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Archeological Artifacts and Marauding

   The problem of looting of the historically important archeological territories and its artifacts is an old one. It is a vital one nowadays because it has transformed into the devastation of the sites. This incident is common in the many countries and has to be faced accordingly. Archaeologists in the first instance need to engage the public. Hodder (1992) notes a public campaign, in the U.K., to stop the plundering of archaeological sites by treasure hunters. Similarly archaeologists need to make the public aware of the social/cultural significance of the archaeological record and especially aware of the value of remains and artifacts in the context of deposition. Certainly there is a danger of increasing the perceived monetary value but a successful education campaign will demonstrate the scientific and social value of the archaeological complex.

   The next step in protecting cultural property would be to engage law enforcement and legislative bodies to impress upon them the need to vigorously protect cultural heritage. Archaeologists need to lobby the legislative bodies for law to protect cultural heritage and impress upon the law enforcement agencies the need to police the laws. 

   Finally archaeologists must make sure cultural property and significant sites are known and monitored. Archaeologists need to put together comprehensive inventories of artifacts that can be accessed and understood by law enforcement agencies, Interpol suggests adding photographs and standardized markings on artifacts. The catalogues of artifacts form public and private collections need to be up-to date and monitored to promptly notify the law enforcement agencies of any theft or illicit activity. Registers of archaeological sites also need to be created and maintained and the sites need to be monitored to promptly notify law enforcement agencies.

   Once archaeologists have laid the aforementioned groundwork the task of protecting cultural heritage by applying the laws to individual sites and perpetrators begins. Archaeologists are often the best qualified to identify when an archaeological site has been looted and as with human remains, archaeological techniques can assist with the collection of evidence. If a suspected looter is caught, archaeologists can assist in the identification of artifacts and attempt to establish the origin of the artifact. When artifacts are stolen from a collection, archaeologists can identify the artifact. In both cases archaeologists can testify as expert witness in legal proceedings.

   Along with the above, dealing with looting and theft on a national level, archaeology should also actively assist in an international effort to protect cultural heritage and prevent the illicit trade in cultural property. There are a number of international organizations engaged in the protection of cultural heritage and the prevention of illicit trade in cultural property such as; U.N.E.S.C.O, I.C.O.M., UNIDROIT and Interpol. Archaeologists are currently involved with these organizations. Archaeologists assist in drafting conventions such as; U.N.E.S.C.O. convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict (first protocol 1954,second protocol 1999), U.N.E.S.C.O. convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property (1970), U.N.E.S.C.O. convention on the protection of Underwater cultural heritage(2001), UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995). Archaeologists, where qualified, should assist by ‘establishing and keeping up-to-date inventories of protected property, a list of important private and public cultural property whose export would constitute an appreciable impoverishment of national cultural heritage’(UNESCO 1970 article 5). Unesco also suggests archaeologists make themselves available for ‘consultation and expert advice’ (1970 article 17). Interpol suggest it is necessary to:

§ adopt laws to protect each country's cultural heritage

§ be party to the international conventions which protect cultural heritage

§ establish inventories of public and private collections with precise descriptions of the objects and colour photographs

§ mark cultural objects to facilitate formal identification when recovered.

§ lodge a complaint, in case of theft, with the local police force as soon as possible, providing a detailed list and photographs of the stolen objects

§ speed up the circulation of information on stolen cultural objects

§ make the public more sensitive to the loss of their cultural heritage

§ use the universal language database

§ train law enforcement and customs to fight against this phenomenon

   The abovementioned conventions and Interpol guidelines provide direction on the course that should be taken to protect cultural heritage. In the richer developed nations the resources required to implement these measures are more readily available but in less developed countries and countries affected by war and conflict, required resources are often limited or totally unavailable. Often countries with the richest cultural heritage are the ones with the poorest protection of cultural heritage. For instance in Iraq, looters have plundered historic buildings and cultural institutions and items of unique value have disappeared from museums and archaeological sites. Since the looting of the Iraq National Museum, in April 2003, thousands of artifacts have disappeared. (Interpol website). Looting at archaeological sites, like Isin and Umma, constitutes at a serious issue to be addressed and the amount of cultural property looted from archaeological sites is incalculable. The loss to archaeology and human culture in general is also incalculable, but the cost of protection is not. The cost of protecting cultural heritage, say in Iraq, many be considerable but what is lost is priceless. For this reason, archaeology in rich developed nations should be doing everything possible to prevent the loss of irreplaceable archaeological record not only in their own country but in every country.

   ‘"Like words plucked from the middle of a sentence,"… artifacts stolen from their resting places leave a question mark in the timeline of history. But with the appropriate tools, training, and support, law enforcement officers can help preserve the past.’(Hicks 1997)

   Looting of archaeological sites and thefts from museums are inflicting irreparable damage on the cultural heritage of many countries and of humankind as a whole. Objects are being destructively removed from their archaeological context to satisfy the growing international demand for cultural artifacts. Looting in the Americas and Iraq and elsewhere has highlighted the need for archaeologists to vociferously lobby legal bodies for legislative protection of cultural property. Archaeologists have the expertise to assist legal bodies identify and protect cultural property. Archaeologists need to make themselves easily accessible to these legal bodies to testify in legal proceedings. Archaeologists are often the only ones with the expertise and knowledge to identify stolen or looted artifacts. Archaeologists are best qualified, to monitor sites for looting and maintain lists of significant sites and artifacts. Archaeologists should, because of their vested interest, be on the front line in the fight to protect cultural heritage.

References:

Anon. (nd) Interpol - International Criminal Police Organization. Accessed 10/4/2004 at http://www.interpol.int/Public/WorkOfArt/Default.asp.

Anon. (nd) UNESCO-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. Conventions, Accessed 9/4/2004 at http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php@URL_ID=12025&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=-471.html

Anon. (nd) ICOM-International Council of Museums. Accessed 10/4/2004 at http://icom.museum/

Bowen, T. (2003) Caught in the line of fire: ARCHAEOLOGY IRAQ. Financial Times London. February 5 2003

Doole, J. (2001) Stealing the past from under our feet. UNESCO Courier April 2001. Accessed on 10/4/2004 at http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_04/uk/doss12.htm

HHodder, I. (1992) Theory and practise in Archaeology. London: Routledge

Keenan, J. (2000) The Theft of Saharan rock-art. Antiquity 74: pp 287-8

Lidstone, D. (2003) Hot Property. MEED Middle East Economic Digest 47: pp 4-6

Vitelli, K.D. (1996) Archaeological Ethics. London: AlterMira Press

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