INSURANCE SERVICES OFFICE AND ART LOSS REGISTER IMPROVE RECOVERY CHANCES OF HIGH-VALUE STOLEN PROPERTY THROUGH ENHANCED REPORTING
New York - November 15th 2002. The Art Loss Register (ALR) and Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) announced today an enhanced property-loss reporting system that will increase the efficiency of reporting the theft of high-value stolen property by insurers. Insurers lose millions of dollars each year to property theft and all but a handful of items are ever recovered. The chances of recovering any unique valuable item are increased dramatically if registered on the Art Loss Register (ALR). ALR member insurance companies submitting a claim for stolen art and antiques via the ISO ClaimSearch(r) platform will be able to provide additional details about any unique item to the ALR without having to exit the ISO all- claims platform. An ALR specialist will review and include information about the loss in the database.
Although called the ART Loss Register, the database has information on stolen items ranging from paintings and prints to porcelain and watches. The ALR has registered over 120,000 unique items - most with images ( for insurers and policyholders since 1991. The database is searched by ALR specialists against 300,000 items each year, either for objects offered for sale or because they are the subject of a police investigation. Insurers and owners have recovered over $100 million of property through ALR database searches. David Shillingford, Marketing Director for the Art Loss Register, noted, "the ALR has always been an obvious service for insurers specializing in fine art insurance but now insurers with broader property books can have items registered through the seamless reporting. The new reporting system also mitigates the need for extensive staff training. "The ALR has detected numerous fraudulent art claims and will increase this capability as more losses are registered," he added. Richard P. Boehning, senior vice president of ISO, said, "this development is further evidence of ISO's commitment to enhancing the value of the ISO ClaimSearch platform for the industry's fight against insurance fraud."
About ISO
ISO is a leading source of information, products and services related to property and liability risk. For a broad spectrum of commercial and personal lines of insurance, ISO provides statistical, actuarial, underwriting and claims information and analyses; consulting and technical services; policy language; information about specific locations; fraud-identification tools; and data processing. In the United States and around the world, ISO serves insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, self-insureds, risk managers, insurance regulators and other government agencies.
Contact:
Dave Dasgupta (ISO) (201) 469-2426 ddasgupta@iso.com
David Shillingford (ALR) (212) 297-0941 dshillingford@ALRny.com
Vienna police confiscate valuable Schiele painting looted by Nazis
VIENNA, Austria - Police on Friday confiscated a painting looted by Nazis from an Austrian Jew nearly two weeks before a major auction house planned to sell it off, media and officials said. The work, entitled "Bildstock, Haeuser und Baeume," (Wayside Shrine, Houses and Trees) was painted in 1907 by the renowned Austrian artist, Egon Schiele. It belonged to an 800-piece collection stolen by Nazis in 1938 from a Vienna dentist, Heinrich Rieger. Rieger perished in 1942 in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. After World War II his collection was never given to his heirs. The police took the painting from the Vienna Dorotheum auction house a day after a Vienna court ordered its confiscation, said Klaus Schachner, a police spokesman. Officials at the auction house refused to return phone calls on Friday. But Harry Neubauer, a lawyer for one of Rieger's heirs, said he planned to bring launch criminal charges once an investigation has identified the painting's current owner. "We don't know who brought the picture to the Dorotheum, but we believe the criminal court will find this out," Neubauer said by telephone, adding that an investigation had just been launched. According to the newspaper Der Standard, it is the first time that Austrian authorities have seized a painting looted by Nazis. According to the paper, the small-format oil painting by Schiele is valued at up to 60,000 euros (US$60,000). http://story.news.yahoo.com/
Man Steals Over 3,000 Books, Tapes
Thu Nov 14, 1:10 PM ET
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) - A man lost his library privileges for three years after admitting he stole more than 3,000 books and videotapes. As a condition of his probation, 85-year-old Ernest Heyneman is not allowed to own a library card or go to any library, said Ventura County deputy district attorney Audry Rohn. Authorities also have the right to search him and his home for stolen property. "Obviously, he has some kind of compulsion and he is unable to stop himself from stealing books," she said. Prosecutors didn't seek prison time for Heyneman in light of his age, his failing health and his lack of a criminal record, Rohn said. Heyneman pleaded no contest more than a month ago to one count of felony commercial burglary. In December, sheriff's deputies raided his hilltop ranch home and found an estimated $26,000 worth of material from the Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley libraries. The retired movie studio employee did not speak during his sentencing in Superior Court but his wife, Emma, apologized on his behalf. "My husband is very sorry, and it is showing in his health because he feels he has let his family down," she said. "This is the first time anything like this has happened. He always has been an upstanding citizen, and has taught his children the same." Library officials described Heyneman as a devoted patron who spent hours at the library every week culling the stacks for information on health and fitness, music and classic television shows. The 24 boxes of books, audiotapes, videotapes and compact discs discovered at his home carried everything from medical books to the video "Milton Berle's Low Impact Fitness for People Over 50."
The materials will be returned, Rohn said.
Unesco moving to broaden its heritage list
Barry James International Herald Tribune Friday, November 15, 2002
PARIS Exactly 30 years after the international community agreed to draw up a list of outstanding archaeological sites, cities and natural wonders that best represent human culture, the UN Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization is considering whether to extend the list to intangibles such as endangered languages, song and dance.. The issue will be discussed when more than 500 experts meet in Venice to celebrate the anniversary Saturday of the World Heritage Convention. It is not without controversy and fundamentally concerns the age-old question, "What is culture anyway?" . Mounir Bouchenaki, an Algerian archaeologist who is Unesco's assistant director-general for culture, recalls that a similar debate occurred when the convention was first set up, with some arguing that sites such as natural parks and landscapes had no place on a list of human cultural achievements such as monuments and cities. . The argument was decided in favor of nature when the Galapagos Islands were chosen as the first world heritage site. . The director-general of the United Nations agency, Koichiro Matsuura, has made the question of adding intangible cultural expressions to the heritage lists a priority. He argues that local languages, music and dance are being trampled out of existence by globalization, standardization, conflict and mass migration. Secondly, he says that expanding the listings is a way of spreading the heritage accolade more evenly around the world by giving poorer countries with few natural or physical treasures a chance to promote cultural talents instead. . Europe and to a lesser extent North America have a disproportionate number of the 730 existing heritage sites, partly because their governments conduct well-funded campaigns to have their sites listed and partly because it is easy to make a case for architectural monuments and cities like Venice. The whole of sub-Saharan Africa has fewer than 60 sites, while Spain alone has 37. . Unesco also argues that some of mankind's most enduring cultural achievements sprang from memory and oral transmission, such as the Iliad or the Indian epics. . "Each time a language disappears, it takes a wealth of tradition and culture with it," Bouchenaki said in an interview. "Culture is not only monuments. It is not only the stones that are important, but what they represent." . He said that to overlook the intangible aspect risks turning heritage sites into architectural and archaeological mummies. . To encourage governments to consider adding intangible heritage to the existing list of physical assets, Matsuura last year proclaimed a symbolic list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity," including polyphonic singing in Georgia, puppet theater in Sicily, the carving of Christian crosses in Lithuania and the Sanskrit theater of India. . Bouchenaki said he hoped that as a result of discussions, governments would agree either to draw up a new convention to protect intangible assets or add them to the existing convention, which would be simpler and quicker. . In either case, the rules would be the same for the intangible assets as for the physical, in which governments propose the places they wish to see listed and an independent committee makes the final selection. Many more are proposed than selected. . Nine sites were added to the Heritage List this year, including the minaret and archaeological remains of Jam in Afghanistan, part of the Rhine valley in Germany and the Mayan city of Calakmul in Mexico. . There is a mechanism to drop sites from the world heritage list if the reasons for including them are no longer valid, but this step has never been taken. . Looting, war, deliberate destruction, industrial pollution, uncontrolled urban growth, mining, land speculation, unchecked tourist development and natural disasters threaten several sites. Unesco has placed 32 of them in a sub-category of endangered sites in an attempt to focus attention on the problems and mobilize resources to deal with them. . For example, the Everglades park in Florida is considered endangered because of suburban encroachments, as is Yellowstone National Park, because of mining developments, road construction and pollution of the Yellowstone River. . Timbuktu, in Mali, is on the list because of invasion by the desert, and the Old City of Jerusalem because of uncontrolled urban development and the negative impact of mass tourism. . Armed conflict in Africa has put several sites there among the 32 in the endangered category. . Katmandu, Nepal, a charming little place when it was selected, has become just another sprawling city and is definitely on the way down, although it has not yet been placed on the endangered list. Heritage status helped confirm Katmandu into a hippy nirvana, but perhaps also helped contribute to its slide by encouraging more people to go there. . Francesco Bandarin, director of Unesco's World Heritage Center, said being listed as a heritage site usually improves the tourist potential of a place. Although the program has an annual budget of only about $4 million, contributed by governments, private corporations and foundations, it has leveraged an estimated $1.5 billion in funding during its history. . The heritage staff at Unesco - about 10 officials - has the role of marshaling and organizing these resources. . Although the idea of creating an international movement to protect the world's shared cultural heritage goes back a long way, the convention arises out of the international effort to save the Nubian temples of the Nile from the flooding of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s and the campaign to save the treasures of Venice and Florence after the great floods of 1966. . "It's a noble, vital force in the world, fostering peaceful coexistence and honoring our past in equal measure with our future," Matsuura said. http://www.iht.com/
Thief swipes sculpture from gallery
ANACORTES - It wasn't the type of art theft you see in movies, where a sophisticated cat burglar dangles in from the ceiling and dodges security sensors to steal a famous painting. Instead, an unknown thief tossed a chunk of concrete through a window Nov. 3 to steal a $2,500 sculpture from the Scott Milo Gallery at Fifth Street and Commercial Avenue. Fifteen inches in diameter, the piece depicts a wolf curled up and sleeping with a raven emerging from behind its ear. The artwork symbolizes the symbiotic relationship between the two scavengers. The bronze sculpture was 85th in the "Woodland Brothers" series by Northwest artist Leo Osborne. A painter and sculptor, he is nationally regarded for his wildlife sculptures. The gallery's owners hope that somehow they'll get the sculpture back. An art collector had already purchased the piece before its disappearance, and now a replacement from the same series must be found, said Katherine Sherman, who owns the gallery with her husband, Chris. "I can't imagine it was an art collector who just had to have the piece," Sherman said. "I can't imagine it being any more than a bunch of pranksters out there." The sculpture was displayed along with several other art pieces on a front window ledge when the thief took interest. Gallery owners and police guess the thief grabbed the piece sometime after 2 a.m. The 8-foot-tall window didn't shatter when the rock came through. But a bottom window panel caved enough so the thief could reach in and swipe the sculpture. "We've never had so much as a pencil taken before," said Daphne Storwick, a gallery employee. Police don't have any suspects and question whether someone would actually try to sell the stolen art.
"It may have struck somebody's fancy and they want to hold on to it," said Anacortes police Sgt. Wayne Korterud. Storwick said the thief at least showed good taste in stealing one of Osborne's unique pieces. "I just hope it doesn't end up in the bottom of a landfill somewhere," she said. http://news.mywebpal.com/
Digging by the book
A new department for foreign archaeological missions was created earlier this year. Seven months down the line Jill Kamil and Nevine El-Aref talk to Supreme Council of Antiquities Secretary-General Zahi Hawass about the additional rules and responsibilities required of missions working in Egypt The creation of new Department of Foreign Archaeological Missions (DFAM) has been sending ripples of concern among non-Egyptian archaeologists. Some foreign missions, even those of long-standing in Egypt, appear to be unsure as to how the rules set out by the new department differ from the old. Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary-General Zahi Hawass clarified the issue in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly. "Applications for concessions for foreign missions to excavate in Egypt remain much the same as those implemented 20 years ago under the Antiquities Law of 1981," Hawass said. "But there are some slight adjustments which have been designed to activate those rules which were not strictly adhered to." Hawass said personal applications for mission members with full details of each applicant had always been necessary for security clearance, along with a fee of LE10.50 to be paid to the Security Department.
"There has been no change there," Hawass said. "And any addition of members to the missions' team after this acceptance is prohibited, as it always has been. Also prohibited is the dispatch of any samples or specimens for analysis abroad -- all material excavated must be examined in the Research and Maintenance Laboratory of the SCA, or in approved alternative Egyptian laboratories. "However," he continued, "some of the laws tabled in 1981 have not been implemented and we are now setting out to ensure that they are. For example, missions are obliged to publish the final result of their excavation at any given site within five years, but this has never been done. Nor has the rule to consolidate the monument[s] on completion of the work been strictly adhered to. As a result many are left open to the elements and rapidly deteriorate." Hawass said the aim of the new department was to enable the SCA to become more involved in the work of foreign missions with the aim of preserving Egypt's heritage. "Until now some have worked in isolation, to do as they pleased, and unfortunately there are those who still put their priority on treasure-hunting," he said. This might be understandable. For one thing, finding objects is much more exciting than consolidating monuments. For another, working archaeologists need to prove to their fund- raisers that what they are doing is worthwhile from an investment point of view, and there is nothing more convincing than a "find", even if only a slither of gold leaf or broken schwepte figure. "What we have to do now is pause for a while," Hawass said. "We need to concentrate on scientific documentation and rapid publication, as well as the restoration of the monuments. The new rules or readjustments implemented by the new department are designed to facilitate cooperation between foreign missions and the SCA, not to make things more difficult for them." Hawass stressed that security clearance had always been necessary for each member of a foreign mission. "But there are now some additional requirements which are necessary because over the last 10 years some missions have excavated in Egypt which were not affiliated to archaeological institutions. This has to be avoided at all costs. Therefore, apart from the applicants' full name, date of birth and nationality, five photocopies of his or her passport, position in the mission, institution of affiliation, and religion must be submitted to the SCA three months prior to the beginning of the excavation season. The source of funding and the amount of the grant must also be declared on the application form for every mission." As for those missions who wish to work at a location close to their concession area, in the Western or Eastern Deserts or in coastal regions, 11 survey maps signed by the mission director need to be submitted to the SCA, also three months in advance. These must be either on a 1:50,000 or 1:25,000 scale.
Hawass pointed out that according to Presidential Decree No 413 of 1998 some few areas of Egypt were restricted, even for research purposes. "These are located at the edge of Egypt's borders: the northern border from Mersa Wadi Lahmi on the Red-Sea coast to Kom- Ombo; the southern border, latitude 22 from the Red-Sea coast to Ashkeet; the western border, from the eastern shore of Lake Nasser, including Kom-Ombo, Aswan and El-Mafarq to Ashkeet on latitude 22; and finally, the eastern border which is the Red Sea coastline. This situation remains," he said. "In order for the SCA to control excavations, each mission concession area must be clearly defined and a specific excavation plan outlined," Hawass said. "Before work begins, the head of the mission is required to submit two reports defining the borders of the excavation area, each signed by the director of the mission and the SCA inspector. No new concessions will be granted to any individual team member wishing to create a new excavation area within the designated concession of the mission but not specified in the original agreement. Nor," Hawass said, "will the working mission be allowed to open new sites elsewhere in Egypt until such time as they publish their current site completely." Hawass went on to explain that foreign missions excavating in Egypt would be granted only one season per year. "Should they request an extension within that year, all the initial formalities regarding application etc. will have to be repeated. It would make more sense, and would be much more convenient, for missions to determine the length of time they anticipate necessary for their work and make the appropriate request right from the start." One of the other adjustments to the original law concerns the renewal of the concessions with the SCA. "Sometimes missions wish to change members of their team, or add to them, in which case reapplication must be made," Hawass said. "It is absolutely essential that we know where the various missions are working, and who exactly is working there. Sometimes missions bring in graduate or undergraduate students, in which case they are welcome provided they obtain permission for study or research at archaeological sites through their university advisers and on the understanding that the SCA cannot grant them an official certificate for the work carried out -- although we are happy to give them brief written recognition."
Hawass pointed out that under the original law missions were meant to send periodical archaeological reports to the SCA in their mother- tongue. "But according to the new regulations an Arabic translation must accompany the original in order for it to be published in the SCA's official bulletin. This will enable our Egyptian archeologists to be fully acquainted with work in progress," he said. In defining the requirements of the new DFAM, Hawass outlined the new responsibilities of each. One is to provide five copies of the mission's preliminary report, written in English, immediately after the end of the season and prior to the mission's departure. A second is to offer five copies of any recently published work on the site, written by the mission, to the department "in order to distribute them to the libraries and museums of the SCA". Third, each mission is responsible for the safeguarding and conservation of recently discovered artifacts and the restoration of tombs and temples discovered. "Any expedition that fails to conserve the findings of their season's activities will not be allowed to further excavate their concession area until that conservation is complete." In addition, each mission must submit a report every three months on the work carried out and notify the secretary-general of the SCA immediately if any discoveries are made. Under the old antiquities law, missions were required to construct suitable storehouses for their discoveries. A new burden will be to provide adequate containers for storing and protecting the artifacts. "Transport from the site to the storehouses or museums will be at the mission's expense," Hawass said. As for the antiquities inspectors, Hawass said these were qualified archaeologists who had undergone the necessary training and that they would, in future, be rotated each season. "No mission has the right to request a specific inspector for consecutive seasons," Hawass said. "On the other hand, any problems concerning the behaviour of an accompanying inspector should be reported immediately to the SCA." Regarding the new policies adopted by the DFAM, Hawass had this to say: "While the SCA does not intend to stop any archaeological mission currently working between Giza to Abu Simbel, no new concessions will be granted for the upcoming 10 years; each is given five years in which to complete work in progress after which, following publication of their work, the SCA will evaluate the result. If it considers it appropriate and beneficial for the work to continue, the concession will be renewed. Otherwise, the only new concessions in the Nile Valley will be for restoration, epigraphic work, and Geographical Information Systems." "There are many missions working on the Theban necropolis whose activities must be controlled and their work evaluated," Hawass said. "This can only be done through the newly organised Permanent Committee for the Valley of the Kings, which has an inspection team checking on the work and which is charged with drawing up a future plan of action for the whole necropolis." Last week the committee embarked on an inspection tour on work being carried out in the Ramasseum and the mortuary temple of Seti I. "What the SCA is setting out to do is to encourage archaeological research in the Eastern and Western Deserts and in the Delta for the next 10 years. These are the sites that require most attention because they are seriously threatened by urban development, agricultural expansion and subsoil water." "Our policy is not to decrease the number of foreign archaeological missions in Egypt nor to make things more difficult for them, but to control the excavations and encourage documentation, publication, restoration and conservation," Hawass concluded. "If this is not done now, 100 years hence most of our marvellous monuments will be beyond repair."
Additional stipulation:
It is absolutely prohibited for any member of a mission to be involved with dealers of stolen antiquities. Each is called upon to yield any information regarding such objects to the Department of Stolen Artifacts. Anyone found guilty of unlawful involvement in Egyptian antiquities will be removed from the excavation, and should Court prove the director himself guilty, the concession of the mission will be terminated. http://www.ahram.org.eg/
Collector's Letter Turns Out to Have Been Stolen from Missouri State University
A William Faulkner letter that was purchased over the Internet last month for $1,200 by a Portland collector turned out to have been stolen from Southeast Missouri State University. To Seth Berner, the short typewritten note was a remarkable find: One of America's greatest literary masters was commending producer Lamar Trotti on his most recent work, the 1943 film classic "The Ox-Bow Incident" starring Henry Fonda. Portland police Detective Richard Swift notified Berner on Wednesday that the letter had been reported stolen from the university's collection, where it was kept in a seldom visited, rare book room that has an alarm. Berner turned the letter over to police, who plan to return it to the university. The letter had appeared on Ebay, the Internet auction site. The school was alerted to the sales by a dealer who knew they were part of the university collection.
"Had I had any clue whatsoever it might have been stolen, I would have not gotten involved with it," Berner said. It was the first time he ever bought an item that turned out to have been stolen, he said. He hopes to recover some of his money from the dealer he bought the letter from, who guaranteed it. According to information provided Portland police, the only people to view the collection outside the curator and library director were a scholar from Japan and a traveling salesman who signed in as R. Smith when he viewed the collection Sept. 27. The library does not suspect the Japanese scholar. The dealer selling the letters said he acquired them from a grocery clerk who said he inherited them from his grandmother's estate, police said. Berner, who has a business that specializes in rare and collectible books and writings, was thrilled to add the letter to his collection, which he keeps in safe deposit boxes.
The signed letter says in part: "I have just seen the Oxbow Incident. It is a good, sound, solid, job, but the dignity of the result, the picture itself, should be enough reward for yours and Mr. Wellman's and Mr. Fonda's taste and restraint, without encomiums and gratulations from outside." "Faulkner was commenting on the relationship between an artist and his art. That's always interesting coming from someone who is himself an artist," Berner said, noting that few of the author's letters become available to collectors. "It's a really shining statement about what art means, made by somebody who made as striking a contribution to literary art as anyone in American letters." http://www.kolr10.com/
Museum visitor steals horn off stuffed rhino
Liela Magnus
Pretoria - Rhino horn does funny things to a person. During lunchtime on Thursday, somebody stole the horn off a prime specimen of white rhino in the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria. At the time there were only five people in the museum four men - and a woman, said Kevin Stey, chief security official at the museum. One of them removed the 80cm-long horn, which the taxidermist had fastened to the head with putty and four nails. Museum director Paul Bayliss said: "We suspect somebody leant against it with his or her full weight, and it broke off." Karin Scott of the museum said the rhino had been part of the mammal exhibit for 25 years. "This was one of the few places where one could stand next to a white rhino and touch it." "The rhino is irreplaceable. It is an endangered species. Only when one of them dies on a game farm or in a zoo, the carcass is kept. "Even if it was possible to replace it, it would cost R150 000," she said. Bayliss said the theft would change the nature of exhibits. "We might put away the originals and use fibre glass replicas, or put exhibits behind glass in future." He said bones are often stolen from the museum, "possibly for muti". Museum staff fine-combed nearby muti shops on Thursday, but to no avail. The museum has offered a reward of R2 000 for the recovery of the horn, Bayliss said. If the horn cannot be found, it would be replaced with a fibre glass replica, Scott said. http://www.news24.com/
Rise in antiquities theft vexes Israel's 'Indiana Joneses'
Looting in the West Bank is a new concern. But the 'James ossuary' reveals a need for continued vigilance at home By Mark Schulman | Special to The Christian Science Monitor
JERUSALEM - Not everyone gets a chance to play on-screen action hero Indiana Jones in real life, but Ron Kehati of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) comes close. Mr. Kehati, an archaeologist by training, is part of the authority's special Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Theft, charged with preserving and preventing the looting of archaeological treasures from Israel's 35,000 known field sites. Kehati and his enforcement colleagues are out in the field every day stopping "bad guys" (aka antiquities thieves) from plying their trade. Working on tips from the police, army, intelligence service, local farmers, and just about anyone else, the antitheft unit investigates hundreds of reports of illegal digging each year. They roam the marketplaces in Jerusalem's Old City looking for ill- gotten goods, monitor auctions, and licensed shops, and set up ambushes at night in hopes of catching diggers red-handed. Looters are not exactly looking for the Ark of the Covenant, but they do turn up precious objects from time to time. Only last month, a private Israeli collector revealed he possessed a small limestone ossuary that may be the ancient burial box of James, the brother of Jesus of Nazareth. The owner of this potentially earth-shattering find, who has been interrogated by Israeli officials, reportedly says he bought it for a few hundred dollars in the 1970s from a dealer who, in turn, most likely acquired it from a professional grave robber. (Some experts dispute the ossuary's significance, and still others have suggested it is a fake.)
Raiders of the West Bank
The bigger problem these days, though, is outside the IAA's jurisdiction, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Authorities in Israel say there's been a noticeable rise in the plundering of archaeological treasures in the territory, where unemployment runs as high as 40 percent and, because of current political tensions, many Palestinians are no longer allowed to work in Israel. "We see the results of the destruction of archaeological sites [in the West Bank] as thousands of pieces make their way to the shops here in Jerusalem," says Kehati. As sites in the West Bank are being emptied, it appears more Palestinians are taking the risk of crossing the politically sensitive "Green Line" that separates Israel from the West Bank, in search of more promising places to dig. A rise in poverty is a likely motive. Last year, the IAA's anti-theft unit reported that it caught a Palestinian Authority policeman digging within Israel to supplement his meager wages. The Palestinian Authority (PA), for its part, set up an antiquities department after the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords with Israel in 1993. But critics in Israel say its ability to stop theft has been limited and that digging continues unabated in many Palestinian-controlled areas. The PA's Ministry of Culture counts some 1,600 major archaeological sites in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the authority has not enacted legislation to regulate their safety. Adel Yahya, an archaeologist with the Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange, recently told the American press that the level of destruction of archaeological sites has dramatically increased. "Places excavated in previous years have been abandoned and are not protected," he said. Some observers have argued that the presence of Israeli troops impedes Palestinian access to some sites.
Palestinians, of course, are by no means the only people involved in illegal trade. Just last month, authorities say they found 15 tons of stolen antiquities in the home of an Israeli man in the coastal town of Caesarea, a discovery that included marble pillars from the Roman period and a Jewish coffin made of stone from the Second Temple period. The man says he found the objects near his house, but an IAA spokeswoman says authorities are preparing an indictment against him. Located on the Mediterranean Sea between Tel Aviv and Haifa, Caesarea is an ancient Roman port city built by King Herod in 21 BC. Excavations since the 1950s have uncovered a wealth of ruins, including city streets, aqueducts, baths, and a harbor, as well as a 5,000-seat theater used even now for plays and concerts. Israel's 35,000 known archaeological sites range from small areas that containing only loose pottery shards to large, fortified, walled cities like Masada and the City of David in Jerusalem. Under Israeli law, trading and exporting archaeological finds, whether found during an excavation or by chance, are prohibited without a license. The IAA grants about 300 excavation licenses a year and only 70 licenses to antiquity merchants. Those caught selling without a license risk a maximum jail sentence of three years. Although few get the full term, several people are serving six months to a year. The penalty may deter some people, but plenty of others seem prepared to get involved in the illegal, yet profitable, antiquities trade. "Most of the time, diggers are looking for oil lamps, pottery, glassware, bronze objects, as well as clay stamps and items bearing written inscriptions," Kehati says. "These objects can go for hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars, and even more if they're found intact."
For the IAA and most archaeologists, the concern is not monetary, but the loss of cultural value when sites are destroyed. Petty thieves, gangs, professionals, and even entire villages are suspected of being in on the raiding act. Often they use sophisticated equipment, such as metal detectors and tractors, to dig deep into the ground, but shovels, picks and axes will do as well, Israeli authorities say.
A history forever lost
"Illegal diggers make a big mess of the sites and as a consequence, they destroy the archaeological record and with it thousands of years of well-preserved layers of history," says IAA spokeswoman Osnat Goaz. "It's very important to know where objects come from in a dig. If not, they lose all their meaning." Home to the world's three monotheistic religions, the Holy Land is sprinkled with sites from the ancient Israelite, Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, and Ottoman periods. Often one civilization is built on the site of another. "There is a big demand in Israel and abroad for all kinds of archaeological objects," says Kehati, taking time from his sleuthing duties for an interview at his office in the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum in east Jerusalem. "As long as people want to put nice things in their gardens and in their homes and are willing to pay for it, the problem is likely to continue." "There are so many sites that it's hard to inspect everything," he adds. "But, we're doing all that we can to catch the thieves." http://www.csmonitor.com/ The Art Newspaper.com
This week's top stories:
LOSSES CONTINUE AT SOTHEBY’S
NEW YORK, BRUSSELS. Sotheby’s reported a loss of $43 million in the third quarter of this year, along with a drop in total revenue compared to the same period last year. Bill Ruprecht, ceo of the troubled auction house, said that the firm had earned less than expected, due to intense competition for high-end consignments. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10350
SAVIOUR OF UNESCO?
LONDON. Koichiro Matsuura, 62, has been christened the “saviour of Unesco” and this is no understatement. Determined, as Director General of Unesco, to adapt the organisation to the needs of the real world, he has managed to restructure it completely in the last three years. Today Unesco not only displays more dynamism, efficiency and financial transparency—"accountable to all State holders”—than has been seen since its foundation in 1945, but it has also persuaded the US to return to membership. This had been a goal since the US resigned in 1985 citing “disagreement over management and information issues”. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10333
NORTH KOREA DEMANDS REPATRIATION OF WORKS
TOKYO. As part of Japan and North Korea’s ongoing effort to normalise diplomatic relations, the two countries signed a joint declaration in September which said that the two countries will discuss the fate of several hundred artefacts from North Korea acquired during Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945. These objects are currently held in the collections of Japanese museums. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10332
VISITORS TO GUGGENHEIM DOWN BY 25%
NEW YORK. The director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Guggenheim Museum, Thomas Krens, met his senior staff at the end of September to discuss the 2003 budget and the finances of the museum. Staff layoffs, reduced museum hours, and changes in the exhibition programme were all suggested as possibilities, according to a spokesperson for the Guggenheim. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10331
ART LOANS TO NEW YORK UNSEIZABLE AGAIN
NEW YORK. A new law allowing the possible seizure in criminal cases of art on loan to New York has self-destructed. The law had three phases. In 1968, New York State enacted an “anti-seizure” statute to encourage loans to New York museums. The law assured lenders that works of art loaned to a museum in New York could not be seized or attached in State court proceedings. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10330
MUSEUM GRANTS RISE BY 1.7%
LONDON. The UK government’s long awaited announcement on funding revealed last month that an extra £30 million will go to the regional museums. This comprises an additional £10 million in 2004-5 and £20 million in 2005-6 from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10313
WORCESTER ART MUSEUM SUED FOR ANTI-MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION
WORCESTER, MASS. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has sued the Worcester Art Museum, alleging that it unlawfully fired a naturalised Afghan-American Muslim on the basis of his national origin and religion using false reasons as a pretext. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10312
HORNY LITTLE DEVIL WLTM STATUESQUE VIRGIN: GSOH ESSENTIAL
LONDON. The Getty museum in Los Angeles has bought a rare Gauguin wooden sculpture, “Head with horns”. Before its rediscovery in 1997, it was only known from its appearance in two monotypes and also two photographs pasted into Noa Noa, Gauguin’s combination of manual and journal. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10311
BOSCH BOTCHED
It is difficult to establish the type of audience to which this book is directed. There is an immediate appeal generated by the great care which has been taken with the wealth of colour plates throughout the book, including many outstanding details of Bosch’s “Garden of earthly delights”, which the book purports to analyse in a novel way. Indeed, such is the quality of reproduction of details from the painting that can be better studied than ever before, almost better than the actual painting itself in the Prado. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=10310 Anna Somers Cocks, Editor
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