palestinian Politics blamed for Neglect of Holy Land Archeological Site

Roman basilica and forum in the village of Sebastia near the West Bank city of Nablus.

The ancient town of Sebastia is one of the greatest archaeological sites of the Holy Land, attracting tourists and pilgrims over the centuries with its overlapping layers of history dating back 3,000 years. But visitors who come to the site today will find it in a state of neglect (Associated Press, 'Israeli, Palestinian politics blamed for neglect of Holy Land archaeological site Sebastia', June 02, 2013). 

The ancient town of Sebastia is one of the major archaeological sites of the Holy Land, with its overlapping layers of history dating back nearly 3,000 years. But today the hilltop capital of biblical kings, later ruled by Roman conquerors, Crusaders and Ottomans, is marred with weeds, graffiti and garbage. Caught between conflicting Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions, the site has been largely neglected by both sides for the past two decades. Beyond the decay, unauthorized diggers and thieves have taken advantage of the lack of oversight to make off with priceless artifacts.

Turkey's "Art War", their Battle to Repatriate Antiquities

Matthias Schulz 'Art War': Turkey Battles to Repatriate Antiquities Speigel July 20, 2012

A resurgent Turkey has launched a concerted effort to get cultural artifacts back from museums around the world. Although many museums deny that their objects were illegally obtained, Ankara is playing hardball by threatening to ban loans and revoke excavation permits. [...] Once decried as the "sick man of the Bosporus," the nation has regrouped and emerged as a powerhouse. Turkey's political importance is growing, and its economy is booming. In cultural matters, however, Turkey remains a lightweight. To right this deficiency, the government plans to build a 25,000-square-meter (270,000-square-foot) "Museum of the Civilizations" in the capital. "Ankara will proudly accommodate the museum," boasts Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Günay. "Our dream is the biggest museum in the world." [...]  Turkey envisions the giant new museum in Ankara as the crown jewel in its effort to embrace a multicultural past. Contracts for the project have already been signed, and organizers hope to open the new museum in 2023 so as to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The assertive and ambitious plan has caused a stir in Europe and the United States since Turkish officials also intend to fill their new display cases with treasures that they don't even own (yet), artifacts that were smuggled out of the country long ago.

Now Turkey wants these artifacts back from the museums which already own them.

An investigative committee in Ankara was recently reinforced with legal experts to wage what has been dubbed an "art war." The country has set itself "on a collision course with many of the world's leading museums," writes the British trade publication The Art Newspaper. [...]  The conflict is bound to become heated given the Turks' brusque and unrelenting behavior. "We don't want a dispute," says Culture Minister Günay. Nevertheless, he is threatening to impose a ban on loaning items to German museums and to expel foreign excavation teams if his request is ignored. 

Obviously therefore, archeologists have a vested interest in supporting the Turkish government's aggressive claims and reason enough to pursue an anti-collector and anti-museum campaign of their own. The Turkish government even has the nerve to threaten US  museums. The Getty Museum in Los Angeles is being asked to surrender 10 of its most beautiful artifacts, Harvard's Dumbarton Oaks has its ownership of the precious Sion Treasure of 6th-century Byzantine liturgical silverware challenged. The Cleveland Museum of Art has been asked to return 22 objects (including "The Stargazer," a 5,000-year-old Cycladic marble figurine once owned by Nelson Rockefeller, as well as one of the oldest statues of Jesus Christ, which depicts him as a "good shepherd").  Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the United States last year and took away a statue of Hercules from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts after a meeting behind closed doors. The Turkish government has demanded 18 objects from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

How objects get to museums

How objects get to museums

"Public museums are wonderful spaces because they allow us to see and imagine things and societies that most of us will never get to witness firsthand. At the same time, we rarely question how these objects have been obtained; how they move through the world and ultimately come to rest in a museum where we can see and be moved by them". [...] Many collections, private and public, contain items that have been obtained by violent means - previously by imperial and colonial governments, and more recently through looting during stressful times such as civil war.

The argument for considering ancient objects as global cultural heritage and therefore displaying them in "universal" museums such as the Met or the British Museum has some credibility. The Met will definitely have more visitors than Koh Ker this year, and so the statues would be seen by more people if they remained at the Met. Some, like Getty curator James Cuno, make the case that "encylopaedic museums" spur curiosity about distant places, that nationalist notions of cultural property are narrow".

Egyptian Artifacts of Meteoritic Iron

A 5300-year-old necklace bead found in an Egyptian tomb was made with iron from a meteorite!  Evidence for iron smelting in Egypt dates back to the 6th century BC, but archeologists have found much older iron artifacts in the region, including in Tutankhamun's tomb. Scholars have examined some of these beads and concluded that the material they are made from came from a meteorite. The surface of the bead had low levels of nickel, but the levels inside were as high as they would be in a meteorite. But the clincher was evidence of a distinctive crystal structure – known as the "Widmanstätten pattern" – that only forms when iron and nickel cools very slowly, as it does in meteoroids.

Scientific American, "Ancient bling was out of this world".