Votive Offerings Uncovered to Goddess Juno

From Gazetta del Sud Online (English)

Tomb raiders lead to new archaeological find

19/10/2012

Votive offerings to Juno from 4th to 2nd century BC

 

ANSA) – Rome, October 19 - Investigations into the activities of four tomb raiders in the Alban hills near Rome have led to the discovery of a previously unknown site containing ancient Roman votive offerings. The ex-votos date from the fourth to the second century BC and include life-sized statues and depictions of parts of the human anatomy in terracotta offered to the ancient Roman goddess Juno. Police caught the tomb robbers in action as they were stealing the devotional objects from a natural cavity in a tufa wall near Lanuvio and Genzano that did not appear on archaeological maps of the area. The cavity appears to be linked to a nearby sanctuary dedicated to Juno the Saviour via a network of caverns and tunnels. The discovery is considered important as it testifies to the existence of a workshop once producing prestigious terracotta objects in the area. Investigators believe the stolen ex-votos were destined for the international collectors' market. Police found other ancient artefacts including sepulchral items mostly dating to the Etruscan era during their search of the tomb raiders' homes.

Pakistani Artifacts and Fakes Stolen from Police Station

Antiquities looting, fakes (fraud), and theft, all in one case.  It's been determined that the recently recovered priceless Ghandhara "relics" were actually stolen from a local police station.  Is this a case of the Keystone Cops (you have to be pretty old to recognize the analogy, unfortunately) or a case of an inside job?  Whatever the case, equally pathetic and sad.  And enraging, too.  Imagine a thief selling the United States' Constitution to a collector on the illegal antiquities market.  Why is this is this not the equivalent?

Gandhara relics: Stolen or not, police and archaeologists can’t agree on one number

Nation­al Museum’s direct­or claims 330 artefa­cts record­ed; Awami Colony SHO says only 308 presen­t.

By Our Correspondent

Published: July 22, 2012

 

KARACHI: The police and archaeology experts seem to be at loggerheads over the actual number of Gandhara relics seized earlier in the month.

Amid press reports that some artefacts have been stolen from the Awami Colony police station, both parties associated with the case are coming up with a different total for the statues.

While National Museum’s director Mohammad Shah Bokhari claims to have photographed and documented around 330 pieces earlier, the newly posted SHO at the police station, Hatim Marwat, says there are only 308 artefacts. [Like the absolute difference in the numbers is so frigging important??? This is even worse that the idiots arguing with each other in the U.S. Congress while the country continues its slide into third world status.]

The police had seized a container full of Buddhist relics on July 6 and then found some more in a Korangi warehouse on July 8. As the police were investigating the case, archaeology experts, including officials from Sindh culture department and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s archaeology department, were called in to record the details of the seized relics.

Many of the Buddhist relics thought to be of the third century turned out to be fake, making it even more difficult for archaeologists to determine their exact origin. [Okay, just how, exactly, can an archaeologist determine the origin of a FAKE?]  According to an antiquities officer, experts are yet to determine how many of the Buddhist relics are fake.  [WHAT? Are the fakes that good?  Or are the archaeologists that bad?]

“We need resources such as forensic analysis to determine the authenticity of each of the relic,” he said. “Right now we don’t have that facility.”  [More excuses.  What about using your EYES and TRAINING, heh?]

Some of the ancient relics had even been damaged due to the careless handling by police officers and labourers during shifting. The artefacts were dumped in a compound of the Awami Colony police station. Reports in the press suggested that piece by piece, the relics were being stolen due to the casual security at the police station. There were reports that three statues have gone missing, but there has been no official confirmation.

Awami Colony SHO Marwat told The Express Tribune that all of the seized relics were documented by the Sindh culture department officials and have documentation numbers on them.

“It is untrue that artefacts have been stolen [from the police station],” he said. “To our knowledge, there are only 308 pieces. We don’t have information about the rest.” [Yeah, right, dude.  And I have a bridge in Mahanttan I'd like to sell you...]

However, National Museum’s Bokhari told The Express Tribune that photographic evidence and records were available of 330 artefacts. If some have gone missing, it is the responsibility of the police, he added.

“The police have their custody, and we can’t keep check all day and night to see where the idols are and how they are being handled,” Bokhari said. “If they have been stolen, the police are to be blamed [for it].”

The artefacts will remain at the police station until the next court hearing on July 24. It is expected that the court will handed them over to the culture department.

When asked why the Gandhara relics were dumped in the courtyard, the SHO replied: “The statues are not watermelons that need to be kept in a refrigerator. Look at their size and weight. Where else would we keep them?”

Police sources said that the former SHO was transferred as some statues had gone missing from the police station. But Marwat denied this, saying his predecessor’s posting was a routine matter.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2012.

New Update on Theft of Chinese Artifacts from The Fitzwilliam

All from BBC News.  Very smart - news, even insignificant seeming, was being released nearly daily and reported by BBC to keep the theft present in the minds of the public.

Some of the beautiful jade objects stolen from the Fitzwilliam,
used several times to illustrate headlines in the BBC News reports/udates.



The white Cadillac van that, despite intensive searches,
has not been found since the date of the Fitzwilliam theft.

April 28, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum £18m theft: Appeal posters and hotline set up

April 30, 2012
Fitzwilliam theft: Museum appeals for return of art

May 1, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum theft: New CCTV images released

May 2, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum Chinese art theft: Two held in London

Detectives investigating the theft of Chinese art from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge have arrested two people.

A 28-year-old man and 15-year-old boy were arrested earlier at addresses in east London by officers from Cambridgeshire and the Metropolitan Police.

A number of other addresses in London are being searched.

May 4, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum steps up security for Chinese art show
(I thought this was rather funny!)

May 8, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum Chinese art theft: Third arrest

A 31-year-old man from London is the third person to be arrested in connection with a burglary at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Police investigating the raid at the museum said the man had been arrested on suspicion of money laundering.

May 9, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum Chinese art theft: Third man bailed
Of note was the increase of the estimated value of the stolen objects: now from between 18-40 million pounds. 

May 11, 2012
Fitzwilliam Museum theft: New CCTV images of white van

That is up to the most recent.  Not much.  The reports are brief, certainly not like U.S. press reports would be on such a sensational crime!  We only know the ages of the arrested suspects, not their names.  Since I did not see an article reporting that the two people (one a minor) arrested on May 2, 2012 have not "been bailed," I assume they are still in custody.  The third person arrested was "bailed" - and what, exactly, does money laundering have to do with these thefts?

More on the Thefts of Chinese Antiquities from British Museums

I didn't see these items make the regular archaeology news, so I hunted around a little at BBC.  Here are several links to articles discussing the Durham theft and the arrest of five people and the recovery of stolen items from the Oriental Museum on April 5, 2012, as well as the subsequent Fitzwilliam Museum theft:

Artefacts worth £1.8m stolen from Durham University's Oriental Museum
April 6, 2012

Durham University artefacts raid 'highly organised'
April 10, 2012

Artefacts thieves 'cut 3ft hole' (Are you frigging kidding me???)
April 11, 2012

Suspects in £1.8m Durham University museum raid named
April 12, 2012

Durham University Oriental Museum to reopen after £2m raid
April 13, 2012

The story gets better:  Fitzwilliam Museum theft occurred on the night of April 13, 2012 - BUT WAS NOT REPORTED UNTIL APRIL 18, 2012.

Durham University Oriental Museum treasures recovered
April 14, 2012
Chinese artefacts worth almost £2m that were stolen from a University of Durham museum have been recovered by police.

Thieves cut a 3ft-wide hole in the wall of the university's Oriental Museum and stole a bowl and figurine. Durham Police said it was almost certainly a well planned operation.

A police spokeswoman said both artefacts had now been recovered.

Officers have arrested five people in connection with the theft [When were they arrested?  Before or after the Fitzwilliam Museum "raid" on April 13th?]  Two men are still being sought.

Durham University Oriental Museum reopens after burglary
April 16, 2012
(Let us hope that the hole through the wall was adequately patched up?)

Five people, all from the West Midlands, have been arrested and bailed in connection with the incident. [Were these five people in custody at the time of the Fitzwilliam Museum "raid" on April 13th?]
Detectives have also said they want to speak to two men, Adrian Stanton and Lee Wildman, both from the Walsall area, in connection with the theft.

Durham museum raid inquiry: Two cars recovered
April 18, 2012
This article reveals the tasty little tidbit that the two artifacts stolen from the Oriental Museum-Durham were "found in a field." 

Fitzwilliam Museum theft: Chinese jade art 'worth millions'
April 18, 2012
BEING REPORTED FIVE DAYS AFTER THE THEFT OCCURRED!!!!!

Fitzwilliam Museum theft: Up to four burglars involved
April 20, 2012
Detectives said the burglars had entered the back of the building at about 19:30 BST on 13 April.

Officers said the group was inside the building for a "matter of minutes" before fleeing in a getaway car.  [Evidently they just walked in through the back door?????]

Fitzwilliam Museum theft: White van 'used by raiders'
April 23, 2012
The van in question was stolen in London on April 7, 2012. Had it been planned for that long of a time to use this van in committing the "raid" on the Fitzwilliam???

Fitzwilliam Museum £18m theft: Ports and airports on alert
April 25, 2012

AND, unbelievably:

Fitzwilliam Museum £18m theft: Haul 'likely to still be in UK'
By Mark Bulstrode April 26, 2012
This story is so full of beans, I can't even frame suitably pungent comments, har :)

Fitzwilliam Museum £18m theft: Appeal posters and hotline set up
April 28, 2012

Soooo, there you have it, folks.  Somehow, it is not comforting to know that police in the UK are just as incompetent as the police in the USA.  Keystone Cops, anyone???

Chinese Antiquities Stolen from Fitzwilliam Museum

From the Telegraph.co.uk

Valuable Chinese art stolen from Cambridge University

Police says 'very valuable art of great cultural significance', including Ming jade cup, has been stolen from Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum.

4:05PM BST 18 Apr 2012

A hoard of rare Chinese artefacts has been stolen from Cambridge University, police said today.

Eighteen items including a 14th century Ming jade cup were stolen during a raid at the institution's Fitzwilliam Museum at around 7.30pm on Friday.

Cambridgeshire Police today appealed for anyone with information to help recover the items, which the force described as "very valuable" and of "great cultural significance".

Among the stolen items were six pieces from the Ming dynasty, including a jade 16th century carved buffalo, a carved horse from the 17th century and a green and brown jade carved elephant.  A jade cup and vase which is carved with bronze designs was also stolen along with an opaque jade brush washer.

Eight pieces from the Qing dynasty were taken, and a table screen from the Qianlong period and a jug and vase from the 18th century make up the rest of the stolen artworks.  Police and the museum refused to reveal the monetary value of the stolen pieces.

A spokesman for the Fitzwilliam Museum said: "These works are a highly important part of our collection and their loss is a great blow. "We are working closely with the police to aid in their recovery. A thorough review of our security measures is also under way. We urge anyone with information that could help the inquiry to come forward."

Detective Chief Superintendent Karen Daber, who is leading the investigation, called Operation Tundra, said the force had carried out forensic examinations following the burglary and were examining CCTV footage.  She said: "The items stolen are very valuable and are of great cultural significance so we are absolutely committed to recovering them and bringing those who stole them to justice.  The 18 items stolen are mostly jade and part of the museum's permanent collection. We have a team of detectives working hard to achieve these ends and we are working closely with the Fitzwilliam Museum, which is doing all it can to help our inquiries. We are keen to hear from anyone who may have been in or around the Fitzwilliam Museum between 6pm and 8pm and may have heard or seen anything unusual or suspicious.

"While this is an exceptional crime, that we are taking very seriously, it is also worth remembering that this type of offence is extremely rare."

Mrs Daber refused to speculate on whether the robbery was linked to a similar theft which took place recently at Durham University, although she said officers were liaising with Durham police.  A gang coolly chiselled into Durham University's Oriental Museum through an outside wall on April 5 before stealing two Chinese artefacts, which are thought to have been stolen to order.

Police said the Durham raid was almost certainly a well-planned operation, as the gang targeted two separate cabinets containing an 18th century jade bowl and a Dehua porcelain figurine - which have since been retrieved. [How were they retrieved?] Both items are from the Qing Dynasty, China's last imperial dynasty, and their total value is estimated to be worth more than £2 million.

On Wednesday, photographs of Lee Wildman, also known as Jason or Lee Green, 35, and Adrian Stanton, 32, both of Walsall, West Midlands, were released.  Lee Wildman was one of five people from the West Midlands who were arrested and bailed pending further inquiries. [So - the cops left the thieves go!]

The Fine Art and Antiques division of the Metropolitan Police will assist the Cambridgeshire force with their investigation.

*********************************************************************

Sounds to me like some billionaire Chinese "princeling" decided he wanted to import some instant culture and paid pros to go after specifically targeted items.  Good luck finding the missing items - they're in China by now.

Thieves of Goddess Idol Busted!

From The Times of India:

4 held with antique idol
TNN | Jul 7, 2011, 01.31am IST

HYDERABAD: A Task Force team laid a trap and arrested four persons while they were trying to dispose of an antique bronze idol of goddess Lakshmi at SBI Officers' Colony in Moosrambagh on Tuesday night. However, their associate is absconding.

M Kamalanath Reddy, 39, S Peddi Raju, 36, B Jaganmohan Rao, 26, and M Bhaskar, 21 are friends. Last week, Madhu Chary, a native of Bhadrachalam, gave them an idol, claiming it to be an antique. They took it to Peddi Raju's brother's hotel. The Task Force caught them while trying to dispose of it for Rs10 lakh. The four and the idol were handed over to the Malakpet police. tnn

Do the Crime, Serve the Time

It is particularly disgusting to me as a woman to read about a woman who rapes archaeological antiquities.  Unfortunately, this one will not rot in prison, which is what she - and all those who rape antiquities - deserve.

Idaho State Journal
Woman sentenced for unauthorized excavation of archaeological resources
Posted: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 4:35 pm

Roxanne Hale, 60, of Arco, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday to three years federal probation for Unauthorized Excavation of Archaeological Resources, the United States Attorney’s Office announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Hale to pay $9,265 in restitution. Hale is prohibited from being present at any archaeological sites on public lands and must have permission to be present at archaeological sites on private lands. Hale’s artifacts and sifting and digging tools seized during the search warrant were forfeited. Hale pled guilty to the charges in March 2010.

On September 12, 2008, in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, in Butte County, Idaho, Hale was found digging, without a permit, at the Wood Canyon #1 site. The Wood Canyon #1 site is a designated archaeological resource consisting of material remains of prehistoric human life and activity.

In sentencing the defendant, Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill noted that everyone in the area knows that these sites should not be disturbed because of the great cultural value they have to the entire nation.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Forest Service.

Antiquities Thieves Hit Sassinid Site in Southwest Iran

The key to understanding what is really going on in this article is knowing that sites known to contain pre-Islamic antiquities are deliberately left unguarded by the fundamentalist regime for two primary reasons: (1) the Revolutionary Guard makes millions each year off the illegal antiquities market and (2) the fundamentalist regime wishes to destroy all pre-Islamic sites, whether of historical significance or not, that may remind people of what Iran was like before it was hijacked by the fundy nut-cases.  What a shame.

From The Tehran Times
Wednesday, July 21, 2010 | Volume: 10923
Smugglers sack Sassanid site in southwest Iran
Tehran Times Culture Desk

TEHRAN -- Smugglers of cultural heritage have looted a Sassanid structure located in the Baghmalek region in northeast Khuzestan Province.

Members of the Baghmalek Cultural Heritage Enthusiasts Society, who recently visited the ruins of site, found shards scattered around the illegal excavations dug by the Smugglers, society director Yunes Shafiei told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.  Photo: The ruins of the Dalkhuni Fort and an excavation created by smugglers at the Sassanid fort are shown in a combination photo. Notice the holes from the illegal digging. (Photos by Taryana)


The structure, known by the locals as the Dalkhuni Fort, was used by local rulers after the defeat of the Sassanid Empires.

Initial studies show that the shards date back to the Seljuk era, Shafiei said.

Since the fort lies on a hill surrounded by agricultural land, farmers do not welcome experts on cultural heritage who occasionally visit this site, he noted.

Khuzestan Cultural Heritage Enthusiasts Society (Taryana) spokesman Mojtaba Gahestuni also cofirmed the report.

The smugglers have created several digs to find artifacts at the Dalkhuni Fort, he stated.

The fort had been used as an outpost to protect caravans passing through the region in past periods, he said.

According to Gahestuni, only 6 out of 150 ancient historical sites in the Baghmalek region have been registered on the Iranian National Cultural Heritage List. Even those few on the list are not being safeguarded by the relevant governmental organizations, he lamented.

The governmental organizations lack the necessary staff to safeguard the sites and also do not allow NGOs and cultural heritage enthusiasts societies to intervene, Gahestuni added.

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) is responsible for monuments and ancient sites in Iran.

**************************************************************

I received an education on the subject of illegal antiquities trade and what's been going on in Iran while doing background research for the article The Jiroft Gameboards, published at Goddesschess in 2005 and updated in 2007.  If you're interested, please check it out.

"One Step Beyond" Stuff - Three Suicides in Busted Antiquities Theft Ring

This is just scary and too fricking weird! I do not believe in conspiracy theories or curses.  What the heck is going on here?  This is just too much for me to believe that these deaths are merely coincidences...

Source in artifact case apparently commits suicide
By PAUL FOY and MIKE STARK (AP) – 5 days ago

SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah businessman who worked a two-year sting operation for federal officials investigating looting of American Indian relics across the Southwest has died, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot.

It appears to be the third suicide connected to the case.

Ted Dan Gardiner, an antiquities dealer and former grocery store CEO, shot himself Monday at a home in the Salt Lake City suburb of Holladay, police said.

Gardiner, 52, worked with the FBI and the federal Bureau of Land Management in a sweeping case that led to felony charges against 26 people in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

Gardiner's father and his son told The Associated Press on Tuesday that they could not explain his death. Federal authorities declined comment.

Two defendants — a Santa Fe, N.M., salesman and a prominent Blanding, Utah, physician, James Redd — committed suicide after their arrests in June.

Gardiner offered in 2006 to help federal authorities set up what turned into a long-running sting operation in the black-market trade in prehistoric relics. Court papers say he was typically paid $7,500 a month for secretly recording transactions across the Southwest for more than two years.

Gardiner provided prosecutors with hundreds of hours of video showing suspects admitting they took artifacts from federal and tribal lands, according to court documents.

The case broke open in June when about 150 federal agents descended on the Four Corners region. In the small town of Blanding, Utah, agents raided homes of 16 people, including a math teacher and brother of the local sheriff. Most were handcuffed and shackled as agents confiscated stone pipes, woven sandals, spear and arrow heads, seed jars and decorated pottery.

The arrests prompted outcry from southern Utah residents — many claiming federal officials were heavy-handed. One man served a year in federal prison for threatening to track Gardiner down and beat him with a baseball bat.

Two of the 26 defendants — Redd's wife and daughter — pleaded guilty last year. The rest pleaded not guilty.

Gardiner was still being paid for helping agents prepare for court cases, and he was to receive more money if he had testified. Gardiner had received $162,000 in payments plus expenses, for a total of $224,000, when most of the arrests were made in June.

Federal authorities and Gardiner, who also ran an artifact authentication business, have insisted he was never in trouble with the law.

Unified Police Lt. Don Hutson says a preliminary autopsy shows Gardiner's gunshot wound was probably self-inflicted. An officer fired a round during a standoff Monday night, but it didn't hit Gardiner.

Deputies were called to Gardiner's home Saturday night on a report that he was suicidal, Hutson said. Gardiner's gun was taken away and he was transported to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. Gardiner used another gun Monday night.

Gardiner's father, Dan Gardiner, declined further comment Tuesday, handing over the phone to one of Ted Gardiner's sons, who said, "We don't know any more than you." The son declined to give his name.

Ted Gardiner ran his father's business, Dan's Foods Inc., for a decade before selling the grocery chain to another company in 2000. The sale brought the family millions of dollars, but Ted Gardiner also had financial problems.

In 2007, he was dunned for more than $400,000 by federal and state tax authorities, according to public records. Gardiner, who spoke to the AP in a series of interviews last summer, said the debt was mostly a result of the proceeds he received from the sale of a Dan's Foods building in Park City.

Federal agents and the U.S. attorney's office refused to confirm that the Ted Gardiner who died Monday was the same Ted Gardiner who worked the artifacts case. He shared the same name, date of birth and address of the man identified in court documents as the government's informant.

"We have never talked about the source. No comment," said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Salt Lake City.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

More -

Informant's death throws artifacts case into doubt
By PAUL FOY (AP) – 4 days ago

SALT LAKE CITY — The death of a lone undercover operative in a federal crackdown on the black market for ancient American Indian artifacts has thrown plans for a first trial into doubt.

U.S. Attorney for Colorado David Gaouette says he's reviewing the evidence left for a trial that was to start March 29.

Antiquities dealer Robert B. Knowlton is accused of selling a prehistoric pipe and two knives to the Utah businessman who secretly recorded hundreds of hours of videotaped sales with 26 defendants in Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.

Gaouette says he's reviewing ways to use the videotape without live testimony from Ted Gardiner, who shot himself Monday after a police standoff. Gaouette wasn't certain if Knowlton's trial will start as scheduled.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

More -

From The Los Angeles Times
Informant in federal Indian artifacts case is dead
Antiquities dealer Ted Gardiner shoots himself in a Utah home, apparently the third suicide among people connected to the case that resulted in 24 arrests last year.
March 04, 2010|By Nicholas Riccardi

Reporting from Denver — An antiquities dealer who was an informant for a sweeping federal case against people who allegedly looted Indian artifacts has killed himself, police said, apparently the third suicide among people connected to the case.

Ted Gardiner, 52, allegedly shot himself Monday night as a SWAT team headed to the house where he was staying in Holladay, Utah. Gardiner had spent 2 1/2 years working as an undercover informant for federal authorities investigating illegal trafficking of artifacts in the Southwest.

Prosecutors last year indicted 24 people on charges of illegally excavating and selling the items.

Shortly after the arrests in June, suspect Dr. James Redd killed himself. Weeks later, another defendant, antiquities dealer Steven Shrader, also committed suicide.

"When the other two suicides occurred, it bothered him deeply," Gardiner's son Dustin told the Salt Lake Tribune.

Police said they were called Saturday night to the house where Gardiner was staying because he was threatening suicide. He was taken to a hospital, spent the night and was released.

But Monday at 6 p.m., he grabbed a gun and retreated to his room in the house, alarming his housemates, who again called authorities. Gardiner fired on the first officer who arrived, then shot himself, said police Lt. Don Hutson.

Bulldozer Used to Plunder Han Dynasty Tomb

This kind of destruction just turns my stomach.  This is what comes out of a society of stark contrast between the haves and the have-nots, where people are not taught a respect for their illustrious past but only taught to be rapacious like their "betters."  This could be the United States.  What a shame. 

Tomb raiders bulldoze Jiangsu site
Source: Global Times [02:35 January 28 2010]
By An Baijie

Unidentified tomb raiders hit more than 10 ancient tomb sites Monday in east Jiangsu Province, using bulldozers, and stealing most of the articles they unearthed, in an unprecedented sacking of the country's cultural relics, local archaeologists said.

The incident came almost a month after the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences claimed a major discovery of the tomb of Cao Cao, a renowned warlord and politician in the 3rd century AD, in central China.

Although the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb in Anyang, Henan, remains in question, the discovery seems to have reactivated interest in archaeology across the nation, with television programs about antiquities attracting enthusiasts.

Pieces of coffins made of valuable and rare Nanmu wood, as well as pottery and iron items, were seen scattered across an area of 1,000 square meters at the ravaged tomb site, located in Gucheng town in Gaochun county of Nanjing, the provincial capital, adjacent to the construction site of an expressway.

Judging from some of the items left by the robbers, Puyang Kangjing, a history scholar at the local museum, said Wednesday that the tombs date from the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD).

"The coffins were made with high-quality and rare wood, which indicates that the owners of the tombs were nobles," Puyang was quoted as saying by the Nanjing-based Yangtze Evening Post.

The bulldozer raid was the first of its kind and the most destructive in the country, an unnamed archeologist with the Nanjing Museum was quoted by the paper as saying Wednesday.

Further excavation of the tombs that could date back 2,000 years is impossible, as they have been almost completely destroyed, local archeologists told the paper. The raiders specifically targeted the tombs using heavy machinery, said an official surnamed Wang, from the Gaochun county department of cultural relics protection.

Jiang Wenhui, a local police officer, told the Global Times Wednesday that he discovered the remains Monday while on routine patrol.

"I immediately informed the local cultural relics protection departments, as I had been told by some construction workers that they'd unearthed some items such as bronze mirrors during an ongoing road construction," Jiang said.

The local government halted the expansion project of the road after the incident, but no specific protective measures were taken, and the tombs were left unattended, Jiang said.

A police investigation is underway, and efforts to retrieve the stolen articles are ongoing, Jiang said.

Yuan Zhongyi, an archeologist and the former curator of the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province, said the incident was shocking.

"I never heard that tomb robbery could be conducted so blatantly. It will completely devastate the layers of the earth, and will cause irreversible damage to those ancient relics," Yuan told the Global Times. "Tomb robberies are not rare in China, but all of them are done so secretly and imperceptibly."

Profiting from the relics unearthed was deemed the motive for the theft.

"Due to the huge profit that could be gained from a successful robbery, many people cannot resist the lure, which makes strengthening social education and cultural relic protection efforts more urgent, he said.

"Ancient tomb robbery is rampant in China. Sometimes our archeologists' job is like that of a firefighter, we rush here and there to rescue robbed, ancient tombs. Robbers' actions are prompt and highly destructive. We have to rush to the site the moment that we receive any notice that a tomb has been robbed," said Xu Weihong, the excavation team leader of the Terracotta Warriors Museum.

"Most of the Chinese ancient tomb sites are scattered in remote areas, which are hardly safeguarded," Xu said.

But Xu said most archeologists blame some of the television antique shows, as they might encourage criminal activities such as the robbery of antiques from tombs.

Yin Hang contributed to this story
*********************************************************************************
So, who would buy unprovenanced artifacts on the illegal market?  What kind of value could such artifacts possibly have?  Only an expert could potentially be able to tell the difference between, for instance, Han Dynasty, and earlier or later.  Are these artifacts being funneled to someone who knows the differences, someone who has connections to be able to sell these stolen artifacts to people with enough money to thumb their noses at the law, but who want "the real goods?"

I hope these people spend eternity in Hell with pitchforks shoved up their butts - constantly.

Slap on Wrist for Antiquities Thief

Oh brother. Yeah - this sure is going to act as a deterrent to would-be antiquities thieves. NOT. From bnd.com 13,000 Native American artifacts stolen from Southern Illinois refuge Janury 20, 2010 Thousands of Native American artifacts were stolen then sold for profit. An Illinois man has been convicted of not only stealing those artifacts, but causing devastating damage to the Cypress Creek Wildlife Refuge where he found them. The Southern Illinois refuge, two hours from St. Louis, is protected or it was supposed to be. But authorities say one man created his own archeological dig, taking 13,000 artifacts from the ground. Authorities from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife conducted surveillance on the suspect, and then recovered the items at his home. Among the artifacts, they found spearheads, ax heads, and tools for grinding grain. They also found more than 200 pieces of human skeletal remains. Authorities believe the suspect, identified as Leslie Jones, would steal the items then sell them. "Mr. Jones was using the artifacts he would collect to supplement his income. This is how he made a living," said Geoff Donaldson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The artifacts represent Native American culture from the Archaic Period, roughly between 3,000 and 9,000 years ago. Archeologists believe the site was a temporary village where people made tools with flint from the nearby creek. And what could have provided archeologists with knowledge of the past has now been largely destroyed. "You cannot put a dollar amount on what was removed from the Cypress Creek Wildlife Refuge, you can't do that. It's a piece that can't be restored," Donaldson said. For the most part, these artifacts can't be reburied so they'll likely end up on display in places like museums or educational centers. As for the human remains, archeologists say they can't identify any modern descendants because they are simply too old. There is a protocol for making sure the remains are handled properly and that a Native American organization will be consulted. But they too will likely end up in the Illinois State Museum. For his crime, Leslie Jones was sentenced to 30-days in prison, 500-hours of community service, five years of probation and $150,000 in restitution. Authorities hope this will act as a deterrent to others. "We're hoping it will prevent other people, or make other people think twice before they try to do it," said Mike Brown of the Cypress Creek Wildlife Refuge.

Viking Silver Stolen from Archaeological Site

From The Local Island thieves bag Viking treasure Published: 2 Nov 09 17:31 Five hundred Viking era silver artifacts have been plundered from a site of archaeological interest on the Baltic island of Gotland. Two archaeologists employed by Gotland county were dismayed to discover the valuables had vanished when they arrived at a field in Alva in Gotland to follow up on a recent find. "It's just as saddening every time it happens because it's our heritage that disappears," said Majvor Östergren at the Gotland County Administrative Board. The methodical thieves dug some 250 holes in a bid to secure as much booty as possible. Östergren estimated that the impostors had made off with 500 silver pieces worth a combined total of 250,000 to 500,000 kronor ($35,000 to $70,000). Following the raid, the field was placed under police surveillance, enabling archaeologists to continue their excavation work, news website helagotland.se reports. At a press conference on Monday county officials displayed some of the objects overlooked by the thieves, including 100 silver coins, a gold bracteate and a silver crucifix. TT/Paul O'Mahony (news@thelocal.se)

Antiquities Theft

Several stories about antiquities theft hit the news this past week. The losses that these thiefs have inflicted upon the rest of humankind is incalculable. In many instances, we will never know where the artifacts came from, their context, their stories, things that could help us learn more about our collective past as human beings. Arrests Made In Sale Of American Indian Artifacts by Howard Berkes June 10, 2009 (NPR -- National Public Radio) A two-year undercover sting aimed at a black market in ancient American Indian artifacts has led to federal indictments in Utah naming 24 people. The indictments unsealed Wednesday resulted in an early morning sweep in three states. About 150 federal agents, sheriffs' deputies and local and tribal police served arrest and search warrants in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Archaeologists were along to help identify artifacts. "Today's action is a sad reminder that the stealing and destruction of archaeological and American Indian treasures from public lands is a highly lucrative business," said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at a Salt Lake City news conference. "We will not tolerate that kind of activity in the United States." . . . ... and in a macabre twist, one of those charged has been found dead: Man indicted in artifact theft probe found dead Posted: June 12, 2009 02:59 PM CDT Authorities say a Blanding physician indicted in a federal investigation into the theft of ancient artifacts in the Four Corners region has been found dead. . . . 1,600 antiquities for Italy FBI sending back stolen artifacts found in Berwyn By Margaret Ramirez and Robert Mitchum Tribune reporters June 9, 2009 The secret collection John Sisto kept in his Berwyn bungalow had letters written by kings, Vatican documents penned by Catholic popes and even a handwritten book preface by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In all, federal officials found an astounding treasure-trove of about 3,500 ancient artifacts, religious relics, rare manuscripts and other historic items after Sisto's death in March 2007. Federal officials said Monday that the results of a two-year investigation determined that 1,600 of those items were stolen from Italy and shipped to the U.S. to be sold. The items, with an estimated value of $5 million and $10 million, will be returned to Italy later this week, according to FBI spokesman Ross Rice. . . . Photo gallery of some of the stolen items at the Chicago Tribune Online True story of looted pottery may never be known Editors note: This is a mystery story involving precious artifacts stolen from ancient graves. In order to tell it fully it had to be divided into three chapters. The first part introduced the major characters and the second chapter involved what was stolen. Today's final chapter sums up the story. By CHRISTOPHER TUFFLEY June 10, 2009 (Mobile New Sun Online) AVON PARK -- Special agent Tim Carpenter is an art crime expert with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In March of 2009 he was called in by the management of the Crystal Lake Club after a large collection of pre-Columbian pottery was discovered in the home of Edgardo Sosa, a resident who had died in November of 2007 without any heirs. Normally, Carpenter told the News-Sun in a telephone interview, a case of this kind would be a criminal matter. Since an international treaty in 1972 and the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 -- which is a U. S. law upgraded most recently in 1996, and designed to protect historical artifacts -- it is illegal to transport antiquities or own them without proper providence or permits. Even then, museums have found, some artifacts still have to be returned. . . .

Looters Damage Priceless Artifacts

Article from Turkish press. Are there no lengths to which looters will go in an attempt to get things to sell on the black market for money? This just makes me sick. Historical artifacts damaged in Mersin MERSİN - It is reported that several historical artifacts, including reliefs, have been damaged in the Kızkalesi district of Mersin by treasure-hunters using dynamite. According to a statement posted on the Mersin University Klikia Archeological Research Center’s Web site, 11 niches in the Şeytan Valley, where reliefs are carved into the rock walls, were damaged by exploding dynamite. A member of the university’s archaeology department, Associated Professor Murat Durukan, claimed they looters had sabotaged not just Turkey’s, but also whole world’s cultural heritage. He said on the Web site: "The situation we experienced here in Mersin is not different to the destruction of historical artifacts in Afghanistan. Being indifferent to this event will damage our country’s image. The authorities should appoint a guard in this place for 24 hours to stop this insanity." Talking to the Anatolia news agency, Durukan said hey had informed police about the incident that happened ten days ago. "The Adamkayalar (the rocks in shape of men) go back to the third century B.C. It is a commemoration ceremony area. These reliefs were made to commemorate important people, mostly Kings, soldiers and priest of that time." Mersin Culture and Tourism District Manager Mehmet Çalışkan said they were aware of the incident. "We already launched an investigation to catch the people who did the damage to this area."

What Would You Do?

Story from The New York Times Image: A virtual rendering of the calesse excavated outside Rome, parts of which are in the Glyptotek (the harnesses) Danish Museum Resists Return of Disputed Artifacts By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO Published: March 16, 2009 ROME — The Italian government has successfully brokered deals with American museums and private collectors for the return of what it says are looted antiquities. But it is finding the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, harder to crack. Talks with the Glyptotek have dragged on for months, even though “the presuppositions for the negotiations are identical to those that were carried out with the Americans,” said Maurizio Fiorilli, a lawyer for the Italian state involved in the negotiations. The Glyptotek, however, has “adopted a very different attitude,” he said. At the core of the dispute are Etruscan and Greco-Roman objects that the Glyptotek bought from Robert Hecht, an American antiquities dealer now on trial in Rome, where he is accused of receiving and selling stolen artifacts and conspiracy in the antiquities trade. He denies any wrongdoing. The Italians have used evidence from Mr. Hecht’s trial, and from the trial of the antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici, who was convicted of receiving and smuggling archeological artifacts, to persuade several American institutions — including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles — to return objects to Italy on the suspicion that they were illicitly excavated. (Mr. Medici is appealing his conviction.) Italy’s campaign is founded on a 1970 Unesco convention that prohibited the illicit circulation of a nation’s cultural property. There is general agreement in the antiquities world that objects that surfaced after that date without established provenance should not be purchased. In addition a 1909 Italian law states that anything found underground in Italy belongs to the state. At Mr. Hecht’s most recent hearing last month, correspondence from the early 1970s between him and former Glyptotek officials regarding the sale of dozens of objects to the museum — including an Etruscan calesse, or two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage, excavated near Fara in Sabina, just north of Rome — was presented as evidence against him. The calesse, which dates from the early seventh century B.C., was part of the funerary accouterments of a Sabine prince whose tomb at a Colle del Forno necropolis was discovered by Italian archaeologists in 1970. When they began excavating soon after, they found that tomb robbers had already been there. “Fortunately the tomb raiders didn’t do a thorough job,” said Daniela Rizzo, an archaeologist and witness for the prosecution. In later digs — the most recent in the fall of 2008 — Italian archaeologists managed to recover material from the prince’s tomb and other parts of the necropolis. Today the tomb’s contents, including amphorae, weapons, gold and silver jewelry and decorations, as well as elements of the calesse, are mostly split between the Glyptotek and the archeological museum in Fara in Sabina. Despite the overwhelming evidence that the tomb objects were looted, Ms. Rizzo said on the stand, the Glyptotek “has always refused to collaborate” and return the artifacts. Ms. Rizzo said the museum should not have bought the objects in the first place. “They were visibly the result of a traumatic action,” she said. “It would have been impossible not to know that it had been illegally excavated. Archaeologists can read between the lines.” The Glyptotek has declined to speak about the case. In an e-mail message Jette Christiansen, of the museum’s department of ancient art, wrote, “As negotiations are currently still going on, we prefer to refrain from discussing the case in public until we have found a solution, satisfactory to all parties involved.” Mr. Hecht said in an interview that he first saw the artifacts he sold to the Glyptotek in Switzerland. “It’s only supposition that everything came from Etruria but” — and here he broke into song — “dimmi quando, quando, quando” (“tell me when, when, when”). Paolo Giorgio Ferri, the prosecutor at Mr. Hecht’s trial, said he hoped to build a separate case against former officials at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, though the statute of limitations has expired. Mr. Ferri also said he could ask that some of the objects be confiscated as material evidence should Mr. Hecht be convicted. “For now we have to evaluate the good or bad faith of the buyer,” said Mr. Ferri, who is still evaluating whether he will press charges against the Glyptotek. “The sin has almost been ascertained, let’s see if we will absolve them.” Italian authorities have also presented the Glyptotek with a longer list of objects, mostly bought from Mr. Hecht and Mr. Medici, whose provenance it is investigating. They include an acroterion, or pediment decoration, of a winged sphinx; an Etruscan terra cotta antefix, or roof ornament, similar to one returned by the Getty last year; and terra cotta reliefs of warriors on horseback. Italian officials have repeatedly said they did not intend to “empty the museum of its possessions,” only to point out the suspect provenance of many dozens of artifacts. Mario Torsello, the president of the Culture Ministry committee charged with recovering allegedly looted artifacts said in a telephone interview that negotiations with the museum were continuing, and that an Italian delegation would travel to Copenhagen to resume talks. “We’re confident that we will arrive at an accord that is mutually satisfying,” he said. But even if the Glyptotek should return the funerary artifacts from the tomb at Colle del Forno, the calesse would still not be complete. “There are other elements missing,” said Paolo Santoro, the archaeologist who has led the excavations at Colle del Forno since the 1970s. “Who knows who bought them?”

Diplomat Arrested in Attempted Antiquities Theft

Story from CAIS: Latest Archaeological and Cultural News of Iran and the Iranian World South Korean Diplomat Arrested with a Stolen Stone Relief from Persepolis while Leaving Iran 04 March 2009 LONDON, (CAIS) -- The 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran has reportedly tried to smuggle a priceless relic dating to the Achaemenid dynastic era out of Iran. Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found the relic in the South Korean diplomat's luggage during check-in, before the diplomat succeeded in transporting the priceless relic of Persepolis, Persian daily Tabnak reported on Tuesday. Iranian Police, however, had to release the diplomat due to his diplomatic immunity, the report added. “Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found an Achaemenid relief depicting the top section of head of an Achaemenid soldier, weigh 2kg from Persepolis in the luggage of the 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran,” Shiraz public and revolutionary prosecutor, Jaber Banshi told IRNA. “The relic has been delivered to the provincial cultural heritage office, but no cultural official has filed a complaint so far,” he added. The S. Korean embassy declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Press TV. The customs officials sent the stolen piece back to the ruins of Persepolis. It is not clear how the diplomat obtained the relic, despite the claim by IRNA that the he picked it up while visiting the Persepolis.

Antiquities Theft in the U.K.

Thieves still find it more lucrative to plunder archaeological sites - and they steal everyone's heritage by so doing. Article from the Independent.co.uk Nighthawks hitting historic UK sites By Chris Greenwood, Press Association Monday, 16 February 2009 Britain's archaeological heritage is being plundered by illegal metal detector users who face little danger of being caught, a report said today. The first comprehensive national survey of its kind revealed thieves armed with state-of-the-art equipment are raiding some of the nation's most sensitive heritage sites. Researchers found knowledgeable criminals, dubbed nighthawks, are using auction websites such as eBay to cash in on what was once an illicit hobby. Police said some thieves have formed loosely-connected networks who trade information, often in online forums, about new and vulnerable sites. One senior Kent officer said there have been cases of farmers being threatened after confronting groups of men trespassing on their land at night. English Heritage, who commissioned the study, said many stolen items are worth very little, but their valuable historical context is lost for ever. But although the threat of nighthawking remains high, experts said the chances of prosecution remain at an all time low and penalties are "woefully insufficient". Sir Barry Cunliffe, English Heritage chairman, called for better guidance for police and a national database to accurately portray the extent of the problem. He said: "Responsible metal detecting provides a valuable record of history, but illegal activities bring responsible ones into disrepute. "Nighthawkers, by hoarding the finds or selling them on without recording or provenance, are thieves of valuable archaeological knowledge that belongs to us all. "Even in the case when the finds are retrieved, the context of how and where exactly the finds were found has been lost, significantly diminishing their historical value. "In the cases of internationally important material the loss of the unique evidence that these objects provide on our common history and origins is especially poignant. "By painting a clearer picture of the crime, this survey will help us to combat it more effectively." Nighthawking is the search and removal of antiquities from the ground using metal detectors without the permission of landowners or where the practice is banned. The problem emerged in the early 1970s as metal detecting first became a popular hobby and has become increasingly prevalent. English Heritage said 240 police reports of raids between 1995 and 2008 are likely to be just a fraction of the true scale of the under-reported crime. The study found only one in seven landowners who discovered they had been targeted by illegal metal detector users informed the authorities. Rural counties such as Norfolk (23), Essex (14), Oxfordshire (13), Suffolk (12), Lincolnshire and Kent (both 11) recorded the highest number of sites hit by nighthawking. Researchers also found about one in every 20 archaeological excavation sites are targeted by thieves. Roman sites often serve as a honeypot for thieves and can be targeted repeatedly, particularly after the land has been ploughed. More than a third of sites attacked by illegal metal detectorists (88) were scheduled monuments, key sites of historical interest. Only 26 cases resulted in legal action, with most offenders handed a small fine which in one case was just £38. Dr Pete Wilson, head of roman archaeology at English Heritage, said better guidance is required for police and prosecutors. He said this should outline the best ways of collecting evidence and lead to more successful prosecutions. Dr Wilson said antiquities sellers should be forced by law to prove the provenance of their goods and called on auction websites to monitor items put up for sale more closely.

Are We Losing Our Faith in Tough Times?

This story is from the Times of India, but it could just as well have been St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, although I do not believe the Virgin Mary statutes there wear valuable jewels. But valuable statues have been stolen out of churches - right here in Milwaukee - not this year (thank Goddess) but in the last bad economic downturn several statues were stolen, and several poor boxes broken into and their small contents stolen. How pathetic to steal money from a church poor box! Ask the person(s) who stole from the poor box in this temple in India! Antique jewellery stolen from Shivneri fort temple 21 Jan 2009, 0236 hrs IST, Asseem Shaikh, TNN PUNE: Antique jewellery that adorned the idol of goddess Shivai at the Shivneri fort in Junnar taluka were found stolen on early Tuesday morning. Chhatrapati Shivaji, who derived his name from goddess Shivai, was born here and learned warfare techniques. This is the second such incident in Pune rural in past four days. On January 17, some miscreants dug up the mausoleum of Mastani at Pabal near Shikrapur. They had apparently dug up the mausoleum in search of some hidden wealth, which they did not find. Inspector Rajaram Pardeshi, in-charge of the Junnar police station said the suspects in Shivneri cut three iron grills of the temple window with a sharp object and decamped with a mangalsutra and a nath (nose ring) and some money (totalling Rs 10,725) by breaking open the donation box sometime between Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Pardeshi said the incident came to light after the temple priest Sopan Durate opened the temple on Tuesday morning. There is no security guard posted at the temple during night because it is located in an isolated place at the foot hills of Shivneri fort. Pardeshi suspects involvement of local criminals behind the theft, but Additional superintendent of police (Pune rural) Ashok Morale said it looks to be the handy work of professionals since the grills were cut with sophistication. Morale also suspects role of some mischief mongers since other costly items like the television set and the compact disc player were not touched. The police have intensified patrolling and beefed up security at historically important temples to avert similar incidents. Meanwhile, the Sahaydri mountaineering group has appealed to the Pune rural police to set up a police chowkie at Shivneri for maintaining vigilance at Shivai and other temples in Junnar. Second theft in three years The theft at Shivai temple is the second incident of its kind reported in the last three years, according to inspector Rajaram Pardeshi, incharge of the Junnar police station on Tuesday. Pardeshi said that in 2006 the paduka' of goddess Shivai were stolen. However, the suspects had later quietly kept it back in the temple and hence the Kusgaon villagers did not pursue the matter further. Pardeshi said that there are several temples built during the Peshwa's regime like Shivai, Panchaling, Kukdeshwar, Bramhanath and Khanoba, but thefts happen only in goddess Shivai's temple.

Ancient Sanctuary Discovered - and Robbed

The people who steal antiquities out of their context, forever depriving the rest of the world of the knowledge that the may have conveyed, are akin to the Wall Street big wigs and their ilk who, in their greed and arrogance, have destroyed the lives of countless millions of average Americans. They should be taken out, lined up against a wall, and shot - summarily. Farmer digs up ancient sanctuary in Italy 12/17/2008 10:47 PM ROME – A farmer working his land south of Rome dug up hundreds of artifacts from a 2,600-year-old sanctuary, but ran afoul of police when he tried to sell the ancient hoard, officials said Wednesday. After spotting fragments of pottery in soil dug up by the farmer, authorities searched his home last month and seized more than 500 artifacts, including perfume vials, cups and miniature vases used as votive objects. The art squad of the Carabinieri paramilitary police said the farmer was placed under investigation for allegedly trafficking in antiquities. Ancient artifacts found in Italy are considered state property, and finds must be reported to authorities. Archaeologists said they will continue to excavate the sanctuary, which dates back to the 7th-6th century B.C. and is located outside the town of Aprilia, near a small lake some 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Rome. The find could expand knowledge about the area's history in pre-Roman times, when it was inhabited by Latin-speaking people under the influence of the Etruscan civilization that dominated central Italy, experts said. The pottery, some of which was imported from Greece, was offered to a deity probably connected to the lake, said Stefano De Caro, director of archaeology at the Italian Culture Ministry. "These were poor people, they gave thanks for a good harvest or they prayed that there wouldn't be a drought," De Caro said. "At the time there were no aqueducts, so the lake meant life." He speculated the treasure of tiny, delicate ceramics could have been worth hundreds of thousands of euros (dollars) on the illegal antiquities market. At the news conference in Rome, the Carabinieri also presented artifacts recovered in two more operations conducted last month. During checks on an antiques shop in downtown Rome, officers found two medieval statues that had been stolen in 2007 from a home in the Italian capital, said Gen. Giovanni Nistri, the head of the art squad. Separately, experts trawling internet sites that sell antiquities came upon a man offering a mosaic from a Roman catacomb for €55,000 ($75,000) and claiming it had been donated to his family by the Vatican.After verifying the claim was false, the Carabinieri seized the 3rd-4th century A.D. mosaic from the man's home along with a jug, cups and other ancient pottery and placed him under investigation. - AP

Illegal Antiquities in Chicago - Or Not...

From The Chicago Tribune Loot! Chicago at center of battle between archeologists, collectors A 4,000-year-old artifact turns up at O'Hare. Stolen property or museum piece? By Tom Hundley November 9, 2008 On April 11, 2003, three days after American tanks rumbled into Baghdad and the day after looters swarmed the Iraq National Museum like a plague of locusts, Donald Rumsfeld and the Pentagon press corps enjoyed a little laugh at the expense of Iraq's catastrophe. "The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over and over and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times and you think, 'My goodness, were there that many vases?' Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?" the defense secretary asked with mock astonishment. This was vintage Rumsfeld, and the journalists chuckled appreciatively. The looting would continue for two more days.McGuire Gibson, a man who may know as much about ancient Mesopotamian archeology as anyone on the planet, was horrified by the events in Baghdad and by Rumsfeld's cavalier attitude, but he wasn't particularly surprised. In the months leading up to the U.S. invasion, the distinguished University of Chicago scholar had repeatedly warned the Pentagon and State Department about the likelihood of looting. n The warnings fell on deaf ears. n I had been hearing about the legendary Mac Gibson for years, but I did not meet him until a month after the ransacking of the museum, when I was in Baghdad as a Tribune correspondent and he traveled to that benighted city to inspect the damage for himself.Glass from shattered display cases crackled underfoot as we walked the museum's devastated galleries, Gibson with the aid of a cane, which he occasionally used as a pointer."This chunk of rock is extremely important. We were very worried about it," he said, indicating a 5,000- year-old carved frieze that the looters had ignored. "It shows a guy killing a lion with a bow and arrow. It's important because it is one of the earliest examples of someone acting like a king. All through history, this is what kings do. They hunt," he explained. Gibson, who is 69 and can sometimes come across as ornery, has been sifting through the ruins of Iraq's ancient civilizations for more than four decades. He is president of the American Academic Research Institute in Iraq. His first dig in the country was in 1964, and he has been back pretty much every year since then.After the walk-through, Gibson pronounced his verdict: "We dodged a bullet."This didn't appear to jibe with the mess that I had just seen, but at the time Gibson knew much more about the precarious state of Iraq's archeological heritage than the media or the general public. He knew, for instance, that some of the museum's most precious treasures had been stored for more than a decade in the basement vaults of Iraq's Central Bank. He also knew that something far worse was afoot, that the sack of the National Museum was only a symptom of a much more serious crisis that had been building for more than a decade, ever since Saddam Hussein's defeat in the first Persian Gulf War, a crisis that would soon reach a new crescendo.At the close of the war in 1991, as Saddam fought off insurrections from the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south, the U.S. government imposed a no-fly zone over large swaths of Iraq. This, along with strict UN trade sanctions, created a kind of perfect storm. With the weakened Baghdad regime unable to control large parts of the country, impoverished Iraqi villagers—often with the blessing of village elders—turned to the only source of income available to them: scavenging the hundreds of archeological sites that dot the landscape between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.In some areas, the trade in looted antiquities accounted for almost 85 percent of local economic activity. Meanwhile, a weak U.S. economy at the end of George H. W. Bush's presidency was encouraging the truly rich to look for alternatives to stocks and bonds. Art and antiquities fit the bill. As supply obligingly met demand, the market for Mesopotamian antiquities blossomed. Within months of the war's end, a treasure trove of Mesopotamian antiquities began to show up in the gilded display rooms of auction houses in London and New York, no questions asked."In the 1990s, you couldn't buy a bag of dates from Iraq, but you could buy almost any antiquity you wanted," Gibson said during a recent interview at his musty, book-cluttered office on the second floor of the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.In the years since the first Gulf War, the ransacking of Iraq's archeological heritage has proceeded at a breathtaking pace. If it has slowed slightly in the last year or so, it is only because the market has become saturated. Archeologists have decried this as a terrible loss to all humanity. Museum directors, whose institutions are the repositories for the most important archeological finds, agree. But a war of words has broken out between the two camps. Archeologists argue that major museums and the wealthy private collectors who often sit on their boards have hastened the destruction of archeological sites by their willingness to pay high prices for objects that have almost certainly been looted. The museum directors and private collectors contend that by rescuing these artifacts from the vicissitudes of the black market they are giving safe shelter to the historical patrimony of all mankind.The high-end trade in illegal antiquities is centered in New York and London, but Chicago has emerged at the vortex of the debate. Earlier this year, the Oriental Institute mounted an important exhibition called "Catastrophe! The Looting and Destruction of Iraq's Past." It will run through the end of the year. On the other side of the argument, James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago, has recently published a book called "Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle over Our Ancient Heritage." In it, Cuno reflects on the meaning and origins of culture, and attempts by government to manipulate culture for political advantage. He also suggests that archeologists are a self-interested group guilty of working all-too-cooperatively with the dodgy regimes that happen to rule the territory where some of the world's most significant archeological sites are located.As president and director of the Art Institute, Cuno presides over a world-class art collection that cuts across the centuries from the ancient to the modern. With thousands of masterpieces to choose from, one of Cuno's favorites is a 14th-Century German monstrance, an 18-inch-tall silver reliquary whose design resembles a Gothic church. Its focal point is an exquisite rock crystal bottle that contains a tooth said to belong to John the Baptist. The bottle, made in medieval Egypt during the Fatimid Caliphate, was originally a vessel for perfume. With the collapse of the Fatimids, it probably ended up in Constantinople, and from there was carried off to northern Europe after Crusaders sacked Byzantium—a textbook example of cultural cross-fertilization producing an artistic masterpiece."Here you have a secular object, made in a Muslim context, transformed into a sacred reliquary for the holiest of Christian saints," explains Cuno.The lesson, he says, is that culture doesn't occur in a vacuum. Items such as the monstrance demonstrate what he describes as the "hybridity and interrelatedness" of the world's cultures."My argument is that there is no such thing as autonomous culture," he says. "Culture has never been ethnically pure; culture is not national."Cuno, 57, is a compact man who inhabits a spacious and tastefully decorated office at the Art Institute. Soft-spoken and solicitous, he carries himself with the air of a slightly distracted Ivy League professor. He arrived in Chicago four years ago after stints as director of the Harvard University art museums and the University of London's prestigious Courtauld Institute of Art.Earlier this year, Cuno was on almost everyone's shortlist to become the next director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art after the aristocratic and long-reigning Philippe de Montebello announced that he was stepping down. Although the Met ultimately picked one of its own curators for the post in September, Cuno's book, which features a photo of the heavily guarded entrance of the Baghdad Museum on the front cover and a ringing endorsement from de Montebello on the back, was seen by some as a not-so-subtle pitch for the job. As it turned out, the controversy that has grown up around book may have hurt his chances.The book is a spirited attack on what Cuno calls "nationalist retentionist cultural property laws." These are the laws that virtually every country in the world uses to protect its archeological sites and claim sovereignty over culturally significant artifacts on its territory. Most of these laws are based on the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, which has been signed and ratified by 93 nations (but not the U.S.), and the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, signed and ratified by 111 nations (including the U.S.).Cuno argues that cultural property laws are chauvinistic and elitist, and that governments use these laws to impose a bogus national identity on cultural objects. The result, he says, is that the world's ancient artistic legacy is in danger of being held hostage to the nationalist agendas of petty tyrants. Rest of article.