Antiquities Coalition Own Study Debunks Claims

Still on the important topic of the misrepresentations of the amount of money the legitimate trade in antiquities is worth, and the place of illegal artefacts from Syria in it, the Cultural Property Research Institute have issued a report: "Antiquities Coalition Own Study Debunks Claims" CPRI June 1, 2016.

University of Chicago study has demolished the claims of anti-collecting activists and raises serious questions about the factual basis of their attempts to influence Congress and the public. Fiona Rose-Greenland is principal investigator for the MANTIS project (Modeling the Antiquities Trade in Iraq and Syria) and a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago. Her conclusion is that ISIS is likely to have earned several million dollars in profit since launching its looting program… That’s a far cry from $7 billion”. In her May 30, 2016 article“Inside ISIS’ looted antiquities trade,” published in The Conversation, Dr. Rose-Greenland says:

“And yet, patchy data and methodological challenges do not fully explain why $7 billion fell to $4 million in public discussions about the ISIS antiquities trade.  What’s really going on here, I think, can be explained in two ways. First, there is an overactive collective imagination about how much art is actually worth… This, in turn, motivates governments and other groups opposed to the Islamic State to describe their actions in attention-grabbing terms. It’s a lot easier to call for action against a $7 billion crime than a $4 million one. While market mystique and over-the-top plot lines are fine for Hollywood films and adventure novels, it’s no way to understand terrorist finance, and without that understanding we are unlikely to arrive at genuine and lasting solutions.”

For over a year, the trade lobbyists have been telling Congress – and anyone else who would listen – that the numbers provided by anti-collecting activists were absurdly high, there was no multi-billion dollar illegal trade in ancient artifacts, and there was no evidence of any looted Syrian artifacts reaching the US. The study is ongoing and a published report is not yet available. Visit the MANTIS project website for further information.