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Culture Without Context
Issue 12,
Spring 2003
War in Iraq
Italian discovery
French controversy
Dispute over Mayan objects
Egyptian antiquities
Coin theft in Holland
Easter Island mystery
Thefts in Pakistan
Thefts in India
Afghanistan update
Museum declaration
Looting in the US
Schultz appeal
China and illicit antiquities
Israeli issues
Japan and the 1970 UNESCO Convention
Happy returns to Mali
New Swiss law
New law put to Parliament
Metal detecting in Ireland
Endangered rock art
Archaeological discovery in Germany
Peruvian case studies
Sources
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 War in Iraq
Over a two day period, 10–11 April 2003, Iraq’s National Museum was broken
into and sacked by looters. Initial estimates suggested that thousands of pieces,
including large objects which required heavy lifting gear to move, had been removed, many
others were smashed, and records were also destroyed. The National and Religious Libraries
of Baghdad and the National Archives were also burned and destroyed. It is difficult at
the present time to provide an accurate assessment of the damage caused, or of the losses
incurred. In the days following the sack some material from the National Museum was
returned by local residents, and there were other reports that some of the Museum’s
collections had been moved into safe storage before the war began. On the 4 May it was
reported that although the National Library was gutted, 80 per cent of its holdings
remained safe in mosques where they had been taken to for protection. The situation
remains confused but it appears that the damage might not be as severe as was originally
feared.
Archaeologists and institutions worldwide who had lobbied the US and UK governments on
the danger that war would pose to Iraq’s culture heritage reacted with anger and
dismay that such a situation could have been allowed to develop and that their warnings
had apparently been disregarded.
- On 17 April, UNESCO brought to their headquarters in Paris some 30 experts from all over
the world, including the heads of archaeological missions that had until recently been
working in Iraq. Although the meeting was arranged at very short notice, it provided an
opportunity for experts to propose a set of recommendations that the press has
disseminated widely. Among these recommendations, the experts called for an immediate
prohibition to be placed on the export of all antiques, antiquities, works of art, books
and archives from Iraq; and an immediate ban to be placed on the international trade in
objects of Iraqi cultural heritage.
- On 29 April an emergency meeting was held at the British Museum in London, during which:
- Donny George, Director of Research at Iraq’s National Museum, angrily accused
American occupying forces of failing in their duty to protect the museum from looters.
- He also called for tightened border controls to stop stolen material being smuggled out
of the country.
- British Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell, claimed that no-one could have
foreseen the situation.
- It emerged that records and photographs were apparently safe, but scattered over 120
offices, making the job of collating and recording what is missing so much more difficult.
- The state of some storerooms, which are possibly intact, cannot be established yet
because of lack of electricity and concerns over safety.
- ICOM (International Council of Museums) has secured funding for and is preparing a
Emergency Red List of Iraqi Antiquities at Risk, now on the Internet (icom.museum/redlist/irak/en/index.html),
which will indicate categories of material for dealers, museums and collectors to avoid
handling and be a tool for customs and law enforcement officials.
- The Baghdad Museum Project has been launched (see www.baghdadmuseum.org) to lobby the US
government to create an Iraq Cultural Heritage Act, which would prohibit the importation
into the United States of any archaeological or cultural material removed from Iraq
without appropriate documentation after the imposition of sanctions on that country in
August 1990.
- On 7 May the Chicago Tribune reported a gun battle at Nimrud where an armed gang of
looters eventually chased off the site’s guards. There were also reports of other
archaeological sites being attacked, particularly in the northeastern parts of Iraq where
the US military presence is still weak.
In February Italian authorities recovered a unique ancient ivory after a six-year
enquiry into a looting and smuggling ring (which included, amongst others, an Italian
university lecturer) and following investigations in Britain, Switzerland, Germany and
Cyprus (see Todeschini and Watson in this issue). The Greek sculpture, possibly the head of a six-foot Chryselephantine
statue of Apollo once covered in gold, had been smuggled from Italy and ended up in
Britain. Police said the face and about 100 fragments of the statue were excavated seven
years ago from a site near Lake Bracciano, northwest of Rome.
French president Jacques Chirac’s project, the creation of the Musée du Quai
Branly (Paris) which will display indigenous art and antiquities from Africa, Asia,
Oceania and the Americas, has once again aroused criticism (see also In the News, CWC
issues 6, 7 & 10). Swissinfo (11 April 2003) reports that around half of the new
museum’s acquisitions budget has been put aside to purchase works from the
controversial collection of Geneva billionaire Jean-Paul Barbier — one of the largest
private collections of indigenous art in the world. Concern has been expressed that some
of the objects, especially those that appear on the ICOM Red List (see
CWC issue 6) may
have been illegally excavated or exported from their countries of origin.
Dispute
over Mayan objects
26 Mayan stone and ceramic vessels and figurines, worth $165,000 and with an
extraordinary history, are the subject of a legal dispute in the USA. The objects were
impounded by US Customs agents in January 1998, when Patrick McSween and Judith Ganeles
attempted to bring them into the
country without official permission from Guatemala. The items were packed in suitcases and
described on customs documentation as ‘30 artefacts and two books’. Following
their seizure the objects were stored in the basement of US Customs’ offices in the
World Trade Centre, New York. They were recently rediscovered, undamaged, by crews sifting
through rubble in the aftermath of the destruction of the building during terrorist
attacks on 11 September 2001. McSween and Ganeles are fighting to keep the artefacts,
arguing that it cannot be proved that they were produced in Guatemala.
- In November 2002, representatives of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)
visited Basel and retrieved four antiquities, including a black granite statue of an
18th-Dynasty queen, which had been found in the possession of four Swiss collectors. A
Swiss lawyer acting for the Massina Foundation, a charity which helps restore stolen
cultural heritage to its countries of origin, was instrumental in facilitating the
restitution.
- January 2003: Egyptian customs police arrested Mohamed al-Shaaer (merchant), Abdel Karim
Abu Shanab (SCA official, responsible for investigating stolen artefacts), and Mohamed
Abdel Rahman Fahmy (SCA inspector). The SCA employees are charged with allegedly accepting
a bribe of $5000 from Al-Shaaer in return for a fake certificate certifying that 362
genuine Pharaonic, Roman and Greek antiquities were modern replicas. Using the certificate
Al-Shaaer attempted to smuggle the pieces (including 288 icons, 13 bracelets, 60 small
sculptures and the head of a large statue) to a private dealer in Spain, but they were
intercepted by airport police (see In the News, CWC issue 11).
- Two security guards and two excavators working with the French Mission were arrested for
alleged theft in February. Three days later the Supreme Council of Antiquities received
three important antiquities from the Sakkara area (Old Kingdom engravings depicting
hunting and celestial scenes, sawn from inside the funerary temple of a Sixth Dynasty
Queen), which were recovered by the Tourist Police.
Coin theft in Holland
In February thieves stole 19 Roman gold coins from Utrecht city museum, Netherlands,
probably during the crowded opening of another exhibition. The coins form part of a hoard
discovered in 1933 during excavations in the centre of the city which was once a Roman
fort. There are very well-documented which, it is hoped, will make them harder to sell.
Easter Island mystery
January 2003: Two massive stone heads at the Cronos Gallery, Miami (put up for sale by
Hernan Garcia Gonzalo, formerly a senior aid to General Augusto Pinochet as part of a
collection of 15 Easter Island artefacts) became a source of speculation when the Chilean
government began investigating whether they were genuine antiquities illegally exported,
or fakes. According to press packs at the gallery, the giant sculptures are around 1000
years old and were given to one of Garcia’s uncles in 1912, along with other stone
and wood carvings, in return for his development work with Easter islanders. Chilean
officials said they had not authorized the export of the a private collection of objects
from the island. Archaeologists expressed doubt that authentic statues could have been
smuggled out, and confirmed that while the pieces are made from genuine Easter Island
stone they display modern tool marks.
- February 2003: Friends of archaeology in Peshawar, Pakistan announced that more than 400
sculptures disappeared and were replaced with fakes when the store of the Federal
Archaeology Department moved premises.
- They also expressed concern that illegal excavations were taking place at Rustam, and
that Federal Archaeology Department excavators had also stolen antiquities from the site,
causing locals to register complaints about both legal and illegal diggers.
The Times of India (11 Feb 2003) reports that up to 19 ancient Panchaloha idols,
including one of the main deity Sri Laxmivenkatesha, have been stolen from
Srilaxmivenkatesha temple, Bhatkal.
- Museum director Omara Khan Masoudi says that renovation has begun in several rooms of
the Kabul Museum, Afghanistan. The museum was emptied by looting in the 1990s and
artefacts considered idolatrous to the Taliban regime were destroyed in 2001. With the
help of the British Museum, the British Embassy in Kabul and British peacekeeping forces
the long process of museum and artefact restoration has begun. In addition, the Japanese
have promised photographic equipment, the Greeks are to rebuild a wing, the Asian
Foundation will help with documentation, while the US have pledged more money for the
restoration department and UNESCO will work on the windows and water supply.
- Sayed Raheen, Minister for Culture and Information in Kabul, Afghanistan, told The Times
that illicit excavation and trade in antiquities is the worst of the country’s
problems at present and is getting worse by the day, adding that for the criminals the
profit margins are bigger than in the opium trade.
- Jim Williams of UNESCO confirmed that London has long been the biggest market for Afghan
material.
- Under questioning, a group of men arrested at the Afghan/Pakistan border carrying 24
Buddhist artefacts, including statues (see In the News, CWC issue 11), admitted they were
looted from Kafir Kot, a little known ancient site in the remote Kharwar district in
central Afghanistan.
- Confusion over past and present laws on protection of cultural heritage in Afghanistan
is hampering attempts to stem the flow of illicit antiquities from the country and
facilitate their return. Although the 1958 Code for the Protection of Antiquities in
Afghanistan, passed under the royal government, is still valid, a 1980 Law on Cultural
Heritage introduced after the Soviet invasion is actually in use. Policies on cultural
heritage during the Taliban years were contradictory so dealers outside Afghanistan can
claim that objects left the country during these years, without apparently breaking Afghan
law. It is often impossible to prove when an item did leave the country. Minister for
Culture Dr Raheen has promised to strengthen the legal framework. It is hoped that
Afghanistan will soon ratify the 1970 UNESCO Convention.
8 December 2002: A joint Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums
signed by more than 30 major museums and research institutions in Europe and the USA
(including the Metropolitan Museum, the Louvre, The Hermitage, the State Museums of
Berlin, and the British Museum) was released following an October meeting in Munich of the
International Group of Organisers of Large-scale Exhibitions. The statement (prompted by
what the group felt was increasing politicization of the dispute over the Parthenon
sculptures in the British Museum) emphasizes the ideals of the universal museum and
articulates attitudes towards restitution of artefacts, but is prefaced by ‘the
conviction that illegal traffic in archaeological, artistic, ethnic objects must be firmly
discouraged’ — a view which was welcomed by ICOM (International Council of
Museums).
Looting in the US
- An anonymous call on 15 August 2002 to the Army Corps of Engineers at Wappapello Lake,
southeastern Missouri, led to the discovery and arrest of Steven Tripp and William Cooksey
as they were about to leave a remote archaeological site they had been illegally digging
in the area. They had stolen about 15 arrowheads and artefacts, some of which were found
in Tripp’s shoes. It was not immediately clear to which culture the artefacts belong
as various Native American tribes lived near the lake. The two were indicted in October on
charges of destroying archaeological resources on federal land and damaging federal
property (maximum penalties of two years in prison and $20,000 fine and 10 years’
jail and $250,000 fine respectively).
- In November 2002 Tammy Woosley and Danny Keith Rose pled guilty (as part of a plea
agreement) in federal court to misdemeanours in connection with illegally digging up a
ancient Anasazi burial in Reservoir Ruin, a federally protected archaeological site near
Dolores, Colorado. When discovered by a Federal Ranger digging with a garden trowel and a
collapsible shovel in October 2000, Woosley said the couple had come to looking for cacti,
saw archaeological material on the surface and got carried away.
Linda Farnsworth, archaeologist with the San Juan Public Lands Center said such looting
is pretty widespread and estimated 15 incidents on US Forest Service or Bureau of Land
Management land in the region in 2002.
- December 2002: Jack Lee Harelson of Grants Pass, Oregon was fined $2.5 million in civil
penalties for damage and destruction caused when he looted Elephant Mountain Cave, Nevada
over several years in the early 1980s. He and his wife removed the bodies and grave goods
of a boy and girl they found in two large baskets burying the bodies in their garden.
Among 2000 other artefacts seized were a pair of 10,000-year-old sandals — possibly
the oldest footwear known — indicating the archaeological potential of the material,
had it been excavated scientifically. Harelson, who told the court he dug a ‘test
hole’ to interest archaeologists in the site, indicated that he was unlikely to pay
the fine, saying he is on Social Security and crippled.
New York antiquities dealer Frederick Schultz, sentenced in June 2003 to a 33-month
jail sentence (see
CWC, issue 10) has appealed his
conviction for receiving illicit Egyptian antiquities (see the Art Newspaper December
2002). His lawyers argue that:
- The National Stolen Property Act (NSPA) applied in the case does not cover antiquities
regarded as stolen under foreign ownership laws;
- The court would not let a video be shown which lawyers say would prove that Schultz
believed US law did not recognize foreign ownership laws (the NSPA requires that offenders
know they are dealing in stolen merchandise);
- That the court was wrong to say it could convict him not only if he knew of Eygpt’s
antiquities ownership law, but also if it were found that he had ‘consciously avoided
learning’ it, which Schultz deliberately avoided confirming. In this case, it is
argued, a ‘high probability’ test should have been carried out;
- That the evidence from five other witnesses, called to testify their knowledge of
Egyptian antiquities laws to establish that ‘even an ignoramus’ in the field
would know of them, was prejudicial and did not refer to what Schultz knew.
The US is contesting the appeal.
China and illicit antiquities
- The Seattle Times (27 January 2003) carried out an investigation which compared various
thermoluminescence dates registered in tests on a Chinese ceramic vessel purchased from
Thesaurus Fine Arts in Seattle. The piece came with certification, signed by Dr Po Lau
Leung of City University of Hong Kong, stating the piece was 1200 years old —
subsequent tests by Oxford Authentication (UK) and Daybreak Archaeometric Laboratory (USA)
found it to be less than 100 and less than 45 years old respectively. Leung could not
explain the difference, but admitted that he had, in the past, turned a blind eye when
Professor Steven Cheung, operating under the trading name of Thesaurus Fine Arts and
Dandelion Fine Arts had changed the
‘dynasty’ of a pot to suit the thermoluminescence date achieved. Cheung, a
famous economist with special interests in art and antiquities market behaviour,
apparently bought equipment to set up Adsigno Thermoluminescence Laboratory in 2001, which
certified a purportedly Ming Dynasty (400–600 years old) tile bought at the same shop
by The Seattle Times. Again, subsequent tests at the laboratories above indicated this
object was also fake. A few weeks later the newspaper, now banned by the gallery from
purchasing further items, noted that tiles of the same type, confirmed as being from the
same group, were now mysteriously being marketed as Han Dynasty (more than 1000 years
older) and cost hundreds of dollars more.
Cheung claimed either The Seattle Times or mailing service must have re-fired the
ceramics in order to alter the thermoluminescence reading and frame Thesaurus Fine Arts,
but Oxford Authentication said their test would have detected such tampering.
Hollywood Road antiquities dealer Victor Choi told the newspaper that sale of fakes
hurts the whole industry.
- In a companion article The Seattle Times also looked at the long tradition in China of
making and selling reproductions and how this tradition clashes with modern concepts of
originality and ever-increasing Western demand for genuine ancient Chinese material.
- On 17 December 2002 the decapitated head of the Akshobhya Buddha of the Four Gate
Pagoda, Shandong Province in eastern China (stolen during a raid in 1997 for which one of
the perpetrators was sentenced to life imprisonment) was replaced on its torso and the
join reinforced by a steel rod to prevent future theft. Buddhist master Sheng-yen, founder
of the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association of Taiwan received the head as a gift
from disciples in 2002 but immediately suspected it was an illicit antiquity, as his
enquiries subsequently proved (see In the News, CWC issue 11).
- In China, officials said that around 50 Eastern Han dynasty (2000-year old) tombs in
Bieli, Sichuan province, had been looted after a farmer dug up a green, carved brick. It
is believed that jades, bronzes and other treasures were taken, leaving only less
monetarily valuable items for archaeologists scientific excavation and study. Some items,
including coins were recovered from local homes but most are believed to have been sold
on. Since most of the families in nearby villages appear to have been involved, police are
concentrating on finding and detaining ringleaders and middlemen.
- March 2003: Farmers in the northern province of Shaanxi were praised for reporting their
find of a hoard of 2900-year-old bronze vessels, including a bronze cauldron. The
artefacts are now on display in Beijing.
- Following reports in 2002 that the royal mausoleum of Loulan/Kroraina (Lop Nur region on
the Silk Road in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) had been looted, a fact-finding team of
archaeologists from Xinjiang Cultural Heritage and Relics Institute was sent to the area.
They found:
- That the ransacked tomb, situated beneath a pagoda, was indeed a highly significant
noble tomb, but not the legendary resting place of Loulan royals.
- Smashed murals on the walls of the looted tomb nevertheless provided fresh insights into
the lives of ancient inhabitants of the area after the demise of the Loulan Kingdom.
- At the ruins of Loulan City were around 50 looted graves with wooden coffins torn open,
exposed human skeletons (some charred as thought they had been used by the tomb robbers to
make campfires), and fragments of destroyed silk.
- Two large tombs contained nothing but skeletons and broken coffins.
- Police found little evidence to work with, although car tracks, old and new, were
visible.
- The wilderness Lop Nur area (on the east of the vast Taklamakan Desert) was, until
petroleum exploration began in the mid-1990s, almost inaccessible. New roads have
increased accessibility which has led to an epidemic of looting, some, judging from
still-smouldering fires, very recent.
- An intact, decorated coffin from the area can fetch up to one million yuan ($120,000) in
Urumqi, the regional capital.
- A one-million yuan State Development Planning Commission and State Administration of
Cultural Heritage fund has been set up for the protection of the Loulan area, which has
helped install satellite telephones and check points on major roads.
- Looters now apparently enter restricted archaeological areas claiming to be involved in
environmental protection or wildlife protection programmes, or approach from a different
direction.
- Police are encountering looters with increasingly sophisticated equipment and financial
backing.
- In May 2003 the Archaeological Institute of America announced that their 2004 award for
Outstanding Public Service to archaeology will go to He Shuzhong, founder and director of
Cultural Heritage Watch in China. The prize honours individuals or groups that have done
most to promote public understanding of, and interest in, archaeology.
- Lawyers for collector Oded Golan (see In the News, CWC issue 11) criticized the Israel
Antiquities Authority when they cast doubt on the possible authenticity and legality of an
object (a black sandstone tablet with a 15-line Hebrew inscription said to date from the
ninth century bc) which the collector offered to let them study. Attorney Lior Bringer
argues that the ‘King Jehoash inscription’, if genuine, could stand as the first
external evidence of some biblical events and so the question of ownership is
‘irrelevant’, and that the police and authorities are unjustly vilifying a man
‘thanks to his connections, is capable of getting his hand on cultural treasures and
rare and valuable archaeological findings’ (19 March, Haaretz.com.). But the
Antiquities Authority suggested that documents seized from Golan’s house indicate
that contrary to his claims he does own the piece, that he may have obtained it in
violation of antiquities laws and that given the stone’s importance if genuine they
are obliged to conduct investigations.
- October 2002: The Israeli Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft found 15 tons of
stolen antiquities, including Roman marble pillars and a Second Temple Period stone
sarcophagus, in the home of an Israeli man in Caesarea. He claims to have found the
objects near his house.
The Unit says that most of the time diggers are looking for oil lamps, pottery,
glassware, bronze objects, clay stamps and inscribed items. Such objects sell for
hundreds, even thousands of dollars, or more if intact.
- Hershel Shanks and colleagues speculate (BAR Jan/Feb 2003) about the origin of the
considerable number of bullae (clay sealings with sometimes important seal impressions)
that have recently surfaced on the market. Very few bullae are known from legal
archaeological excavations which seems to indicate that, if the source of those now
appearing is illegal excavation, looters are much better at finding them than
archaeologists. Rumour has it that they may originate from Jerusalem or Hebron.
Japan and the 1970 UNESCO Convention
Agency of Cultural Affairs officials voiced scepticism that Japan’s signing of the
1970 UNESCO Convention will affect deals involving stolen goods, since many are
‘carried out behind the scenes’ (Asahi.com, 22 November 2002). They drew
attention to:
- the left foot of a sculpture of Zeus from national museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, which
surfaced in Japan;
- a marked influx of china and porcelain from Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines during
the last 20 years.
Happy
returns to Mali
Samuel Sidibé, director of the National Museum, Bamako, Mali was delighted at the
return of 18 (16 terracotta, 2 wooden) statuettes stolen from the central Bandiagara
region of the Niger river delta and believed to have been found in the possession of a
private collector and French antiquities dealer. Sidibé said the return was just reward
for the efforts Mali has made in recent years to raise awareness of the looting of its
cultural heritage.
March 2003: The House of Representatives, Switzerland, approved in principle and with
amendments a new law to tighten trade in illicit antiquities in the country. The draft
law, which has been proposed for 10 years, would increase the period of limitation after
which cultural goods of unknown origin become legal from 5 to 30 years, but has been
strongly opposed by dealers, museums and art associations who came together to create a
counter-proposal. If passed by both houses of parliament the earliest it will come into
force would be 2004. Andrea Rascher, who is responsible for law and international affairs
at the Federal Culture Office, said action was considered after the extent of the problem
of illicit trade came to light in recent years.
Liberal Democrat MP Richard Allan introduced to Parliament a private members’
Bill, proposing a new Cultural Objects (Offences) Act, which will make it a criminal
offence to knowingly acquire or dispose of any object stolen from an archaeological site,
monument or shipwreck, whether in UK or abroad. The Department for Culture, Media and
Sport said the new Bill is aimed at professional looters and dealers who accept suspicious
artefacts. It has the full backing of Government.
Metal
detecting in Ireland
- In the weeks preceding Christmas, archaeologists in Ireland advised people not to buy or
accept metal detectors as gifts, and told shops and manufacturers not to advertise them
for fear of potential criminal use. It is illegal to dig for archaeological objects in
Ireland, or to use metal detectors for archaeological purposes, without a licence.
- Meanwhile objects (including a gold covered early crucifix, Bronze Age daggers, and Iron
Age pin, and hundreds of coins) from the 800 item hoard impounded from convicted illegal
metal detectorist Anthony Malloy, and his son Kevin (see In the News, CWC 11), were put on
display at the National Museum, Dublin.
Endangered rock art
Alec Campbell and David Coulson, founder of TARA (the Trust for African Rock Art) are
trying to draw international attention to the possible extinction of Africa’s rich
and important rock-art heritage, some of which dates back to at least 10,000 bc. Amongst
other threats identified, traders are carving out whole sections to sell to art dealers in
Europe.
Archaeological
discovery in Germany
Looters of an ancient bronze disc, depicting the sun, moon, stars, and a possible
‘solar boat’ (see In the News, CWC issue 10), have led archaeologists to the
site where they discovered it along with axes and jewellery four years ago. Excavations at
Nebra, 100 miles southwest of Berlin have revealed a wooden structure surrounded by a
circular ditch, from which the summer solstice sun can be seen setting behind the highest
mountain of the Harz range. The site could be interpreted as an ancient observatory, and
appears to have been in use for more than a millennium.
Roger Atwood, reporting in Archaeology magazine (January/February 2003) describes the
efforts being made by ‘citizens’ brigades’ in northwestern Peru to stem
business-driven looting of archaeological sites. Among other things he notes:
- That until quite recently looting amounted largely to souvenir collecting, but around
1990 it became big business with outsiders coming from the city to dig material for sale.
- Walter Alva, director of excavations at Sipan (see CWC issue 4), organized eight patrols
(known as grupo de protección arqueológica or la grupa) in the early 1990s in response
to this phenomenal growth in commercial looting.
- Grupas stop people occupying land on archaeological sites, chase off or hold looters,
confiscate tools and call the museum staff who call the police.
- Decline in demand for sugar has contributed to economic difficulties which make looting
a lucrative option.
- Most looters are not local villagers. Many come from the market town of Cayaltí, well
known in the region as the place where antiquities are bought and sold.
- Atwood bought a genuine Inka pot and broken Moche portrait vessel for $3 each from a
black market dealer in Cayaltí, who enquired if he was a museum director.
- The history and importance of pre-Columbian cultures like the Moche, Chimú, Chavín is
now taught in schools.
- Alva says about 350 locals are now actively involved in patrolling, and have seized
about 3200 objects.
- The situation in the northwest of the country contrasts with that in the Cañete area
south of Lima (famous for its ancient textiles, worth up to $250,000 on the market), where
huaqueros encounter less police attention and there are no citizen patrols.
- On a nightime raid by four looters on an Inka huaca, Atwood witnessed them probing for
and finding tombs 10 feet down, digging down to them in 15 minutes and trashing and
discarding the material remains within (human bones, gourds containing peanuts, knitting
and musical instruments, children’s toys etc.) because they were unsaleable. They
took special care removing a textile shirt wrapped round the body of a male youth and sold
it to an ‘important buyer’ named Lucho early the next morning for $1000.
Ananova
Archaeological Institute of America
Archaeology
The Art Newspaper
Asahi.com
Associated Press
BBC News
Beijing Weekly
Biblical Archaeology Review
The Boston Globe
Capital Journal (South Dakota)
CBS News
Chicago Tribune
China Daily
Christian Science Monitor
Cultural Heritage Watch
Cultural Property.net
Durango Herald Online
Egyptian State Information Service
The Frontier Post
The Guardian
Haaretz.com
The Independent
International Council of Museums
Irish Examiner
Miami Herald Tribune
Minerva
The New York Times
News 24
People’s Daily
The Register-Guard (Oregon)
The Seattle Times
SunSpot.net
The Sunday Times
Swissinfo
The Telegraph
The Times
The Times of India
Xinhua News Agency
First posted March 2004; Page
design updated September 2006 |
