British "Expert" Uses Fake as "Evidence"

Using the inevitable ISIS argument, British "antiquities crime expert" Donna Yates, an archaeologist at the Scottish Center for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow, calls the legal antiquities market a "broken system" and calls for it to be regulated by laws such as HR 1493/S.1887 ("Broken System’ Allows ISIS to Profit From Looted Antiquities" Steven Myers and Nicholas Kulishjan NYT Jan 9, 2016). Yates says many pieces are believed to reach dealers and buyers in Vienna, Munich, London and New York. Yet few objects have turned up so far that can be traced to the Islamic State’s plunder. In the United States, there has not yet been a documented case of a looted object linked to the Islamic State, according to officials from several agencies. Part of the "evidence" cited is a seizure by post-Communist authorities from a collector in Bulgaria of a group of objects:

Among them was a square tablet depicting a procession. If genuine, its style would make it neither Roman nor Greek, like the rest, but even older, dating back nearly 5,000 years. Its appearance suggested it came from the ancient Sumerian city of Lagash, in what is today southern Iraq.

While the tablet is claimed as authentic by European archeologists, the Chicago expert McGuire Gibson, a leading expert on Mesopotamian art, reviewed a photograph of the tablet and noted unusual features, like a smooth bore hole in the center, that suggested it could be a well-made reproduction. Washington Cultural Property specialist Peter Tompa confirms this.  Also, once again we see the truth being manipulated by anti-collecting archeologists - Lagash is not in one of the areas seized by ISIS.