Crimes Against Culture

Another colloquium presented at the upcoming AIA Meeting organized by a member of SAFE Blythe Bowman who authored "Plunder of antiquities: A crime of global proportions" for the SAFE website is "Crimes Against Culture: Perspectives on Archaeological Site Looting and the Illicit Antiquities Trade"

Session Abstract
Illegal digging at archaeological sites and the trade in illicitly-obtained art and antiquities represent serious threats to the preservation of cultural heritage. Art and antiquities trafficking, largely fueled by the looting of archaeological sites, is a multi-billion dollar industry in which organized criminal and even terrorist networks have reportedly become deeply involved. These activities represent but a few such “crimes against culture,” which generally refers to criminally punishable acts involving works of cultural significance and includes phenomena as diverse as faked and forged antiquities, vandalism, illicit excavation, and illicit export of art, antiquities and other archaeological materials. This colloquium explores a fascinating variety of these crimes against culture, bringing together experts from within and beyond archaeology who are concerned about the preservation of cultural heritage. These papers examine these issues from economic, legal, criminological, and law enforcement perspectives:

• Cultural Property Crime in the 21st Century

• Economic analyses of the antiquities market

• Looting at Archaeological Sites in Global Perspective: Nature, Scope, and Frequency of the Problem

• ARPA to Xenophobia - A friendly primer for the archaeologist on laws which protect antiquities and their limitations

The goals of this colloquium are three: first, to provide fresh perspectives from within and beyond archaeology on the problems of looting and the illicit antiquities trade; second, to provide a forum in which such perspectives can come together and foster a more comprehensive understanding of cultural heritage issues; lastly, to provide a forum in which scholars and practitioners from within and beyond archaeology can come together and share concerns, ideas, and recommendations for the future of archaeological resources and global cultural heritage.

This colloquium session abides by the AIA Statement of Compliance. Click on "Read more" for paper details.

Individual Presentation Abstracts

Name: Bonnie Magness-Gardiner, Program Manager
Institution: FBI, Art Theft Program
Title: Cultural Property Crime in the 21st Century
Abstract: The illicit trade in art and cultural artifacts is a major category of international crime, including art theft, art fraud, and pillaging of archaeological sites. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established the Art Crime Team in 2004 in order to facilitate investigation of these crimes. Since its inception, the Art Crime Team recovered approximately 850 items of cultural property with a value of over $134 million. In addition to recovery of stolen art and investigation of theft and artifact trafficking, the FBI also investigates fraud and forgery. The art world offers numerous opportunities criminal activity of this sort. Here I will discuss FBI cases that illustrate how cultural property crimes are uncovered, how they are investigated, and the role of experts in the process.

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Neil Brodie
Archaeology Center
Stanford University
“Economic analyses of the antiquities market”
Methods for analyzing long-term economic trends in the art market are now well-developed, but to date they have not been applied to the antiquities market. The published results of the major auction houses do provide longitudinal data relating to the antiquities market, though they are hard to acquire and provide only an indirect reflection of total economic activity. In this paper I will report on a three-year project that has been aimed at collecting comprehensive auction statistics and consider how these statistics might be used to explore the economic structure of the antiquities market. Primary research questions include:

i) Is it possible to identify flows of looted and/or fake antiquities?
ii) Is it possible to monitor the effectiveness of legal or ethical responses?
iii) Do provenanced antiquities sell for higher prices than unprovenanced antiquities?
iv) How true are claims that antiquities collecting is a good investment strategy?
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Robert E. Goldman,Esq.
Chair of Art Law Practice Group
Fox Rothschild LLP
Former federal prosecutor for 19 years in Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Former legal adviser to the FBI Art Crime Team
2006 recipient of the Smithsonian Burke Award for Cultural Property Protection
Presentation: ARPA to Xenophobia - A friendly primer for the archaeologist on laws which protect antiquities and their limitations

As the international market in antiquities increases on a global scale, nations, museums and collectors are locked in a debate as to whether laws should be strengthened or made less restrictive which focus on the lawfulness of the trade in objects of cultural heritage. Respectable spokesmen for their relative positions feverishly debate whether antiquities are better protected by the increase of national patrimony laws or the acquisition of objects by international museums and collectors.

As we ponder the pillage of archaeological sites and the dispersal of antiquities to places unknown, archaeologists are left to consider what role, if any, they should play in legal efforts to combat the illicit trade. Although all archaeologists recognize the need for site protection of archaeological sites, not all members of the community are aware of both the power of, and limitations on, the legal efforts to protect objects of cultural heritage. With an increased knowledge of what is required for law enforcement to not only initiate an investigation but also to prosecute the offender and recover the antiquity, the archaeologist is better armed to make decisions as to whether and how to assist in an investigation.

Drawing upon his experience as a federal prosecutor who focused on art and antiquity offenses and as a civil litigator in an art law practice, the speaker combines legal discussion with examples of successful prosecutions and recoveries. The intended goal of the presentation is to assist the archaeologist better understand the laws in place, the role of the scientific community in assisting law enforcement and the increasing stage of civil litigation in recovering antiquities.

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Blythe Bowman
University of Nebraska at Omaha
School of Criminology & Criminal Justice
Paper: Looting at Archaeological Sites in Global Perspective: Nature, Scope, and Frequency of the Problem

Among archaeologists, the looting of archaeological sites is regarded as one of the most pervasive and troublesome types of theft. Within a criminological framework, research on looting has focused on the “demand” end of the problem; e.g., collectors, museums, dealers, and auction houses. My study departs from previous research in that it focuses on the “source” end of the trafficking problem: theft from archaeological sites. This study is the first attempt to collect systematic information about archaeological theft and the illicit antiquities trade by means of a large international sample of archaeologists (n= 2,358) and focuses on archaeologists’ opinions about and personal experiences with looting and archaeological site destruction. My study is the first attempt to collect systematic information from the “source” end of things on such a massive, global scale. I present key findings from this study, which aims to broaden and refine our understanding of the global nature, scope, and frequency of looting and archaeological site destruction. (Photo: www.epcc.edu)

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Selling our past to the highest bidder

SAFE Board Member Elizabeth Gilgan will organize a colloquium at the AIA Meeting entitled "Selling our past to the highest bidder: a global snapshot of antiquities in the art market" on January 9, 1:30 to 4:30 pm. We hope you can attend.

Abstract:
In December 2007 Sotheby’s, the second oldest auction house in the world, sold an unprovenienced archaeological object for a record breaking price of 57.2 million US dollars. This price is even more astonishing given that the object is only 3.25 inches tall. When such record prices are to be found in the art market, it makes one question the strength of legislation that protects antiquities. While archaeologists know that sites are being looted and that unprovenienced cultural material is being sold all over the world, they still need to prove to the art collectors that the destruction of sites from objects being wrested out of the ground is directly correlated with the art market and such extraordinary prices.

In this session we discuss the need for archaeologists to understand the nature of the antiquities market, to familiarize themselves with the international and national legislation concerning the antiquities trade and the protection of sites, and most importantly to strengthen their argument against looting by conducting statistical analyses of object sales and the movement of antiquities through the art market. Market studies of the antiquities trade can convincingly demonstrate that looting and destruction of sites is exacerbated by the ongoing trade in ancient objects.

This colloquium will address six regions of the world and discuss how antiquities from these areas are represented in the art market. The six areas under consideration are the South America, China, Cambodia, Italy, Middle East, and Turkey. The South American study addresses almost two decades of trade in South American objects. The China study focuses on the historical development of western collection of Chinese artifacts. The Cambodian paper will address how the UNESCO convention impacts the trade in Cambodian antiquities. The fourth paper will address the market for antiquities from Central Italy and how an applied quantitative methodology can be used to decipher the art market. The fifth paper will examine the art market in the Middle East (Israel, Jordan and Palestine). The last stop on our global tour is Turkey. This final presentation will discuss an investigation of Lydian objects from public and private collections. Click on "Read more" for paper details.

"A Study of South American Antiquities in the Art Market" - Donna Yates, University of Cambridge

"The Limits of the Law: The Impact of the UNESCO Convention on the Trade in Illicit Cambodian Antiquities" - Terressa Davis, Heritage Watch and The University of Georgia School of Law

"A Preliminary Study of the Chinese Antiquities Market: Historical Development and Current Trends" - Glenda Ellen Chao, Columbia University

"Applying Vigilance: Monitoring the Antiquities Trade through Quantitative Methods" - Gordon Lobay

"Destroying the Holy Land: Archaeological Site Destruction and the Lure of the Relic" - Morag M. Kersel

"For Sale from 'East Greece' or 'Persia': Lydia and the Antiquities Market" - Christina Luke and Christopher H. Roosevelt, Boston University

(Photo: www.betterbidders.com)

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Milken Institute report proposes "market-based solutions" to combat looting

The Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank based in Santa Monica, CA, recently published "Financial Innovations for Developing Archaeological Discovery and Conservation." The 36-page report was written by Caitlin MacLean and Glenn Yago of the Milken Institute, who received input from "economists, representatives from museums and the archaeological community, attorneys, and antiquities dealers and collectors," who met in January 2008 to discuss "market-based solutions to finance and accelerate the legal discovery and conservation of archaeological heritage, with the goal of slowing and halting the devastating effects of looting."

The Financial Innovations Lab Participants were: Ali Aboutaam and Hicham Aboutaam (owners, Phoenix Ancient Art, S.A.); Mathew Bogdanos, Assistant District Attorney, New York County, and Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps); Ran Boynter (Director, International Research, Cotsen Institute); Neil Brodie (Social Science Research Associate, Stanford Archaeology Center and former Research Director at the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre, University of Cambridge); Lawrence S. Coben (Chairman, Site Preservation Task Force, Archaeological Institute of America); Lynn S. Dodd (curator and lecturer, Department of Religion, University of Southern California); Derek Fincham (Ph.D. candidate, University of Aberdeen); Bernard Frischer (Director, Institute for Advanced Technology and Professor of Classics and Art History, University of Virginia); Patty Gerstenblith (Professor of Law, DePaul University and Founding President, The Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation); Michael D. Intriligator (Professor of Economics, Political Science and Policy Studies, University of California, Los Angeles); Morag Kersel, postdoctoral fellow, University of Toronto); Edward Krowitz (economist and former advisor, United Nations); Caitlin MacLean (Coordinator, Financial Innovations Labs, Milken Institute); Jerry C. Podany (Senior Conservator, Antiquities, J. Paul Getty Museum); Patricia Reiter (Research Analyst, Milken Institute); Lawrence Rothfield (Associate Professor, Department of English and Comparative Literature and Research Affiliate at the Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago); Charles Stanish (Professor, Department of Anthropology and Director, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles); Barry Szczesny (Vice President, Metcalf Federal Relations); Tom S. Wilkening (Ph.D. candidate, Massachusetts Institute of Technology); Rick Witschonke (Curatorial Assistant, American Numistmatic Society); and Glen Yago (Director, Capital Studies, Milken Institute).

SAFE encourages its members and friends to read the report available here (registration required) and offer comment on its content and conclusions at SAFECORNER.

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Selling Egyptian Antiquities

In August 2007 I speculated about the scale of the market in antiquities. I have now posted some analyses of the scale of the market based on Sotheby's New York:

• Percentage of Egyptian antiquities at auction (1998-2008)
• Trends in the sale of Egyptian antiquities (1998-2008)
  

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Legal Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage: National and International Perspectives in Light of the "Black Swan" Case

At the Joint AIA/APA Annual Meeting, behind held at the Marriott Downtown Hotel in Philadelphia, SAFE board member Eric Powell will moderate a "must attend" Workshop on Saturday, January 10, 2009 for anyone interested in evolving legal mechanisms that involve underwater cultural heritage.

The recent discovery of the "Black Swan" treasure off the coast of Spain by the US-based underwater salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. has re-ignited the long-simmering debate between underwater archaeologists, scholars, treasure hunters and their investors, attorneys and sovereign nations over who has the right to claim, recover and market the world's undersea archaeological resources. Recent legal action lodged by the Government of Spain against Odyssey Marine, now being heard in federal court in Tampa, FL, promises not only to settle ownership questions over the estimated half billion dollar "Black Swan" treasure that Odyssey Marine recovered, but to serve as a landmark decision that maritime attorneys, commercial salvagers, archaeologists and governments will employ as precedent in future cases. Lost amid the flurry of rhetoric, claims and counterclaims, however, are the questions that archaeologists often ask: After decades of experience in which commercial treasure hunters have torn apart ancient sites and allowed their finds to be scattered, how can we know whether commercial treasure hunters - operating in secret and driven by the demands of investors for "cost effective" methods - truly adhere to practices that meet internationally recognized archaeological standards? Does the practice of "admiralty arrest," by which commercial salvagers claim legal rights to a site, while keeping its location secret, prevent archaeologists from examining the same location that they discover independently? What final authority exists that allows archaeologists to assert their rights amid the tangle of international and national laws, competing jurisdictions and evolving legal concepts that govern or influence the outcome of such cases? Four leading authorities from the archaeological and legal worlds will discuss the specifics of the Black Swan controversy and its broader implications for both cultural heritage policy and the practice of archaeology.

Confirmed Panelists:

Michele C. Aubry
As an Archeologist in the headquarters office of the National Park Service in Washington, DC, Michele Aubry develops policies, regulations, and guidance on archeological and related historic preservation program requirements for application at federal government-wide levels. In addition, she provides assistance to the NPS, other federal agencies, and governmental and non-governmental partners. She also coordinates NPS programs that document, interpret, preserve, and protect archeological sites in units of the national park system. Author of the NPS Abandoned Shipwreck Act Guidelines (1990), she is an expert in the laws, regulations, policies, and programs relating to underwater cultural heritage at the federal, state, and local levels of government. She served as a U.S. Delegate to the UNESCO meetings of Government Experts that developed the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). In addition, she served on U.S. negotiating teams that developed international agreements, signed by the United States, concerning the shipwreck RMS Titanic (1999) and the sunken French vessel La Belle. She provided advice to the Kingdom of Spain about the shipwrecks Juno and La Galga, said to be within Assateague Island National Seashore, and obtained NPS services for the conservation and long-term storage of the objects that had been collected by the commercial salvager, Sea Hunt Inc., and turned over to Spain at the conclusion of litigation. She is currently working with the Government of the United Kingdom and Biscayne National Park about NPS management of the shipwreck HMS Fowey. In 1999, Ms. Aubry was appointed by the Governor of Maryland to the state’s Advisory Committee on Archaeology, and has served as Committee Chair since 2004. She is a graduate of the University of California at Riverside (M.A., 1977) and Occidental College (A.B. cum laude, 1972).

David J. Bederman
An acknowledged authority on international law and its impact on American government, the protection of property rights, the management of natural resources and admiralty and maritime law, David J. Bederman is the K.H. Gyr Professor of Private International Law at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. Having served as a litigation consultant to the U.S. Departments of Justice, State, Treasury and numerous federal agencies, as well as a legal advisor at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in the Hague, Professor Bederman also advises and represents clients on important constitutional and international law issues, including a number of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, significant international arbitrations, and issues related to underwater cultural heritage issues, sovereign immunity questions and property rights matters. He is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., advising the firm on various legal situations, including the salvage of SS Republic, the "Black Swan" discovery and other treasure ships. In addition to a number of books and dozens of articles and essays, his major publications include Globalization and International Law (2008); The Classical Foundations of the American Constitution (2008); The Spirit of International Law (2002); International Law in Antiquity (2001); and International Law Frameworks (2001). Prior to his current position, Professor Bederman served in private practice with the Washington law firm Covington & Burling LLP and has lectured widely, as Fulbright Distinguished Chair for Canada, lecturing in international and constitutional law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, and as visiting professor at the University of Virginia Law School and New York University Law School. A graduate of Princeton University (A.B. international affairs, 1983), the London School of Economics (M.Sc., Marine Affairs, 1984) and the University of Virginia (J.D., 1987), after which he clerked for the Hon. Charles E. Wiggins, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Bederman also holds the coveted Diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law, as well as a Ph.D. in Law from the University of London. His ongoing research interests involve legal theory and history, admiralty and maritime law, and federal practice and procedure.

Caroline M. Blanco
As Assistant General Counsel for the Environment at the National Science Foundation, Caroline M. Blanco she provides advice on the environmental and cultural resources laws. Prior to assuming her current position, she served as a trial attorney in the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where, where from 1991 until 2007 she specialized in heritage resources law and historic shipwreck litigation and was twice a recipient of the Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service. Ms. Blanco is co-author of Cultural Property Law: A Practitioner's Guide to the Management, Protection and Preservation of Heritage Resources (American Bar Association, 2004) and Heritage Resources Law: Protecting the Archaeological and Cultural Environment (John Wiley & Sons, 1999) and has written several articles on underwater cultural property law and an essay (coauthored with Ole Varmer) on U.S. laws protecting underwater cultural heritage published in Legal Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: National and International Perspectives (Kluwer Law International, 1999). She also served as a member of the U.S. negotiating team responsible for developing an international agreement to protect RMS Titanic in 1999. Prior to her government service, Mr. Blanco was a litigation associate at the law firm of McCutchen Doyle Brown & Enerson, San Jose, California. She received her J.D. degree, cum laude, in 1999 from Washington College of Law at American University in Washington D.C. She is a founding member of the board of directors of the Lawyer's Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (LCCHP).

James A. Goold
An attorney at the Washington, DC office of Covington & Burling LLP, James A. Goold, manages a practice that spans a diversified range of domestic and international litigation, arbitration, and regulatory matters, including US and international product liability litigation and related counseling and regulatory/legislative projects and litigation for and against foreign governments on matters involving admiralty and cultural preservation disputes and insurance coverage arbitrations. He is currently lead attorney representing the Kingdom of Spain in the "Black Swan" case, now being heard in federal court in Tampa, FL. Mr. Goold has served as past Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Counsel for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (College Station, Texas and Bodrum, Turkey) and Chairman of the Executive Committee and General Counsel of the RPM Nautical Foundation (Key West, Florida). In recognition of his distinguished service for the Kingdom of Spain in past admiralty law cases, Mr. Goold was named Commander of the Royal Order of Isabel the Catholic (Cruz del Orden de Isabela Catolica) in 2000. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago School of Law (J.D., 1976) and Weslyan University (B.A., 1972).

Jerome L. Hall
A Nautical Archaeologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of San Diego, Jerome Lynn Hall's ongoing research projects include a 17th-century northern European merchant shipwreck in Monte Cristi Bay off the north coast of the Dominican Republic, as well as the documentation and publication of a 1st-century A.D. Kinneret Boat recovered from the Sea of Galilee. Hall's most recent writings on submerged cultural resource management include "The Fig and the Spade: Countering deceptions of Treasure Hunters," in AIA Archaeology Watch (2007) and "The Black Rhino," in the Journal of Maritime Archaeology (2007). Dr. Hall has served as the underwater archaeologist for Puerto Rico and President of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University, where he received his doctorate in anthropology with a specialty in nautical archaeology in 1996.

Ole Varmer
As attorney-advisor in the Office of International Law at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce) in Washington, DC, Ole Varmer is an expert in the laws pertaining to historic shipwrecks with primary responsibility for providing advice involving cultural and historic resources, maritime zones and boundaries and coastal zone management, Mr. Varmer served a key role as member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization on the draft UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2001. As counsel for NOAA's Marine Sanctuaries Program, he helped negotiate a resolution for the continued historic shipwreck salvage operations in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and, working with the Secretary of State of Florida and The Historic Shipwreck Salvage Policy Council (HSSPC), formulated guidelines within the strict parameters of the Marine Sanctuaries Program that encouraged multiple use of cultural resources while following strict archaeological guidelines. He is co-author of Heritage Resources Law: Protecting the Archeological and Cultural Environment (Wiley, 1999) and author of numerous articles on cultural heritage law, including "The Case Against the 'Salvage" of the Cultural Heritage," Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce (1999), and chapters in Legal Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: National and International Perspectives (Kluwer, 2000), The Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage: National Perspectives in Light of the UNESCO Convention 2001 (Nijhoff, 2006), and Underwater Cultural Heritage at Risk: RMS Titanic (UNESCO/ICOMOS, 2006). He is a graduate of Benjamin Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in New York (J.D., 1987).


Moderator: Eric Powell, Senior Editor, Archaeology Magazine

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Interpol Tracking Task Force to Fight the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property Stolen in Iraq met in Lyon, December 17 and 18, 2008

Conclusions from the meeting can be downloaded here, thanks again to the Museum Security Network, which also brought our attention to the meeting minutes of Interpol's 7th International Symposium on the Theft of and Illicit Traffic in Works of Art, Cultural Property and Antiques.

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State Department Admits No Mechanism Exists for Providing Ongoing Security for Sites or Museums, Defends Its Efforts

What has the State Department done to protect sites?

As readers of this blog already know, in October the State Department issued a fact sheet laying out its support of what was described as “numerous activities relating to the protection and preservation of Iraq’s cultural heritage”:

These include emergency response to the looting of the Iraq National Museum, training of Iraqi museum professionals, support for archaeological site protection, and instituting legal measures to mitigate illicit trafficking in Iraq’s looted cultural property. Since 2003, several million dollars have been applied to these needs resulting in professional and infrastructure improvements to the National Museum as well as other museums and institutions, and improved archaeological site security in Iraq.

As usual, the issue of site protection was lumped together with others, leaving it unclear how much money has been applied to supporting archaeological site protection, for what programs, protecting how many sites, with what results.

Addressing the problem? Not exactly.

In response to my request, Darlene Kirk, a spokesperson from the State Department’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs, has amplified on the fact sheet’s summary, and kindly permitted me to share this information with the public. Kirk admits that “the Department of State has no mechanisms at its disposal to provide ongoing security at archaeological sites and museums in Iraq,” but she goes on to argue that State “has taken steps to address the problem in a variety of ways...


• The Department of State is funding the newly announced Iraq Cultural Heritage Project (ICHP) and the development of a site management plan for Babylon. Together, these initiatives include programs that will focus on, inter alia, building Iraqi professional capacity for conservation, for preservation of sites including archaeological sites, and for museum governance and administration. It is expected that strengthening the ability of responsible entities within the Iraqi government and its citizens to serve as the responsible stewards of their rich heritage will have a positive impact on site and museum security on a sustainable basis.

• In April 2008, the Department of Homeland Security promulgated U.S. import restrictions on all Iraqi cultural property after a decision to do so was made by the Department of State acting under authority delegated by the President. This import restriction is in addition to the ongoing OFAC regulations banning importation of Iraqi cultural property since 1990.

• The Department of State supported two security assessments of the National Museum in Baghdad which resulted in $1 m. in contracts to implement security measures at the Museum.

• In 2004, in response to evidence of serious looting of archaeological sites in southern Iraq, the State Department used funds donated by the Packard Humanities Institute to purchase 20 trucks and communications equipment for site guards in Dhi, Qar, Diwanyah, and Babil provinces. It was determined that these guards needed such tools to monitor the sites and deter the pillage that was being carried out by very well equipped looters. These vehicles and equipment were given to the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) which in turn issued them to the provinces for use by the site guards. According to SBAH officials in the affected provinces, this resulted in a substantial diminution of the looting in those provinces.

• U.S. personnel responsible for the Ministry of Culture during the period of the Coalition Provisional Authority until July 2004 worked closely with the SBAH and with the Department of State to build and train a Facilities Protection Service (FPS) Archaeological Site Protection Force devoted to site protection under the administration of SBAH.

• Throughout the past several years the Department has acted to address the problem of looting in other ways such as promoting coordination within the international law enforcement community and funding the development, publication and distribution of the Red List for Iraqi Antiquities at Risk which is produced by the International Council of Museums in Arabic, English and French. Now in its third printing, this publication helps raise awareness about the problem among law enforcement entities and would be collectors. The US Embassy in Baghdad recently distributed new copies of the Red List throughout the country and in particular at border crossings.

• The State Department has funded satellite imagery acquisition for large areas of Iraq to allow archaeolgists at SUNY Stony Brook to assess site looting. The Department has also funded training programs in satellite imagery analysis for Iraqi archaeologists.

• The State Department has recently allocated funding for meetings of a proposed Iraq archaeological site protection working group, to be composed of SBAH senior officials from Baghdad, and senior archaeologists and FPS commanders from governorates most affected by looting. The possibility of convening an international law enforcement working group on Iraqi cultural property is also under consideration. (Kirk added in a followup message that “$93,000 has been allocated for the site protection working group meetings. The budget for the international law enforcement working group on Iraqi cultural property has not yet been determined, as this meeting is in the early planning stages.”)

• In July 2008, State Department and US Embassy Baghdad personnel arranged a helicopter overflight of 40+ sites in Qadissiya, Dhi Qar, and Wasit governorates to assess current looting. The results of this mission are being analyzed and will be shared with SBAH authorities for followup. (Kirk later added that “the July 2008 overflight of 40+ sites was conducted by a pair of US military helicopters at the request of the US Embassy in Baghdad. The expert participants were the Cultural Heritage Liaison Officer of the US Embassy and the State Department Special Coordinator for Iraqi Cultural Heritage. The sites were extensively photographed from the air by both experts. The data are being analyzed by the expert participants.”)

This list says volumes about the failure of American policy to deal with the problem of site looting. Import restrictions, Red Lists, site management programs, and security efforts at the Iraq Museum do not secure archaeological sites. The funding for trucks by the Packard Foundation in 2004 was never supplemented by any governmental assistance, nor was any effort made to solicit additional support from other foundations. The FPS force was never given the funding and logistical support it needed, and I believe it has now been disbanded. The funding for satellite imagery was not for large areas of Iraq, but only for southern Iraq, and was provided only in part by the State Department; given that the US military certainly has time-series satellite images available for all sites, it remains puzzling why the State Department did not arrange for those images to be provided to archaeologists, rather than paying for a private company to provide images for only a fraction of sites (and not in a coherent time series even for those sites).

A hopeful development

Only the last two of these bullet points deal directly with contemporary site-protection efforts. Most welcome is the news that a working group on site protection has finally been proposed and allocated funding for meetings. It would have been even more welcome if the working group included some experts on securing and protecting sites (not archaeological sites but all kinds of sites) from the military or State Department.

Where's the Report?

The final bullet point raises interesting questions of its own. A similar helicopter tour of eight sites was conducted in June 2008, leaked almost immediately, and published in mid-July. Why is it taking so long to release the findings from the helicopter overflight in July? Could it be because they would contradict the message that both the US and the Iraqi governments want to present, that the looting is over? One hopes not, and it is always possible that the “expert participants” (presumably John Russell and Diane Siebrandt, neither of whom to my knowledge is an expert at analyzing imagery though both are highly competent, dedicated, and indeed heroic individuals putting their lives on the line in Iraq) simply are better at keeping things under wraps than the British Museum, but the delay certainly raises suspicions.

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Zahi Hawass: Digging for History

Zahi Hawass is one of the most famous and popularly known archaeologists in the world. Hawass' stardom among the general public is almost comparable to that of the fictional Indiana Jones; he has recently raised over $500,000 for a children's museum by selling replicas of his own signature style "explorer hat" in conjunction with the traveling King Tut tour. CNN.com has posted a video outlining how his passion for archaeology developed, his duties as Egypt's head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, his plans for a large new museum, and his efforts to repatriate stolen Egyptian antiquities.

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