Archaeologist Monica Hanna recently received a Beacon Award from Saving Antiquities for Everybody for her work in highlighting the looting of antiquities in Egypt. This article looks at how she used twitter to help to publicise the looting to the outside world.

Monica Hanna

From:
New York Times

Taking on Art Looters on Twitter
By TOM MASHBERGAPRIL 9, 2014

Monica Hanna stood inside the Malawi National Museum in Minya, Egypt, last August, armed only with a cellphone and her Twitter account, as looters ran rampant. Nearly all the objects she had loved since childhood — mummies and amulets, scarabs and carved ibises — were gone. In their place lay shattered glass, shards of pottery, splintered wood and the charred remains of a royal sarcophagus.

The thieves had stolen all but a few dozen of the museum’s 1,100 artifacts, leaving behind some statues and painted coffins that were too heavy to cart off. Dr. Hanna, a 30-year-old archaeologist, sent out a tweet pleading for help. Soon, she, some colleagues and local police officers were hauling the surviving relics to a truck as men fired automatic weapons nearby.
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Large museums in western countries, would like people to believe that they are better custodians of artefacts than the original owners of them – protecting them for future generations to see.

The reality though, is that this perceived status quo is not necessarily the case.

If you follow the link to the original article, there is an interesting info-graphic at the start of it, which helps to summaries the issues in the article.

From:
SAFE

Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Museum collections no better off in developed countries, international survey says

According to 1490 respondents from 136 countries, a survey conducted between June and September by ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) reveals that museum collections the world over suffer from “major” or “drastic” lack of space, bad management, theft, pest infestation, etc. A note at the bottom of the report says: “As a little over 25% of the replies came from North America, these results were analyzed individually and compared to the rest of the world. There was found to be no significant difference in the numbers. This confirms that the results shown here represent the situation of the museums surveyed in all countries.” “Most importantly, we have confirmation that this is not a developed vs. developing country issue: all countries find themselves in the same situation.” Mr. Gaël de Guichen, Special Advisor to the Director General of ICCROM, concludes.
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The two halves of “The Weary Heracles” are to be united again after thirty years. Many questions about the case still need to answered though.

From:
SAFE

Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Two halves of “The Weary Herakles” to reunite, but…

For those concerned about doing the right thing about cultural heritage, the case of the “Weary Herakles” has awaited resolution for the past three decades. Naturally, there is a sense of relief when Geoff Edgers reported that the statue will be “made whole” after all this time, referring to the apparent agreement to return the top part of the statue to Turkey and the rejoining of its two halves. Yet, many questions remain unanswered: When will it return to Turkey? Why now? What about other objects at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts? What about other museums?

This statue of Herakles (who leans wearily against his club after performing his Labors) is a textbook illustration of dubious provenance: ownership attributed to the dealer’s mother who got it from some other dealer before her, right from the start. But, “[t]he best evidence for pillage … is the fact that the upper half of the torso was unknown to the world before 1981,” wrote Roger Atwood in the book Stealing History.
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The Getty’s Aphrodite has now returned to Morgantina in Sicily following pressure from Italy.

From:
SAFE

Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Returning archeological artifacts to local communities: the example of the Morgantina Aphrodite

Aidone is a tranquil, rural town in central Sicily (Italy) that recently has become subject of the attention of international news, having checkmated – so to say – two of the most famous and powerful cultural institution in the world, the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the unscrupulous collecting practice for which the obsession with “owning” an unique artifact overshadows due legal end ethical questions about provenance before the acquisition.

Aidone and its Archaeological Museum are now home of the so much disputed Morgantina Silver Trove, 16 Hellenistic silver-gilt items returned by the MET in 2010, and the Morgantina Aphrodite, the statue repatriated by the Getty in March 2011, both illegally excavated and exported from the ancient Greek site of Morgantina, the nearby archaeological centre, in the 1980’s. The Museum exhibits re-contextualize the artifacts according to the site’s history, as retraced by the various field excavations (Princeton University, University of Illinois, University of Virginia, along with the Italian Ministry of Culture) involved in researching and studying this ancient Greek colony.
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Further coverage of some of the problems affecting Egypt’s antiquities at present.

From:
Sky news

Priceless Objects Stolen From Egypt Museum
3:44pm UK, Sunday February 13, 2011
Juliet Bagnall and Lorna Blount, Sky News Online

Looters appear to have made off with some of Egypt’s priceless antiquities during the anti-government protests of the past three weeks.

The minister in charge of antiquities has reported that 18 items are missing from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, including two gilded wooden statues of Tutankhamun.
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Considering the press coverage that the dispute between Peru & Yale University over various Machu Picchu artefacts has recently received, its interesting that a new book has just come out about Hiram Bingham – the person who removed many of these desputed items int he first place.

From:
SAFE

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Cradle of Gold – Christopher Heaney
(Review by Andrew Vasicek)

In his book, Heaney utilizes an easy, conversational style to tell an interesting and surprising tale of the life and adventures of Hiram Bingham. The reader is treated to Indiana Jones-like stories of the explorer’s travels throughout Peru and of the wonderful discoveries he made. Heaney’s use of original sources is at times inspired and always appropriate. The little tidbits about Bingham and his family are often poignant and truly create a feeling in the reader that one knows the man himself.

At the same time, the reader is shown the sometimes shady underbelly of the profession of archaeology (or perhaps just “exploring”) and its connections to the mistreatment of indigenous people, the illicit artifact trade, and much more. Sadly, these practices date back hundreds or thousands of years, perhaps as far back as humanity has existed in a form resembling that of today.
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Another review of Craig Child’s book about the looting of Archaeological sites.

From:
SAFE

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Finders Keepers – Craig Childs
(Review by Andrew Vasicek)

As it turns out, the author’s title is unbelievably appropriate as it describes the essence of the entirety of the book – a personal reaction to the discovery of artifacts.

Childs sets out to describe the history behind humanity’s need to understand its past. He artfully crafts a story based in part on his own personal, and very diverse, travels about the globe. He tells of grand discoveries as often as simple broken pots. Childs successfully creates a sense that each item has a tale to tell and is valuable for that alone, if nothing else. He also notes the vast disparity between people of all walks of life in terms of how they interact with, and understand, the past as embodied in ruins and artifacts. Archaeologists, collectors, looters, and families all make their appearances; all lending their views on the issues and all are given due consideration by Childs.
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David Hall, the Assistant US Attorney for the District of Delaware, has been awarded a Beacon Award by SAFE for his efforts to prosecute art crimes.

From:
WGMD

Oct 25, 2010 posted by: Mari Lou-WGMD News
District of DE Asst US Attorney awarded for prosecuting art crimes

Two separate investigations ended in the seizure of a fraudulent Andrew Wyeth painting that was to be auctioned and the seizure of Mesopotamian antiquities that were at some time smuggled into the US unlawfully from Iraq. As a result Assistant US Attorney for the District of Delaware, David Hall is being honored with one of 4 2010 SAFE – Saving Antiquities for Everyone – Beacon Awards, for his work as the special prosecutor of the FBI’s Art Crime Team.
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The Greek government is trying to create a Memorandum of Understanding with the US government to help prevent the looting of archaeological sites within Greece.

From:
SAFE

Advocacy
Say YES to Greece

The Hellenic Republic has requested a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would require documentation for cultural objects coming into the United States that may have been illegally exported from Greece. This request is a substantial step toward enabling the US Government to help stop the looting of archaeological sites and cultural monuments of Greece.
Those who are opposed to this agreement have already made their voices heard on the State Department website established for comment on the MoU. We at SAFE feel strongly that the best way to understand objects of Greek history is within their archaeological, architectural and historical contexts, scientifically examined and professionally preserved. We know we are not alone and urge anyone interested in supporting the MoU with the Hellenic Republic to go join us and Say YES to Greece.
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In many ways, the actions of people like Lord Elgin were a product of their time – it is assumed that what was tolerated then would not still be seen as acceptable today. The term Elginisme was used by the French to describe the practice of stealing antique fittings from old houses & in this sense it appears that for the super rich, this practice continues in the same way it always has done.

After the end of the original article, is a response by SAFE.

From:
New York Times

Trophy Hunters With Their Eye on Interiors
By JOYCE WADLER
Published: June 16, 2010

BRAGGING rights for homeowners are fleeting, hard to hold as a fistful of fog. You think your home is special because your backsplash is covered in tile imported from Mexico? There are those who think nothing of dispatching their architects and builders to the ends of the earth to personally scope out far more exotic goods — to the Middle East for the perfect limestone, even as bombs are going off, or to Indonesia for centuries-old reclaimed teak.

For the ultra-high-end contractor, it’s just part of a day’s work.

Consider John Finton, a Los Angeles contractor who is known (at least to his press agent) as “a modern day Indiana Jones.”
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Following on from their collection of films on the Elgin Marbles, World Focus have interviewed Cindy Ho from SAFE about efforts being made around the world today to combat looting and smuggling of cultural property.

From:
World Focus

September 16, 2009
Q&A: Safeguarding the world’s ancient treasures

This week, Worldfocus aired a report by special correspondent Lynn Sherr and producer Megan Thompson exploring the new Acropolis museum in Athens and the controversy over the appropriate home for the many Parthenon sculptures currently housed in the British Museum in London.

The marble artworks were acquired by British ambassador Lord Elgin in 1816 for 35,000 pounds. Many Greeks think that the pieces, which came to be known as the Elgin marbles in Britain, should be returned to Athens.
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The recovery of looted artefacts is often accompanied by many underlying political dimensions – both on the part of the party requesting return & of the current holders.

From:
Democracy Arsenal

March 02, 2009
Stolen Art and International Relations
Posted by Hanna Lundqvist

The looting of art and historical artifacts is often dismissed as a factor in international relations. Having studied art history in college and now working in foreign policy, I feel that when dealing with an issue portfolio that includes nuclear proliferation, war, economic crises, and global warming, the lower priority of art and culture is usually reasonable – however, this does not mean that the problem of looting should be entirely ignored, particularly because of the strong ties between art and national pride. Stolen art is not merely of concern due to the loss of object context for art historians and archeologists or cultural patrimony. Though usually rightly on the back-burner, looted art is a legitimate and often hot-tempered foreign policy issue.
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