The Problem With Fake Antiquities

It was recently reported that looting of archaeological sites in parts of Peru had declined due to an increase in the production of cheap fakes. I suggested in a previous post that Peruvian archaeology had found an unusual alley in online auction, sites such as eBay, because local thieves could make more money manufacturing cheap fakes than they could by looting unexcavated sites. However, the production of fakes should not be encouraged as a means to prevent the looting and destruction of cultural heritage. Fakes confuse real history and people are misled. The Royal Ontario Museum's exhibition "Fakes & Forgeries: Yesterday and Today" (which is running until April 4, 2010) underlines this point. For example, forgeries of Egyptian antiquities often deceive individuals who do not know what to look for; eager buyers frequently do not have the proper education. Fake Egyptian statues and reliefs, such as that pictured (above left), have flooded the illicit antiquities market. The sandstone on this forgery is tinted with a reddish pigment to give the appearance of old age. The artist has also depicted the crown of Upper Egypt incorrectly - it is supposed to cover the nape of the pharaoh's neck. Moreover, the carving of the facial features is very rough leading the Royal Ontario Museum to describe it as a "crude and contrived representation". This example highlights how information is confused when it is manufactured.

The urn pictured (above right) is from Mexico and is also a fake. It is possible to decipher that this is not authentic by its style; thermoluminescence dating is not required. An examination of the motifs shows this to be a fake. The Royal Ontario Museum tells us that "a forger might copy the feathers from one genuine item, the tunic from another and the pedestal from yet another. Though each part seems authentic, the forgers combined them together in ways that don't make artistic sense". Fakes of this kind can create a great deal of confusion by mixing styles from different eras or locations.

Finally, it should be noted that while the production of fakes can sometimes discourage local thieves from looting, it does nothing to educate people of the damage caused by looting nor does it reduce the demand for authentic artifacts. As long as collectors are willing to pay thousands of dollars for authentic antiquities there will always be looters available to steal the most sought after items. Furthermore, an influx of fakes to the market makes it more difficult for border controls to prevent the smuggling of illicit antiquities. An exhibition, "The Metropolitan Police Service's Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries", opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 23 January 2010 and runs until 7 Febuary. In this display the Metropolitan Police Service's Art and Antiquities Unit will showcase some of the investigation methods involved in detecting and and preventing the crime of art forgery.

Reference: http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/real-vs-fake-ancient-relics-slide-show.html

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Rebuilding Haiti: Look to the past

One of the most far-reaching and long-lasting consequences from Haiti's recent devastation is the immeasurable loss to its culture.

In this regard, international cultural organizations have issued statements expressing concern for the state of Haiti's cultural heritage, including the International Committee of the Blue Shield. In a press release issued January 14, The Blue Shield says that it "places the expertise and network of its member organisations at the disposal of their Haitian colleagues to support their work in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage of their countries including libraries, archives, museums and monuments and sites, and subsequent recovery, restoration and repair measures." The Facebook group Haiti 2010 Blue Shield Solidarity was created as numerous other online discussions have surfaced.

Similarly, the President of International Council on Monuments and Sites calls "on all ICOMOS to come together in solidarity " and "identify individual ICOMOS members and groups of members who would be willing to form part of volunteer teams to be deployed to Haiti as needed when the time comes and the heritage needs are manifested by our Haitian colleagues." At the moment, and probably for a while, priority will remain on human life. The time will come to make the decisions to rebuild Haiti.

Photographer Maggie Steber wrote in her Jan 19 New York Times "Essay: A Culture in Jeopardy, Too":

"Devastated by the loss of its people and its places, Haiti stands on the precipice of losing something more precious — as audacious as that sounds amid all this death — because it is transcendent.

Haiti stands to lose its culture.

Culture describes a people more than anything. It stems from history. It is the glue that holds a nation together when all else fails. But now that, too, may be lost, in the well-intentioned rebuilding efforts by the international community."

When cities, monuments, buildings and artifacts mark the way people live and provide information about ourselves and our ancestors, how will Haitian cultural heritage be altered when so much of the nation's built environment has been reduced to rubble? When so many of its people have perished and can no longer tell their stories? Regardless of the condition of these structures before the recent earthquake, these were the people's homes, where they learned, conducted business, worked and played.

"If the world is going to rebuild Haiti, Haitians must have a say." Maggie Steber, who has covered Haiti for 30 years, writes. Loyola University's Professor Angel Parham echoes this sentiment.

How will Haitians have a say? Indeed, discussions surrounding what's best for a renewed Haiti sound hopeful, as policymakers see the opportunity to seize the moment to improve and "to change the country forever." Washington Post reports.

We call for a look to the past. One way for Haitians to have a say is by observing how life was lived through images and videos before the earthquake. Much can be gathered as to what needs to change and what needs to be recreated and restored. And created anew.

Photo: James P. Blair/National Geographic, From the Archive: Haiti, Alive by David W. Dunlap, The New York Times

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Ebay & Looting

Peruvian archaeology has found an unusual ally in the battle against looting in the internet and websites such as eBay. This is according to Charles Stanish, a UCLA archaeologist, writing in the June 2009 issue of Archaeology. Stanish has excavated for 25 years at fragile archaeological sites in Peru. It was feared that online auction sites would increase looting as the looter could sell directly to the buyer eliminating costly middlemen. In fact, online auction websites have actually helped reduce looting as the average looter or craftsman can now make more money selling cheap fakes online rather than spend weeks digging for the real thing and running the risk of not finding anything. It is less costly to transport a fake and the risk of arrest is removed. Moreover, workshops churning out cheap fakes and replicas can also produce elaborately detailed fakes which can be so authentic even experts are deceived. Locals can use original ancient moulds, often found during excavations but of no real value themselves, to create exact replicas using clay from original sources and local minerals to make paint for decorating the pottery. The only way to know for sure if a piece is genuine is through thermo-luminescence dating which calculates when the pottery has been fired. But this is expensive for the buyer and many sellers will not offer refunds on pottery that has undergone “destructive” analysis. Ten years ago the ratio of real to fake Peruvian artefacts for sale online was roughly 50:50. It is now thought that only 5% of items are authentic, 30% are fakes and the rest are too difficult to judge from online photographs. This turnaround emphasises how paradoxically online auction sites have helped to combat the trade in illicit antiquities. Also, its not just Peruvian fakes that are flooding the illicit antiquities online market; Chinese, Bulgarian, Egyptian and Mexican workshops are also producing fakes at a frenetic pace.

To read my thoughts on fakes, please read my follow up article.


Reference: http://www.archaeology.org/0905/etc/insider.html

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Another delay for the Cyrus Cylinder

The British Museum announced that it would once again postpone its loan of the Cyrus Cylinder to Iran. This time, a new discovery is to blame. Farah Nayeri for Bloomberg.com reports:

On Jan. 5, inscriptions similar to the Cylinder’s were found on two pieces of cuneiform tablets from Babylonia in the museum’s collections. The pieces will be studied to shed light on the Cylinder’s “missing” or “obscure” passages, the museum said, and presented at a London workshop involving Iranian colleagues.

After that, “it is intended that the two new pieces should be exhibited for the first time in Tehran, together with the Cylinder itself,” the museum said in an e-mailed release.

“The agreement has been made with our colleagues in Iran that we’ll postpone the loan to investigate this exciting discovery with them,” said Hannah Boulton, head of press and marketing at the British Museum. “That’s the reason for the postponement.”

…

Asked why it took so long for the two tablets to be found, she said, “There are 200,000 cuneiform tablets in our collection, and only a limited number of scholars who can understand and translate cuneiform.”

The timing and urgency of this discovery seem all too convenient—the cylinder was meant to go on display in Tehran at the National Museum of Iran just a few days from now. Abbas Alizadeh from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute has already voiced skepticism about the British Museum’s announcement. Press-TV reports that he told the ISNA that the small missing pieces would not likely yield any groundbreaking revelations about this cylinder or others.

This is not the first postponement. The British Museum agreed to loan the cylinder to Iran after it was displayed in their "Forgotten Empire: the world of Ancient Persia" exhibition of 2005-2006. When it was finally scheduled for loan in September 2009, the museum balked, apparently due to the political unrest following Ahmadenijad's re-election. Then in October, Iran's state-run Press TV announced that the country would sever all ties with the British Museum if the Cyrus Cylinder was not loaned to them, and the museum promised that it would eventually hold up its end of the deal. We have yet to see that it does.

If the British Museum continues to ignore its agreement and circumvent Iran’s ultimatum, it is sending a message to other countries that cultural stewardship is a privilege, and not a self-determined one. The curators are trying to make good by announcing that they have invited Iranian scholars to London to study these new findings with them, but that’s not the point. The Cyrus Cylinder is to be displayed in Tehran not just so that a few Iranian scholars can study it, but so that the Iranian public can see it, too—for many of them, it will probably be their first time.

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