Major Blow for Israeli Antiquities Market

As the year draws to a close, news comes through of an ominous development seriously threatening dealers' rights in Israel. As reported by the indefatigable Peter Tompa: "Israel Requires On-Line Inventories" Tuesday, December 29, 2015. 

After losing a court challenge, Israeli antiquities dealers will be required to establish on-line inventories that will allow Israeli authorities to better track purchases, sales and exports. In theory at least, this sounds reasonable, but CPO wonders whether the process will be a nightmare in practice, particularly for small, inexpensive items like oil lamps and coins.

Israel is among the few countries in the world that are rich in archaeological artifacts that legally allows the trade in antiquities. It seems the archeologists in their international anti-collecting conspiracy have now influenced the courts there to decide against the interests of the collectors.  This will force the dealers to increase the prices of the small, formerly  inexpensive, items like oil lamps and coins which will force the small collectors out of the hobby which will thereby become less democratic and be easier to ban. Peter Tompa observes, and it is difficult to assail his logic:

And if this is such a great idea, why not require archaeologists and museums operating in Israel to establish on-line inventories as well?  Such on-line inventories would help deter insider theft and perhaps provide information that will be helpful to scholars.

How humble oil-lamps throw light on the world of ancient Rome.

 
Caroline Lawrence says: "the humble oil-lamp can throw a different kind of light on the ancient world" (How humble oil-lamps throw light on the world of ancient Rome.)

 

Farmhouse from First Temple era, Byzantine church found in Central Israel

A huge farmhouse from the First Temple period, an ornate Byzantine church built over a thousand years later and a lime kiln dated to the Ottoman era have been found by Rosh HaAyin, during archaeological investigation ahead of building a new neighborhood in the central Israeli city. The sprawling 2,700-year old farmhouse has no less than 24 rooms surrounding a central courtyard, which is a common structure in the Middle East. Altogether the farmhouse area covers some 30 meters by 50. It was so well preserved that some walls were still standing to a height of more than two meters after nearly three millennia.

read more: here

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Credit: Griffin Aerial Photography

Poor Stewardship: Viking Museum Flooded

You would think more could have been done to prevent this. In Britain the "Jorvik Viking Center" in  York was flooded - not surprisingly, it is sited in a basement. That is no place to keep valuable artifacts, what were the archeologists thinking?

Coins: Important Source for Architectural Information

The Emperor Titus was born on this day in AD 39. The Colosseum shown on this coin was finished in his reign. The value of the images on coins for revealing the past cannot be overestimated. Archeologists very rarely use this sort of information in their work, and only criticize numismatists for their efforts to be able to independently study the past through this kind of material.

Poor Stewardship, ancient bridge collapses

It seems that poor stewardship of ancient sites and structures is rife in Europe. In Britain, a bridge dating to 1700 has just collapsed. Tadcaster Bridge was built in  c.1700; widened by John Carr of York c.1780. Now, apparently through lack of proper care and maintenance, it has gone.

UNESCO "Experts" get it Wrong

One of the doyens of numismatic scholarship, Wayne Sayles has caught so-called UNESCO "experts" out in another of their anti-collecting lies ("Leave it to the Experts" December 28, 2015).

Where in the world does the press come up with their "experts" on cultural property matters? The latest brazen show of ignorance appears in a citation by "leading world museums and the U.N. Cultural agency" in a supposedly expert warning distributed through a plethora of media outlets by Associated Press.

The photo they show is captioned, "Marinid gold dinars with kufic inscriptions (13th-15th AD), part of the emergency red list" and describes these as.one of the cultural treasures from Libya that needs to be watched for:

 Unfortunately, the image accompanying this caption is a silver tetradracm of Nikis, a magistrate of Cyrene in the late 5th to early 4th century BC — not even remotely from medieval Libya. So, what is a customs inspector to do when they see one of these treasures? Treat it as "looted Libyan goods" and seize it? It would be nice if the experts would get it right on something as simple as a common coin attribution.

The English publisher John Howland correctly calls UNESCO and ICOM a Vaudeville act and adds:

Perhaps some Customs Officers are opening themselves to civil claims and actions if they base their seizures on seriously flawed information as shown by ICOM's hideous gaffe.

Indeed, let us hope that in the New Year collectors and dealers start taking a firmer stance and challenging the threats to their rights more frequently. It is a good job we have such luminaries as Mr Sayles and Mr Howland to shed some light into the darkness of official ignorance and lies.

Poor Stewardship: Over 6000 Artifacts Are Back to Syria

Arian Zwegers, "6,500 Smuggled Artifacts Are Back to Syria"  28 December 2015

In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Dr. Ma'moun Abdel-Kareem, head of the Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums in Syria said that its employees managed to retrieve approximately 6,500 smuggled ancient artifacts and return them home. Several countries in the Middle East have cooperated with Syria in order to bring back 6,500 smuggled antiquities, the expert told Sputnik. "We got back ancient artifacts and registered them in our departments, precisely those in Damascus. I should highlight that Lebanon brought around 90 artefacts back to Syria," Abdel-Kareem said. At the same time he mentioned that not all neighboring countries cooperated with Syria on the issue. For instance, Turkey and Jordan refused to provide Syria with any information on the smuggled artefacts, while Ankara even accused the members of the mission "of politicizing the operation." 

I think you have to question the wisdom of sending anything back to Syria where it comes under threat of being destroyed by military action or worse. This is ridiculous, the corrupt and genocidal regime of Syria cannot be trusted.

Middle Kingdom for the Public

This Middle Kingdom "Head of a King" in the  Metropolitan Museum since 1912 expresses both youthful strength and graceful divinity.

Back in Egypt, where showing human images is against the religion of the land, many such masterpieces lie collecting dust in dark neglected storerooms.

Syrian regime 'bombs Unesco world heritage site'

 

Scandalous and tragic. Who could imagine sending objects back to these people? Their proper place is where they will be best looked-after.

The Syrian regime has bombed an ancient castle listed by Unesco as a world heritage site as it tried to root out rebel fighters who recently captured the town, according to reports. Government helicopters are thought to have been targeting the southern Syrian town of Busra Sham, classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site for its historic citadel, ruins and well-preserved Roman theatre. It was once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia and a stopover on caravan routes to Mecca. Photographs shared on activists' social media pages show significant damage to pillars inside the castle". 

Josie Ensor, "Syrian regime bombs Unesco world heritage site" Telegraph 24 Dec 2015

Monkey Bowl in Scotland Museum

Beautiful ancient Egyptian bowl of blue anhydrite decorated with monkeys from royal burial.

Carl Werner, Temple of Isis at Philae

'View of the Temple of Isis at Philae' (1865) by Carl Friedrich Heinrich Werner (1808-1894)

ISIS seizes UNESCO heritage site of Sabratha in Libya

Jerusalem Post 'ISIS seizes UNESCO heritage site of Sabratha in Libya'

Islamic State militants have seized control of the Libyan town of Sabratha, a UNESCO world heritage site and home to one of the world's best-preserved Roman amphitheaters, The Telegraph reported on Friday. Militants moved into the center of town on Thursday, traveling in a caravan of Toyota pickup trucks. Locals initially believed the terror group was engaging in a retaliatory raid after two of their men were arrested nearby, however the militants set up checkpoints around the town and claimed the town as their own, said The Telegraph. Sabratha is located 50 miles from the Libyan capital of Tripoli, which is currently facing threats of ISIS infiltration on both its eastern and western fronts. Destruction of the Sabratha ruins would be an incredible disaster, rivaling or surpassing the devastation caused by the destruction of Palmyra in Syria.

ISIS is building a base in Libya

Sirte ideally located to launch attacks on European culture

"Isis building global base in Libya as Syria battered"

The Islamic State jihadist group (ISIS or IS) has strengthened its grip in its Libyan stronghold Sirte, as new recruits and foreign fighters join its ranks while world attention focuses on Iraq and Syria. Experts and sources in Libya say Sirte has become a new focal point for the jihadist group as it comes under increasing pressure in its traditional Iraqi and Syrian power bases.

See also here: "ISIS controlling Sirte, Libya: City used to plot terror attacks".

How long before we see archeologists claiming all artifact sales from North Africa are "financing ISIS"?

Early Engraving of Colosseum

Engraving of the Colosseum by Hieronymus Cock, 1551.

Debunking the ISIS Antiquities Funding Myth

Art Law Expert Kate Fitz Gibbon
calls for a return to rationality

Ben Taub’s New Yorker article, The Real Value of the ISIS Antiquities Trade, blows apart the State Department, Department of Justice, and Antiquities Coalition claims that ISIS is raking in tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of antiquities. Kate Fitz Gibbon of the Committee for Cultural Policy writes ('Debunking the ISIS Antiquities Funding Myth'):

"There is a hidden agenda behind adoption of a story that promotes the Big Lie of ISIS’ funding through antiquities – the denigration and destruction of the legitimate international trade in art. US energies should not be wasted against ephemeral enemies. We should aim – swiftly – against the real targets who are providing funding for ISIS."

Enjoy and respect Native American art and traditions

Enjoy and respect Native American art and traditions

 

ISIS smuggles majority of oil via Turkey

A man stands on a truck near oil fields in Syria's
northeastern Qamshli province. (File photo: Reuters)

Iraq: ISIS smuggles majority of oil via Turkey Al Arabiya News Monday, 7 December 2015

Iraq’s premier Haider al-Abadi said Monday that most of the oil smuggled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group goes through Turkey, joining a chorus of countries linking it with the militants’ financing. [...]  It is the latest in a series of accusations linking Turkey and oil smuggling by ISIS [...]  Russia accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of involvement in the IS oil trade, to which he responded that Russia was in fact involved. [...]  Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council, said Iranian military advisors on the ground in Iraq and Syria had images of IS oil trucks going to Turkey. 

The archeologists say that it is collectors financing ISIS, when all the time it has been Turkey (where many archeologists seek excavation permits) which has been one of the main culprits.

Turkey receiving smuggled antiquities as payment for supplying weapons to terror groups in Syria

Syria army says Turkey increases arms shipments to rebels Reuters

The Syrian army said on Saturday that Turkey had recently increased supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment to [...]  terrorists in Syria [...]. "We have certain information that the Turkish government has recently increased its support to the terrorists and the level of their supplies of weapons, ammunition and equipment necessary to continue their criminal acts," [...] The statement by the Syrian army command alleged that weapons were being delivered in shipments which Turkey claimed to be humanitarian assistance. It also alleged the weapons were supplied in exchange for looted Syrian and Iraqi antiquities and oil sold at low prices. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has denied accusations his country purchased oil from Islamic State, saying anyone making such claims must prove them.

Oil, not Antiquities

Cultural Property expert Peter Tompa also covers the ISIS debacle:

"ISIS Funding Narrative Begins Unraveling in Mainstream Media" The New Yorker has rightly questioned whether looted antiquities are really an important funding source for ISIS as our State Department and the archaeological lobby have claimed.  Hopefully, other mainstream media will follow.

John Howland from England notes that the English worked it out earlier than the federal government:

At last! Someone with the balls to question the 'academics'. ISIS get its money from what is termed 'hot oil' and that's why the UK's Royal Air Force is now bombing ISIS oil wells to oblivion. Were this not the case one suspects that the US and UK would be bombing the crap out of heritage sites, but ISIS has already done this. I expect any time soon to see the names of those in academe who proliferated the stolen collectables nonsense in the public domain, followed by a series of academic post becoming vacant. Ha Ha!

See "British airstrikes hit Islamic State oil fields, aim to deal 'real blow" Fox News December 03, 2015.

Significantly, another source gives the position of the "Omar Oilfield" mentioned as the targeted area as being right next to where that antiquities trader with his faked invoices lived. The anti-collecting story is being unravelled fast.

Common Sense reporting on "the real Value of the ISIS Antiquities Trade"

Finally, common sense reporting!

The Real Value of the ISIS Antiquities Trade - The New Yorker

New findings are shedding light on the Islamic State’s looting of cultural heritage, but they’re also raising more questions than they’re answering.

newyorker.com|By Ben Taub

US State Department Faking Link Between ISIS and the Antiquities Trade

Peter Tompa has expertly observed: 'Prominent Member of Archaeological Lobby Suggests US State Department Faking Link Between ISIS and the Antiquities Trade'.

Neil Brodie, a prominent member of the international archaeological lobby, has suggested that the US State Department has used forged documents to establish a link between ISIS and antiquity sales. Brodie also concedes that given what we know, antiquities must be a minor source for ISIS and that it's more likely that the Assad regime and the Free Syrian Army are profiting from antiquities sales. Nonetheless, Brodie, staying true to his anti-trade bias, remains all for "suppressing demand for antiquities" in order to save archaeological context.  

If it were true that the Federal government is trying to hoodwink us all, it would be a massive failure of government. But it would not be the first time....

The Reason Behind the Destruction

 Peter Tompa has expertly observed: 'Prominent Member of Archaeological Lobby Suggests US State Department Faking Link Between ISIS and the Antiquities Trade' that archeological hard-liners are

loath to consider possibility that the real problem may be that that the "State Owns Everything Old" model only associates antiquities with hated Middle Eastern dictators and devalues them so thoroughly that they are smuggled or even destroyed.

Depressing Numismatics

Coin of the Abbasids, Baghdad, Iraq, 765. The Abbasid Caliphate (Arabic: العبّاسيّون / ISO 233: al-'abbāsīyūn), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. Compared with the artistic glory of the numismatics of the Greeks and the historical grandour of the Roman coinage, this crude aniconic coinage with the repetitive and stereotypical 'La-La-Allah' legends is simply depressing. No wonder so few people collect them. 

"The Questioner of the Sphinx"

Museum of Fine Arts:  Elihu Vedder painted "The Questioner of the Sphinx" using travel books as reference for the monument.

'Turkey arms ISIS in exchange for oil, antiquities'

I knew it: 'Turkey arms Daesh in exchange for oil, antiquities' Press TV Nov 29, 2015. The Syrian army says Turkey has stepped up its weapons supplies to terrorists in Syria in exchange for oil and antiquities stolen from Syria and Iraq by Daesh.

Tibetans are fighting ChineseDomination to Save Their Culture

Tibetans are fighting under China to save their culture (Edward Wong, 'Tibetans Fight to Salvage Fading Culture in China', NY Times Nov 28, 2015) story, photos & video.

 

NYT story, photos & video. http://nyti.ms/1NArDLM 

Dolphin Money

These tiny dolphins were used as money in Greek cities around the Black Sea

Islam Death Cult

They are all the same.... clash of civilizations.

Turkish Government, Not Collectors, Facilitates Antiquity Smuggling

Syria's culture minister Issam Khalil accused the country's northern neighbor Turkey of not doing enough to stop the smuggling of antiquities and other items across their shared frontier. The UN Security Council resolution passed on Feb. 12 "maintains that groups such as Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's affiliate in the Syrian war, are generating income by selling antiquities looted in the conflict". Turkey supporting groups fighting the Syrian government.

Khalil criticized Turkey for "facilitating" smuggling across the 910-km (560-mile) border which he said was the main route for antiquities leaving Syria illegally [...]. Damascus says Ankara has extended support to jihadist groups including Islamic State, which has seized wide areas of northern Syria at the border with Turkey. Ankara denies that charge and says sealing the frontier completely is impossible. "The United Nations knows for certain that the Turkish government is facilitating the smuggling of antiquities to the black market," said Khalil. Tension between Damascus and Ankara flared anew on Sunday when Turkish forces crossed into northern Syria to evacuate around 40 Turkish soldiers who were guarding the mausoleum of a figure revered in Turkey as the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. In a move described by Damascus as a "flagrant aggression", the Turkish forces relocated the tomb of Suleyman Shah to a more secure area. Khalil said the operation showed the Turkish government's links to Islamic State, which controls the area surrounding the site. "The tomb that was used as an excuse for this Turkish aggression ... was under the protection of the terrorists who destroyed (other) tombs, shrines, churches and mosques, but did not go anywhere near the Turkish tomb," he told Reuters by telephone on Monday. 

Turkey pursues an aggressive retentionist policy towards its own antiquities, but obviously has no problem with acquiring precious artefacts from its neighbors' territory for internal sale to collectors. It should be stressed that none of this material is passing onto the US market - despite the claims of anti-collecting archeologists.

Laila Bassam and Tom Perry, "Syria says must be part of fight against antiquities theft" Reuters Feb 23, 2015.

Archeologist Goofed Big Time!

Plan of tomb as recovered
by archaeologists

Howard Carter seems to have got it wrong.... ’90 Percent Chance’ King Tutankhamun’s Tomb Holds a Hidden Chamber: Egypt’s Antiquities Minister'

There is a 90 percent chance a hidden chamber lies behind King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Damaty announced at a Saturday press conference in Luxor. According to Damaty, the scans, conducted by Japanese radar specialist Hirokatsu Watanabu, covered the southern, western and northern sides of the pharaoh’s burial chamber. “The primary results of the scan gave us very positive results, very good results,” Damaty said. “We have here something behind the west and the north walls… We believe that there could be another chamber.” The findings, which lend credence to British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves’ theory that Queen Nefertiti’s tomb is hidden behind that of King Tutankhamun, may lead to “one of the most important finds of the century,” Damaty said. 

So much for the 'scientific' approach of archeology, if such a chamber can lie hidden in a site they explored almost a hundred years ago, one wonders what else they have missed?

The real story?

Islamist Book Burners

Islam's cultural genocide continues. It's just like Caliph Umar's comment after the library at Alexandria was burned to the ground by Muslims. He said of the priceless lost manuscripts and books that, " .... they will either contradict the Qur'an, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous."

Mali manuscripts Saved from Jihadists Again at Risk

There are fears that Islamists may try to complete the cultural cleansing they started almost three years ago in Timbuktu (Kim Sengupta, 'Mali manuscripts: Nation's treasure trove of ancient books saved from jihadists are once again at risk' Independent 27 November 2015).

Almost three years after they were smuggled out of the clutches of jihadists in Timbuktu who had begun to burn them, the ancient books remain at risk. As the murderous attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel showed, Bamako is not out of the reach of the Islamists and there is fear they may try to complete the cultural cleansing they had started almost three years ago [...]. The collection is hidden around Bamako [...] Despite the obvious care and attention of those in charge, the conditions are far from ideal and many of the documents, some analysts estimate up to 40 per cent, have been damaged. Initially this was caused by rainwater seeping through a leaking roof. But although that was repaired, dust and heat has begun to erase some of the beautiful calligraphy, while pages get stuck together due to the humidity, insects eating through the bindings.  “I am afraid a lot of the manuscripts have been affected, it is a great pity,” said Dr Abdoulkadri Idrissa Maiga, director of the Institute. “The weather conditions here in Bamako are not good for keeping them. It’s a big problem. Even the dust here is not the same as the dust in Timbuktu and believe it or not the type of dust has a bearing on how the pages can be preserved.” [...] “We have made some improvements in the way things are kept here, controlling some of the damage. But what we can’t control is the human danger, those people who want to destroy these lovely books and those who want to steal them. All we can do is keep the places where we have them confidential.” 

The obvious answer is to pack them up and send them to the US where the dust can be kept off them, and our conservators will deal with the insects which defeat the Africans. 

Another Museum Theft in Italy

Pisanello. Madonna of the Quail
(c. 1420), Source:
Wikimedia Commons

The museums of Italy are plagued by red tape, nepotism and funding shortages, and the whole museum system has long been in need of an overhaul. In recent years we have become increasingly aware of scandalously bad security problems which have led to many thefts from Italian museums. As many as seventeen paintings were stolen from the Castelvecchio Museum in Italy – one of the finest civic collections in northern Italy – on the evening of 19 November, they included the works: Pisanello, Madonna of the Quail; Jacopo Bellini, Penitent St Jerome; Mantegna, Holy Family with a Saint; Gian Francesco Caroto, Portrait of a Young Boy Holding a Child’s Drawing; Rubens, Lady of the Campions; Hans de Jode, Seaport.

See: Thomas Marks: 'It is hard to overstate the gravity of the Castelvecchio thefts' Apollo Magazine Nov 25, 2015

The Italian museum sector has been in a shambles for a long time. The country is obviously not up to the task of looking after the heritage that it so desperately clings on to. They admit it themselves and successive culture minister to institute reforms that will improve the situation, despite a shake up of Italian museum directorships the situation goes from bad to worse.

the details of this raid indicate that inadequate security measures were in place. The gang of three thieves knew exactly when to make their move, when only one security guard and a cashier were on the premises at the close of the day, in that window between the museum closing and its alarm system being activated for the night. They knew when the building was vulnerable – but should it ever have been this vulnerable? [...]  In a blog for La Reppublica, the combative art historian Tomaso Montanari has expressed his concerns that this episode may harbinger further thefts, given how badly safeguarded are many of the museums in the country. This locally run museum, he went on, has been ‘massacred by budget cuts’ [...].

Italy's grossly underfunded, over-bureaucratic cultural establishment is not up to the task of protecting the heritage. The endemic lack of effective and honest governance negatively impacts the preservation of Italy's cultural heritage. "Given the dismal performance of Italy's public sector", Dave Welsh sagely writes,

"Italy's antiquities and coin dealers should be allowed to sell not just to other Italians, but to the world. Each MOU has already called for Italy to ease the process for granting export permits for artifacts legally sold within Italy itself, something that has not happened (along with much else) because of Italy's choking bureaucracy. AAMD advocates opening up the Italian auction market so it can not only be a source of legitimately acquired artifacts, but help bring much needed money to help fund Italy's underfunded cultural establishment".

Dealers and collectors have been repeating this advice for many years, but over in Italy, the navel-gazing lawmakers of Italy seem not to able to break away from the indoctrination of archeologists and see the light.

We must Send UN Blue Helmet forces into the region to protect cultural heritage

Jim Cuno: The world must find ways to intervene and protect antiquities when nation-states cannot do so, send UN Blue Helmet forces into the region to protect cultural heritage

The international community has effectively outsourced the protection of cultural heritage to nation-states. As UNESCO declared in its 1970 Convention on cultural property, “It is incumbent upon every State to protect the cultural property existing within its territory against the dangers of theft, clandestine excavation, and illicit export” and that “the protection of cultural heritage can be effective only if organized both nationally and internationally among States working in close cooperation.”
But what if, as is increasingly obvious with regard to Iraq and Syria, nation states are incapable of protecting the cultural heritage within their borders? Sadly, the international community has very little recourse.

Life in Raqqa

The BBC give a glimpse into what life in Raqqa is like under the so called Islamic State by talking to those who have managed to get out.

BBC Newsnight

The barbarism of putting opponents' heads on public display on fence posts shows what depraved individuals we are fighting. There is no mention of any antiquities traders. 

Giving Thanks

In 1789,  Washington designated November 26 as a national “day of public Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow Americans.

Egyptian Temple Falling Apart

Photos of ‘eroded temples’ provoke ire says the Cairo Post - footage has recently circulated on social media showing erosion of stone surface of an ancient Egyptian temple.

The photos show the layers of plaster falling off the walls and columns of two temples; allegedly Madinet Habu and Seti I temples in Egypt’s Luxor. “I am not sure whether the photos are old or new. However, they indicate failure and carelessness of the stakeholders,” Ahmed Shehab, assistant of the head of the Archaeologists Human Rights Care Association posted on his Facebook page Wednesday. He called on the antiquities ministry to issue a statement explaining more details about the issue and immediately embark on restoring the erosion showed at the photos describing the incident as “farce.”

This shocking lack of care highlights the idiocy of leaving the world's heritage exclusively in the hands of a bunch of foreigners totally unprepared to look after it properly.

Sarcophagus Rescued from Treasure Hunters

'Sarcophagus found by Turkish farmer transferred to museum'

An 18-century-old sarcophagus thought to be belonging to the Late Roman Empire was unearthed and transferred to a museum after it was found by a farmer in the İznik district of Bursa last week. The sarcophagus weighing nearly 7 tons was found by farmer Hatice Süren, who went to an olive grove near the Hisardere area, last week. She informed the gendarmerie and excavations were launched in the area to unearth the sarcophagus. Archeologists found out that the sarcophagus had been partially damaged by treasure hunters.

It is quite clear that in some unenlightened countries, anything left in the ground will be damaged by ignorant peasants, we need to save history by placing it in collections.

France to Offer Safe Harbor to Syrian Antiquities

Bearded tards in dresses destroy culture

France has proposed an aggressive program to gather up Syrian antiquities and offer them "safe harbor". It is good to see that it is not just Americans who are willing to take up the burden of looking after the heritage of humanity, and put protecting Syrian archaeological objects from destruction at the hands of fanatics first.

There is NO Trade in Major Syrian Antiquities

Wayne Sayles of all people should know what is happening on the global antiquities market. This is what he has to say about claims that US collectors are financing ISIS:

The U.S. market has certainly not seen any measurable rise in artifacts from Syria. If anything, the opposite is true. Because of international sensitivity, the traditional market for objects from this region is shrinking and many dealers shy away from it. Typically, those things seen on the market today are items from old and well known collections. In the rare instances where looted material has been interdicted, it has been really minor material. Except for a few exponents of the prevailing archaeogical view, Customs and federal law enforcement agencies have generally acted reasonably and appropriately in their investigations, seizures and criminal prosecutions. I really don't see how the U.S. Collector can be villainized with any justification. That trend seems to me more of an ideological crusade than legitimate news.

These aggressive attacks on collectors and the legal trade fail to address the question of who "owns" our cultural heritage.

Homeland Threats Ignored

All the time our officials have been following the advice of the archeologists and hunting for non-existent antiquities:

We will prevail

Thirty U.S. governors are now opposing or refusing to allow Syrian refugees into their states.

 

 

 

 

Half of world's museum specimens are wrongly labelled

"Professional" dinosurs in our museums

Those archeologists who claim that they have the exclusive right to collect, leaving no room for the private collectors? Oxford University finds that half of world's museum specimens are wrongly labelled! Worse, "much of the inaccurate information has now been fed into huge globalised databases allowing the misidentification to spread across the world". So much for the "professionals".

BLOOD OIL: how ISIS really funds its operation

The result of investigations by the ADCAEA on "how ISIS really funds its operation!" have just been published on their Facebook page. It is no surprise to find that it is not what our opponents maliciously label "blood antiquities", it is "BLOOD OIL" (Erika Solomon, Guy Chazan and Sam Jones, 'Isis Inc: how oil fuels the jihadi terrorist' Financial Times October 14, 2015).

On Monday, as a result of these new facts, on Monday 

United States warplanes for the first time attacked hundreds of trucks on Monday that the extremist group has been using to smuggle the crude oil it has been producing in Syria, American officials said. According to an initial assessment, 116 trucks were destroyed in the attack, which took place near Deir al-Zour, an area in eastern Syria that is controlled by the Islamic State. The airstrikes were carried out by four A-10 attack planes and two AC-130 gunships based in Turkey.

The Pentagon said it dropped leaflets to drivers and civilians before the attack to warn them the parked trucks would be targeted.

Until now, the U.S. military has bombed small oil production sites in Syria but has held back from attacking major oil and gas refineries and other large facilities to try to preserve the battered country's economic infrastructure. Commanders also passed up bombing gas trucks to avoid potential civilian casualties.  

An oil truck destroyed in historic US mission

 Let that be an end to the unjust accusations from unscrupulous archeologists that collectors and our dealer colleagues are funding the raghead terrorist state.

March of the New Europeans

As numerous state governors resist allowing them in, this is how the British newspapers see the dilemma they are facing with the flood of Muslims into their country:

Egypt Detects 'Impressive' Anomaly in Giza Pyramids

This image is from a Fench web-site

This makes you wonder what those archeologists have been doing all this time:

Two weeks of new thermal scanning in Egypt's Giza pyramids have identified anomalies in the 4,500 year-old burial structures, including a major one in the largest pyramid, the Antiquities Ministry announced Monday. [...]  The scanning showed "a particularly impressive one (anomaly) located on the Eastern side of the Khufu pyramid at ground level," the ministry said in a statement. [...] While inspecting the area, el-Damaty said they found "that there is something like a small passage in the ground that you can see, leading up to the pyramids ground, reaching an area with a different temperature. What will be behind it?" Other heat anomalies were detected in the upper half of the pyramid that the experts said need to be investigated further.

Maram Mazen, 'Egypt Detects 'Impressive' Anomaly in Giza Pyramids Pyramids' Associated press Nov 9, 2015

Cultural Vandalism in Chinese Tomb Discovery?

Countless coins unearthed from the ancient tomb. (Photo/Xinhua)

Yao Xinyu, 'Ten tons of copper coins unearthed in 2,000 years old ancient tomb' People's Daily Online November 05, 2015.

In Xinjian, China's Jiangxi Province, recently a 2,000 years old tomb from Western Han Dynasty (206BC - 9AD) was discovered. Over 10,000 objects were unearthed, including 10 tons of cooper coins (2 millions pieces, which had equal value of 50 kilograms of gold today), chime [bells?], bamboo slips, tomb figurines etc., which reveal the lives of the nobility in the Western Han Dynasty.

Peter Tompa remarks as he always does when groups of these objects are found in closed contexts like tombs that "for import restrictions under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act to apply, an item of archaeological interest must also be of cultural significance", and "With numbers like that, one wonders why there are any import restrictions on Chinese cash coins at all. China allows its own citizens to collect such cash coins freely. So why can't Americans freely import them from abroad as well?". It seems to me that the cultural significance of this find does not consist of the numbers, but the manner in which careful excavation reveals how they lay in the tomb, still in the strings in which they were brought to the site. Surely the Chinese are not going to split this group up and sell them off loose to collectors, either at home or abroad? That would be cultural vandalism.

The Green Collection and Federal Overreach

Political opponents want to stop this museum opening

Questions have been raised by opponents of collecting about the provenance of some articles in the collection of the Green family of Oklahoma City. The Daily Beast ran a story about two or three hundred cuneiform tablets purchased form an Israeli antiquities dealer and confiscated by U.S. Customs when they were being shipped to the Green collection storage facility in Oklahoma City in 2011.  These tablets, like the other 40,000 or so ancient artifacts owned by the Green family, were destined for the Museum of the Bible, the giant new museum funded by the Greens, slated to open in Washington, D.C., in 2017. Cary Summers, the president of the Museum of the Bible confirmed the seizure of the cuneiform tablets and the subsequent federal investigation reported by the "Daily Beast" (an internet publication edited by Tina Brown, who is not known to be a fan of the Greens or their evangelical and conservative background). Summers indicates however that the ongoing federal investigation was simply the result of a logistical problem. “There was a shipment and it had improper paperwork—incomplete paperwork that was attached to it.” Summers suggests that the tablets were merely “held up in customs,” and "sometimes this stuff just sits, and nobody does anything with it.”  Peter Tompa raises the point that it is far too early to jump to conclusions based on information that was initially leaked to the journalist from the Daily Beast. "How do we know the information that was leaked is accurate? [...]  So, let's see how this develops before we convict the Greens of anything". On the contrary it is the Federal government which has to aswer for why this man's property has been held up in Customs so long. Questions should be asked, this looks like a political issue.

Looking After the Heritage: The Acropolis

Jarett A. Lobell, 'The Acropolis of Athens: The decades-long project to restore the site to its iconic past' Archeology Magazine October 07, 2015

In 1975, the Greek government began a large-scale, multidisciplinary project to address the declining condition of these structures, as well as of a lesser-known building called the Arrephorion, the defensive walls encircling the Acropolis, and the so-called “scattered members,” the thousands of complete, nearly complete, and fragmentary pieces of stone and marble that lie all over the surface of the Acropolis.

The text discusses the methods used to do this and the ideas behind them. I must admit I am a bit puzzled by the criticism of the Canadian writer and mentor John Hooker who writes scathingly:

I am reminded of the amount of history demolished on the Acropolis at Athens in order to provide a better view of the Parthenon. This included a Byzantine church! (Yannis Hamilakis, _The Nation and its Ruins_).

The site was more recently however a mosque, I wonder whether Mr Hooker would prefer a place of worship of the enemies of our civilization to stand on the ruins of the core of the very democracy which forms the basis of our own cvilization. Mr Hooker, look at this. In order to impose their sharia law and customs on the Greeks, the Moslems built mosques in the middle of the Acropolis, the Athenian Capitol: 

The Moslems kept explosives in their mosques (nothing changes it seems)
and this barbarism nearly destroyed the heritage of Greek civilization in 1687

A heathen mosque standing in the shattered ruins of Ancient Greece

Now Moslem refugees are flooding into Greece. They must not be allowed to take over and do this again. The Greeks are right to protect this site from later alterations, in the name of democraqcy, n the name of us all who value freedom!

Archaeologists Destroy Evidence in England

English metal detecting expert John Howland courageously writes of the evil practices of certain anti-collecting archeologists:

There's another angle to all of this; one of my friends in the upper echelons of archaeology (yes, I do have them) told me many years ago that one 'roman' archaeologist, (citing an example) has no truck with any period later than 4th Century AD and gladly tears through the upper layers just to get to his precious 'roman' era. Everything from 4th Century AD, along with the topsoil goes to God knows where. Many know this vandalism goes on and I know the name of at least one of these vandals. Others in archaeology are as appalled as I am, yet fearing for future sponsorship, wisely stay silent. Some excavation Directors have egos the size of British Columbia and are not to be crossed... except perhaps by collectors and others who don't give a toss for archaeological reputations. Maybe the wind of change is blowing?

Let us hope so and the Dictatorship of these evil evidence-destroying Directors can be brought to an end in England. Collectors should do all they can to expose such malpractices. We might ask where the antiquities from the layers they tear through go. EBay? Perhaps we should ask ourselves where any artefacts we consider buying are coming from, and reflect on whether in buying them, we are responsible for putting money into the pockets of corrupt academics like this.

Pompeii in race against time to spend EU funds after years of mismanagement

Nick Squires, 'Pompeii in race against time to spend EU funds after years of mismanagement' Daily Telegraph 26th Oct 2015.

After three years of squabbling and mismanagement at Pompeii, restorers are now working round-the-clock to spend millions of pounds provided by the EU in a last-minute bid to keep money flowing before an end-of-year deadline. Having complained for decades that they did not have enough money for the upkeep of the ancient site, Pompeii’s custodians are now accused of failing to use funds offered by Brussels to prevent further damage to the World Heritage attraction. Three years ago the EU pledged £56 million (€78 million) for Pompeii, a generous donation that was topped up by Italy with a further £20 million (€27 million). But a combination of bureaucratic squabbling, inept management and fears of the money ending up in the hands of the local Camorra mafia, means that so far just €21 million of the total €105 million available has been spent. The failure to use the funds risked turning into a “national debacle” said L’Espresso, a respected weekly news magazine. 

Brussels has now issued a stark warning to the Italians – "use it or lose it". Unless work can be speeded up dramatically, the unspent funds will be claimed back by the European Commission.
English cultural property affairs critic John Howland suggests that Italy is characterised by its "bumbling inefficiency when it comes to heritage protection". He says:

In my view, if the present situation endures where the inmates are running the asylum; where UNESCO appears to be an expensive white elephant and gravy train, the future is indeed bleak for those of us whose snouts have never been in the trough.

Meanwhile the article offers one solution to the problem:

Tourists are frequently caught trying to pocket bits of mosaic or masonry as souvenirs of their visit. The latest incident came at the weekend, when a 36-year-old French tourist attempted to steal a fragment of Roman crockery that she found on the ground. She was spotted putting it into her handbag by an Italian visitor, who notified officials at the site.

If the Italians, who have storerooms full of these artifacts would have the imagination to sell small duplicate items to collectors, they would not have to rely on EC and UNESCO funds.

Oil Continues to be ISIS' major funding source

The anti-collecting lobby's lies about the connection between the antiquities trade and the creation of terrorist group ISIS continue to be spread by the media. Meanwhile observers from the trade itself point out that the evidence for it is looking extremely shakey. Peter Tompa's research reveals that 'Oil Continues to be ISIS' major funding source'. Citing the Financial Times, he says that it is increasingly clear that there is a lot of evidence  that "hot oil" remains ISIS' main funding source. He says: "claims that looted antiquities have become the most important source of funding as the US-led coalition have degraded ISIS' ability to sell antiquties seem to have as much credibility as other claims that ISIS makes "$100's of millions" from antiquities sales". It is difficult to argue with that, but the vested interests of the archeological world will no doubt continue to cloud the issue with their propaganda. This begs the question whether facts are being distorted in order to help justify proposed legislation in Germany and the US that would create intrusive new bureaucracies to regulate the longstanding trade in cultural goods.

David Roberts (1796-1864)

David Roberts (1796-1864) Scottish traveller & artist painted beautiful scenes of Egypt during his travels in 1838

Philae: Grand Portico of the Temple

Heritage Neglect in Middle East

The reality of how archaeological sites are treated in failed states like Iraq again should raise questions concerning whether nation states are the best stewards "cultural property".   Moreover the fact that the only people raising concerns about this are collectors says a lot for te lack of interest of the 'professionals' in the fate of our global heritage. "This belongs in a museum" - but only where it can truly be looked after.