The Threat Posed by Al-Qaeda Affiliates

Osama bin Laden casts long shadow, 5 years on: Infographic: Al-Qaeda affiliates

Surely the global cultural heritage needs to be protected from falling into the hands of such people?

Academic Bias on Antiquities Trade

Annoying report on archeologist Dr Donna Yates the expert aiming to make antiquities-collecting "socially unacceptable" (good luck with that, it's older than archeology).

 Randy Hixenbaugh observes:

Yates, who is teaching law enforcement officials in her courses at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research has recently admitted that she wants to see the entire legal trade in ancient art simply go away. That seems a major conflict of interest for an academic. Her personal position is at best close-minded and naive, and at worst prejudicial against a perfectly legal and necessary sector of the art market.

Keeping Heritage in the Hands of the Public

The Egyptian public reclaim their past. This modern painting (left) was spotted in Tunis village, Fayoum by a British archeologist:

It is copied from a mummy portrait painted c. AD160 (right), now in the British Museum.

Epicurean Mosaic in Turkey

An ancient mosaic found in the southern province of Hatay, Turkey has a phrase written on it which has received some media attention recently, it reportedly read “Be cheerful, live your life”.

 Or does it? The experts cannot agree.

Swiss Free Port Closing?

 

The enemies of collecting have been rejoicing in the past few days because of a news item which claims the Geneva free port is losing its art-market customers: "Art Collectors Quit Scandal-Hit Geneva". Fortunately this appears to be more of their yellow journalism. The Geneva Freeport is NOT art losing customers after all ( Art Market Monitor).

Dionysis in Pakistan

Dionysian figure with wine-cup and goat's-head: Buddhist art found in Bazira, Pakistan , AD300?

A pat on the back, for an old friend.

A pat on the back, for an old friend.

Putin: "Turkey is a terrorist State like ISIS"

According to Russian president Putin: "Turkey is a terrorist State like ISIS"

Russia these days is more and more an ally to the truth, while our leadership is doing everything in its power to tell us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam and that Turkey is our beloved NATO ally?. It seems to me that backwards Islamic leaders of Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia are the biggest backers of Islamic terror.

Assad Will be Ultimate Beneficiary of HR 1493

 

Peter Tompa draws attention  to a disturbing trend: "Assad to Be Ultimate Beneficiary of HR 1493?"

The Senate has passed HR 1493, a bill which imposes import restrictions on cultural goods removed illegally from Syria. [...]   the Assad regime has probably killed more people, destroyed more cultural heritage, and looted more artifacts than ISIS.   The only difference is that Assad's forces don't use social media to publicize their evil deeds. [...] antiquities seized under HR 1493 will ultimately be repatriated to the Assad regime.   The CPIA -- which HR 1493 does not change-- certainly requires seized artifacts to be offered to the source country.  And given the realities on the ground or in the air in this case-- what with Russian air power bolstering the regime-- it certainly looks like Assad will be the victor to whom these spoils ultimately will be returned. 

Belize: Politician among those found guilty of destroying Maya site of Noh Mul

Belize: Politician among those found guilty of destroying Maya site of Noh Mul 3 years ago

When Noh Mul Pyramid, the ancient Maya site located in San Pablo, Orange Walk District, was bulldozed on May 13, 2013, by Dé Mars Stone Company to extract white marl, it made national and international headlines, and now, after almost three years, the criminal charges brought by the state have been heard and guilty verdicts have been read out in court. Dé Mars Stone Company is owned by the United Democratic Party’s (UDP) Orange Walk Central caretaker Denny Grijalva, and his wife Emelda Grijalva, who are listed as directors of the company and who were charged, along with Javier Nunez, the company’s project manager, and its excavator, Emil Cruz, for causing damage to the ancient Noh Mul Maya pyramid by removing the white marl for roadfill without a permit. Eight months after the trial commenced in the Corozal Magistrate’s Court, it came to an end today when Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith found that the Crown had proved its case against the four accused. Javier Nunez was charged with “causing the removal of earth from an ancient monument without a permit,” contrary to Section 61 of the NICH Act, Chapter 331 of the Substantive Laws of Belize revised edition 2003. [...] The court will reconvene on Thursday, April 21, for sentencing.

More here

 

Middle East meeting at UN turns into an Israeli-Palestinian shouting match

A monthly meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Middle East deteriorated into a shouting match on Monday as Israeli and Palestinian envoys yelled at each other across the chamber.

There is no such thing as a state of Palestine. Why do they have a seat at the UN?

Museum of Lost Objects

The BBC series 'Museum of Lost Objects' traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria

The looting of the Baghdad Museum: Kanishk Tharoor and Maryam Maruf, 'Museum of Lost Objects', BBC 11 March 2016

In April 2003, almost the entire collection of ancient cylinder seals was stolen from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad - and it remains missing. In the chaotic, violent April of 2003, as US tanks rolled into Baghdad, the Iraq Museum was broken into and pillaged. Looters rampaged through the halls, storerooms, and cellars, stealing more than 15,000 precious objects.

Listen to the episode about the Sumerian Seal on  the Museum of Lost Objects podcast;

Read the complete series: The Winged Bull of Nineveh, The Temple of Bel, The Tell of Qarqur, Aleppo's minaret, The Lion of al-Lat, Mar Elian's monastery, The Unacceptable Poet, The Der Zor memorial and The Genie of Nimrud. Or get the other podcasts:

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  Armenian Martyr's Memorial, Der Zor Thu 10 Mar 2016 A shrine to the 1915 Armenian massacres, made from human bones in the Syrian desert. Download MP3
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  The Genie of Nimrud Wed 9 Mar 2016On the murky trail of a missing genie, last seen in the ancient Assyrian palace of Nimrud. Download MP3

  
  
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  Al-Ma'arri the Poet Tue 8 Mar 2016 Why was the bust of a blind, vegetarian, medieval poet the casualty of Syria's modern war? Download MP3

  
  
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  Mar Elian Monastery Mon 7 Mar 2016    The legends of a shrine, revered by both Christians and Muslims for hundreds of years Download MP3

  
  
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  The Lion of al-Lat Fri 4 Mar 2016   The fearsome 2,000-year-old statue, regarded as one of the symbols of Palmyra.  Download MP3

   

  
  
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  Minaret of the Umayyad Mosque, Aleppo  Thu 3 Mar 2016 The unique minaret of Aleppo's Great Mosque, which is now only a waterfall of rubble.  Download MP3

  
  

  
  
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  Tell Qarqur, Hama Province Wed 2 Mar 2016 The ancient hill in western Syria that became a modern battleground. Download MP3

Palmyra: Temple of Bel 

Winged-Bull of Nineveh Mon 29 Feb 2016 The 2,700-year-old sculpture that guarded the gates of one of antiquity's fabled cities.  Download MP3

    

  

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ThreeCenturies of Greek Artistry in a Spectacular Exhibition in USA

In spring 2016, for the first time in the United States, a major international loan exhibition will focus on the astonishing wealth, outstanding artistry, and technical achievements of the Hellenistic period (323-30 B.C.) —  the three centuries between Alexander and Cleopatra. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on April 18, Pergamon and the Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World brings together more than 265 exquisite objects that were created through the patronage of the royal courts of the Hellenistic kingdoms, with an emphasis on the ancient city of Pergamon. The conquests of Alexander the Great transformed the ancient world, making trade and cultural exchange possible across great distances. Alexander’s retinue of court artists and extensive artistic patronage provided a model for his successors, the Hellenistic kings, who came to rule over much of his empire.

The exhibition represents a historic collaboration between The Met and the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, whose celebrated sculptures comprise approximately one-third of the works on view. Numerous prominent museums in Greece, the Republic of Italy, other European countries, Morocco, Tunisia, and the United States are also represented, often through objects that have never before left their museum collections.

Turkey seems not to have collaborated, but this shows the value of the good encyclopedic private and public collections of the western world, we can do it without their help.

Greek Style, local Beliefs

 

Gandhara Buddha from Afghanistan or Pakistan, 3rd century CE.

"Evidence" of ISIS Looting Fake

English archeologist admits that the supposed "evidence" adduced by anti-collecting activists about involvement of collectors in ISIS looting is fake. 

Finds from Magdala

A  bronze incense shovel and jug have been found at Magdala, on the Sea of Galilee

Chinese Auction House King Named in Panama Papers

The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hide their money from public scrutiny. Art Net News reveals that a number of people involved in the art world are implicated. Among them is Chinese 'auction house king' Chen Dongsheng. Chen, son in law of former Communist leader Mao Tse Tung, is a business icon and founder of China Guardian, currently the world's fourth-largest art auction house. Chen founded not just China Guardian, but also China's fourth-largest insurance company, He occupies the 242nd place on the list of China's wealthiest families and individuals, with a fortune of five billion yuan ($815 million). This has incensed some readers. In a widely circulated comment, one Chinese official denounced Kong Dongmei: "The offspring of Chairman Mao, who led us to eradicate private ownership, married a capitalist and violated the family planning policy to give birth to three illegal children."

The usual "don't do as I do, do as I say" of the typical Communist.

Archeology "Turned into a Weapon"

Damage done to the Camp of Diocletian at Palmyra by
Syrian government forces during the construction
of fighting positions between 2012-2015.
(From “Palmyra: Heritage Adrift” p. 38)

Archeologist Christopher Jones has on his blog an interesting article accusing archeologists of closing their eyes to the abuses of the evil Assad regime ("Palmyra Propaganda" April 7, 2016). Greedy for excavation licenses, they wilfully obscure what does not fit the comfortable picture they wish to paint of their "partner". He points out the propaganda values of the recapture of Palmyra for the oppressive Assad government and the part played by the western journalists who photographed the destroyed ancient ruins and shattered statues in the Palmyra Museum. The story as told includes little discussion of the destruction wrought by indiscriminate aerial bombing of the town of Tadmor. There has been little attention paid to the infamous Tadmor Military Prison, into which regime opponents frequently disappeared. The press makes little mention of the damage done to the town in the shelling before it fell to ISIS. During the occupation of Palmyra by government forces from 2012-2015 the archaeological site was damaged by government forces using bulldozers to construct military positions among the ruins. Tower tombs were frequently looted. He says that in the Syrian conflict, archeology has once again been turned into a weapon, one tool of the ideological battlefield alongside many other types of weapons.

St Menas Flask

Menas of Phrygia between two kneeling camels on terra cotta ampulla in @TheBenakiMuseum (GE12527)

Looting in China's Ancient Grand Canal

Bad stewardship: Chinese villagers loot UNESCO World Heritage site while it is being cleaned

Presumably the archeologists involved in this project are just turning a blind eye to this. Do they get a cut? 

 This is the sort of thing that gets collectors a bad name. 

 

The Situation in Palmyra

The archeologists at ASOR Cultural Heritage Initiatives published a special report on the situation in Palmyra with very little attention paid to human rights issues. For the collector's view: 'Assad is No Friend of Palmyra and its People'

Brief Introduction to Roman Mosaics

A  Brief Introduction to Roman Mosaics from the Getty Museum

Beheaded Statues Inside Palmyra Museum

The latest photos inside Palmyra museum after recapture from ISIS are really shocking. Raghead vandals have destroyed everything, smashing the heads off statues and overturning them. The museum has not been stripped bare - most of the more portable stuff had already been sent to Damascus for safe keeping prior to the arrival of ISIS but the heavy statuary remained and this is how it was treated. This is further proof (if any was needed) that ISIS are destroying not selling our cultural heritage. A sad day for all mankind.

What ISIS Do....

 
On March 31, 2016, a photographer holds a picture of the Temple of Bel taken on March 14, 2014, in front of the remains of the historic temple after it was destroyed by ISIS jihadists in September 2015 in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. Syrian troops backed by Russian forces recaptured Palmyra on March 27, 2016, after a fierce offensive to rescue the city from jihadists who view the UNESCO-listed site's magnificent ruins as idolatrous.