The Sun Newspapers and others have reported that a treasure trove of gold artifacts and coins was stolen from a Benghazi bank vault. See http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3903581/Priceless-gold-of-Benghazi-is-stolen.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News
Collectors and dealers in ancient art should obviously report any efforts to sell such materials to the authorities. Here are some other thoughts.
1. Although some will apparently use this news as a basis to claim there is a need for "emergency import restrictions" on Libyan cultural material, these objects would already be treated as stolen under US and other law.
2. While the theft of this material is said to have happened during revolution, if what happened in Iraq is any guide, it's also possible that the material was stolen earlier by officials associated with the former regime, and the loss is only coming to light now.
3. It would have been easier to identify this material if it had been properly recorded by either the Italian authorities who returned it to Libya back in 1961 or the Libyans themselves. Unfortunately, this does not appear to have been the case, so all we will be left with is some general descriptions of the material. Hopefully, Libyan authorities will put out as detailed as possible descriptions of the missing artifacts soon.
Showing posts with label Emrgency Import Restrictions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emrgency Import Restrictions. Show all posts
Leptis Magna Safe
This video proves that Leptis Magna is safe despite claims to the contrary publicised by scare mongers from the archaeological community with a vested interest in seeking "emergency import restrictions" on cultural goods. See
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14983921
Will the archaeological blogs now report on this good news in an effort to help correct the record? I doubt it.
Still, this does not change the fact that there have been no credible reports about widespread looting or destruction of Libyan archaeological sites. Under the circumstances, it is a disservice to the new Libyan government and the Libyan people to continue to claim otherwise.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14983921
Will the archaeological blogs now report on this good news in an effort to help correct the record? I doubt it.
Still, this does not change the fact that there have been no credible reports about widespread looting or destruction of Libyan archaeological sites. Under the circumstances, it is a disservice to the new Libyan government and the Libyan people to continue to claim otherwise.
Libya: What Emergency?
There they go again. Only months after apparently receiving assurances from their buddies at the State Department about "emergency import restrictions" on Egyptian cultural artifacts, archaeological trade groups are again taking advantage of another supposed emergency to call for yet another round of emergency import restrictions, which of course, are just the first step towards a permanent ban. See http://www.archaeological.org/news/aianews/6415
Yet, the facts seem to conspire against them. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/sep/11/tripoli-museum-antiquity-shattered-gaddafi-image (noting that there was no looting of archaeological artifacts at the Libyan national museum).
If I were a member of the Libyan provisional government, I might be a bit peeved that foreign academics are implying that the Libyans themselves are incapable of caring for their own cultural patrimony (despite considerable evidence to the contrary) and view this call for import restrictions as nothing more than a paternalistic violation of Libyan sovereignty.
One also has to wonder what, if any contacts, members of these groups had with the deposed regime. If past history in places like Egypt and Iraq are any guide, these relations could have been considerable. And certainly, this should be considered by Libyan officials as well in determining whether the help of these groups is necessary or desirable.
But do the facts on the ground and the desires of the Libyans really matter when the cronies of these groups run the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center? Or, will Libyan cultural officials be convinced to go along whatever the true facts and what the need for emergency restrictions says about Libya's own competence to care for its own cultural patrimony?
Yet, the facts seem to conspire against them. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/sep/11/tripoli-museum-antiquity-shattered-gaddafi-image (noting that there was no looting of archaeological artifacts at the Libyan national museum).
If I were a member of the Libyan provisional government, I might be a bit peeved that foreign academics are implying that the Libyans themselves are incapable of caring for their own cultural patrimony (despite considerable evidence to the contrary) and view this call for import restrictions as nothing more than a paternalistic violation of Libyan sovereignty.
One also has to wonder what, if any contacts, members of these groups had with the deposed regime. If past history in places like Egypt and Iraq are any guide, these relations could have been considerable. And certainly, this should be considered by Libyan officials as well in determining whether the help of these groups is necessary or desirable.
But do the facts on the ground and the desires of the Libyans really matter when the cronies of these groups run the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center? Or, will Libyan cultural officials be convinced to go along whatever the true facts and what the need for emergency restrictions says about Libya's own competence to care for its own cultural patrimony?
CPRI Files FOIA Request on Purported Egyptian Done Deal
The Cultural Policy Research Institute has requested the State Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to disclose documents about a purported MOU with Egypt engineered by a coalition of archaeological groups led by the Capitol Archaeological Institute. For more, see
http://www.cprinst.org/press/freedom-of-information-act-request
As a press release indicates,
The Cultural Policy Research Institute is deeply concerned by the implication that the actions of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee and the State Department�s Department of Cultural Affairs are being directed by a coalition archaeological lobbyists.
Dr. Hawass� description of their discussion strongly suggests that the statutory requirements of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA) have been completely ignored and the decision-making role of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the President (CPAC) has been superseded.
The message is clear: a Memorandum of Understanding with Egypt would be initiated and drafted by a private U.S. group, not by the U.S. Government, as contemplated under the Cultural Property Implementation Act. The same private group has apparently guaranteed that the U.S government would sign an agreement with the Government of Egypt limiting access by all Americans to art from a founding civilization of the ancient world.
Will the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and U.S. Customs come clean about delegating agreement authority to a private archaeological group? Or, will they stonewall as they have in the past?
http://www.cprinst.org/press/freedom-of-information-act-request
As a press release indicates,
The Cultural Policy Research Institute is deeply concerned by the implication that the actions of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee and the State Department�s Department of Cultural Affairs are being directed by a coalition archaeological lobbyists.
Dr. Hawass� description of their discussion strongly suggests that the statutory requirements of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CCPIA) have been completely ignored and the decision-making role of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee to the President (CPAC) has been superseded.
The message is clear: a Memorandum of Understanding with Egypt would be initiated and drafted by a private U.S. group, not by the U.S. Government, as contemplated under the Cultural Property Implementation Act. The same private group has apparently guaranteed that the U.S government would sign an agreement with the Government of Egypt limiting access by all Americans to art from a founding civilization of the ancient world.
Will the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and U.S. Customs come clean about delegating agreement authority to a private archaeological group? Or, will they stonewall as they have in the past?
Your tax dollars at work: Fraud, Waste and Abuse at the Iraq Museum
Crusading Western archaeologists successfully lobbied for millions of dollars in US taxpayer money to be spent on Iraqi Archaeology. They further successfully lobbied for emergency import restrictions on Iraqi cultural artifacts based partly on the theory that the Iraq State was the best custodian for everything-- including common artifacts such as coins.
Was this money well spent? Should anything that looks remotely "Iraqi" be repatriated, including common artifacts like coins? Judge for yourself based upon this troubling report:
This is an interesting but distressing note about the coin [collection] in the Iraq Museum, from From Lamia al-Gailani Werr.
In the Museum they are slowly plodding through the inventory, which according to the current pace will take years. Only twenty thousands out of over two hundred thousands objects have been inventoried so far. The staff are facing many challenges, including a number of objects have lost their numbers, or metal objects that have crumbled as a the result of decades of negligence, and in particular the coins collection. Another difficulty is the lack of expertise amongst the staff to enable them to distinguish the fake from the genuine coinage.
In the Iraq Museum Library many of the old and rare archaeological books are crumbling. The Library have no expert staff to conserve the books. This can also be said for the photographic archive were conservation of the earlier photographs is lacking, and the scanning and digitising the photographic archive is not all that perfect. The staff are scanning with a resolution of 75 pixels only, because they have antiquated computers with very little memory and have no resources to purchase CDs / DVDs or USB sticks. The photographic archive rooms had a lucky escape when I was there, they got flooded one morning, the result of a test by the engineering section to check if repairs carried out to the roof had been done properly. They poured a whole tankard�s hold of water on to the roof for this purpose. The water cascaded down like a waterfall through the imperfect repairs and onto the metal cabinets in the stores and archive rooms. The staff rushed and covered everything with nylon sheets. Clearly the contracted builder�s repair was very poorly to say the least, despite a grant of three million US Dollars.
Of course, archaeological groups are again lobbying for additional millions in US taxpayer dollars being spent on Egyptian archaeology. And they have apparently already told the Egyptians that new emergency restrictions on Egyptian cultural artifacts will be imposed.
If anything, with our own budget deficits, now should be the time to scrutinze such requests far more closely.
Was this money well spent? Should anything that looks remotely "Iraqi" be repatriated, including common artifacts like coins? Judge for yourself based upon this troubling report:
This is an interesting but distressing note about the coin [collection] in the Iraq Museum, from From Lamia al-Gailani Werr.
In the Museum they are slowly plodding through the inventory, which according to the current pace will take years. Only twenty thousands out of over two hundred thousands objects have been inventoried so far. The staff are facing many challenges, including a number of objects have lost their numbers, or metal objects that have crumbled as a the result of decades of negligence, and in particular the coins collection. Another difficulty is the lack of expertise amongst the staff to enable them to distinguish the fake from the genuine coinage.
In the Iraq Museum Library many of the old and rare archaeological books are crumbling. The Library have no expert staff to conserve the books. This can also be said for the photographic archive were conservation of the earlier photographs is lacking, and the scanning and digitising the photographic archive is not all that perfect. The staff are scanning with a resolution of 75 pixels only, because they have antiquated computers with very little memory and have no resources to purchase CDs / DVDs or USB sticks. The photographic archive rooms had a lucky escape when I was there, they got flooded one morning, the result of a test by the engineering section to check if repairs carried out to the roof had been done properly. They poured a whole tankard�s hold of water on to the roof for this purpose. The water cascaded down like a waterfall through the imperfect repairs and onto the metal cabinets in the stores and archive rooms. The staff rushed and covered everything with nylon sheets. Clearly the contracted builder�s repair was very poorly to say the least, despite a grant of three million US Dollars.
Of course, archaeological groups are again lobbying for additional millions in US taxpayer dollars being spent on Egyptian archaeology. And they have apparently already told the Egyptians that new emergency restrictions on Egyptian cultural artifacts will be imposed.
If anything, with our own budget deficits, now should be the time to scrutinze such requests far more closely.
Hawass Says Emergency Import Restrictions Coming; Confirms CPAC Process is a Farce
Egyptian Antiquities Pharaoh Zahi Hawass has put up a revealing post on his blog. See http://www.drhawass.com/blog/international-coalition-support-protection-egyptian-antiquities
Some hitherto little known archaeological group (the Capitol Archaeological Institute) as well as the usual suspects (AIA, ASOR, National Geographic) have apparently formed a coalition to conjure up new emergency restrictions on Egyptian cultural goods.
Hawass' report of his discussions with coalition representatives strongly suggests that the statutory requirements of the Cultural Property Implementation Act-- including the requirement of review by CPAC-- are utterly meaningless. In particular, Hawass has been told that the restrictions are a "done deal" and that the archaeological groups will be preparing a MOU on behalf of the U.S. and Egyptian governments that will also throw more US taxpayer money at Egypt's corrupt archaeological establishment.
According to Hawass, "The coalition reported that the US Government is willing to impose emergency restrictions on Egyptian antiquities....The coalition will be drafting a formal agreement between the US and Egyptian governments...."
All this is quite interesting. Doesn't this just confirm what those representing the interests of collectors, the small businesses of the coin and antiquities trades, and museums have long suspected-- that the archaeological lobby really runs the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and that the CPAC process is a farce?
It�s also worth noting that Hawass long claimed that there was no such "emergency" in Egypt, but he is now apparently changing his tune to accommodate the coalition's efforts to clamp down on US collectors of Egyptian antiquities.
Some hitherto little known archaeological group (the Capitol Archaeological Institute) as well as the usual suspects (AIA, ASOR, National Geographic) have apparently formed a coalition to conjure up new emergency restrictions on Egyptian cultural goods.
Hawass' report of his discussions with coalition representatives strongly suggests that the statutory requirements of the Cultural Property Implementation Act-- including the requirement of review by CPAC-- are utterly meaningless. In particular, Hawass has been told that the restrictions are a "done deal" and that the archaeological groups will be preparing a MOU on behalf of the U.S. and Egyptian governments that will also throw more US taxpayer money at Egypt's corrupt archaeological establishment.
According to Hawass, "The coalition reported that the US Government is willing to impose emergency restrictions on Egyptian antiquities....The coalition will be drafting a formal agreement between the US and Egyptian governments...."
All this is quite interesting. Doesn't this just confirm what those representing the interests of collectors, the small businesses of the coin and antiquities trades, and museums have long suspected-- that the archaeological lobby really runs the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Cultural Heritage Center and that the CPAC process is a farce?
It�s also worth noting that Hawass long claimed that there was no such "emergency" in Egypt, but he is now apparently changing his tune to accommodate the coalition's efforts to clamp down on US collectors of Egyptian antiquities.
Labels:
AIA,
corruption,
CPAC,
CPIA,
double standards,
ECA,
Egypt,
Emrgency Import Restrictions,
Zahi Hawass
AIA, Related Groups Call for Increased US Vigilence for Looted Egyptian Materials
The AIA and related groups have called for increased law enforcement vigilance for possibly looted Egyptian archaeological material. See
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/675086/9b952123c1/285206853/7b4b5690fd/
While I understand the AIA's and related group's concerns, I also hope this is not the beginning of a witch hunt aimed at collectors and dealers in Egyptian antiquities, which, after all, have been avidly collected for generations. Remember the claims that boatloads of looted Iraqi materials would be entering the country? Well, that never happened, but archaeologists certainly took out their understandable frustrations about looting in Iraq on collectors and museums, all with little cause, it turns out. I just hope that history does not repeat itself again.
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/675086/9b952123c1/285206853/7b4b5690fd/
While I understand the AIA's and related group's concerns, I also hope this is not the beginning of a witch hunt aimed at collectors and dealers in Egyptian antiquities, which, after all, have been avidly collected for generations. Remember the claims that boatloads of looted Iraqi materials would be entering the country? Well, that never happened, but archaeologists certainly took out their understandable frustrations about looting in Iraq on collectors and museums, all with little cause, it turns out. I just hope that history does not repeat itself again.
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