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Illicit Antiquities |
Book ReviewColin RenfrewPatrick J O'Keefe, 1997
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A steady flow of books is now appearing directed in general towards arresting or diminishing the continuing looting of the world's archaeological sites. Among the most informative, particularly in view of the range of opinions expressed, was Antiquities, Trade or Betrayed: Legal, Ethical and Conservation Issues, edited by K. W. Tubb (London: Archetype, 1995). The present work, according to the back cover, is the result of a UNESCO initiative: 'In May 1994, the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or it Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation recommended that the Director-General of UNESCO be invited to have specialised studies made by experts to clarify issues in cultural objects that are disputed or unclear. This report on the antiquities trade is the first such study.' It offers a convenient summary of some of the issues. In the Introduction, however, the very questionable proposition is advanced (p.1) in the context of the commercial circulation of antiquities that: 'Satisfying demand in the short term would give time for measures to operate to lessen or redirect it in the long term … In the short term, demand might be satisfied by increasing the flow of objects onto the market.' There are, I know, dealers who (perhaps for obvious reasons) have advanced this dubious notion, which is further considered in the chapter entitled 'Changing the Market'. The book is written in a series of short sections or (unnumbered) chapters, which include quite numerous and interesting quotations of different points of view, many of them from newspaper reports which are often not readily available elsewhere. There are, however, no detailed case studies of looted sites or of illicitly exported groups of objects, so that the work is perhaps more useful as a summary than as a primary text. The treatment of the UNIDROIT Convention of 1995, for instance, takes only about one page of text, and the Convention is not quoted in full in the Appendices, which would not have been difficult. The recent volume by Lindel Prott, Commentary on the UNIDROIT Convention (Leicester: Institute of Art and Law, 1997) is a more thorough, and for that reason ultimately more useful, contribution in that area. The Proposal that such matters might be improved by increasing the volume of the flow of antiquities in the market is considered on pages 66 to 75, and the whole chapter 'Changing the Market' is directed towards this notion. It flies, however, against the main point (which is nonetheless set out elsewhere, notable in the section 'Primacy of Information Retrieval') that the principal function of excavations is to provide new information about the past, not objects to fill museums or private collections. The work is supplemented by a number of Appendices, but these are not adequately referenced: for instance Appendix II, the 'Code of Ethics and Practice of the International Association of Dealers in Ancient Art' gives no precise source or date and no commentary upon the efficacy of the 'Code'. Appendix III gives the 'Text of the British Code of Practice for the Control of International Trading in Works of Art' but again gives no date, nor does it state precisely what body promulgated the 'Code'. Its Article 5 states: 'Violations of this code of practice will be rigorously investigated'. But the 'Code' does not state by whom such an investigation will be conducted nor is the matter further discussed. This volume may be of use as an introductory survey, for it is wide-ranging and certainly recognises the ill-effects of looting. But it lacks circumstantial detail and has no pretentions to legal thoroughness. I find it a little odd that this rather insubstantial work should be published under the imprint of UNESCO. At the same time, any responsible treatment of this difficult subject, such as the present book, is to be welcomed. First posted October 1998; Page design updated September 2006 |
