Looting
archaeological sites, stealing artworks from museums and ethnological objects
from rural areas have become frequent events the world over. Every day in
countries in the southern hemisphere cases of looting of archaeological sites
or thefts of artworks are reported either by museum professionals or by
villagers who are shocked by the sudden disappearance of an object that was
full of religious significance and formed part of their cultural environment.
From east to west in northern hemisphere countries, in spite of legislation
protecting national heritage, the looting of archaeological sites continues, as
well as the theft of artworks from museums, from all kinds of historical
monuments, castles, public places, and places of worship.
These
abominable acts are endangering our heritage, endangering all the material and
cultural trace left by mankind since our earliest beginnings. Faced with this
threat, cultural and police institutions such as ICOM, UNESCO and INTERPOL are
leading an active fight against the dramatic loss caused by the looting of
cultural property. Important actions are already under way, but the
institutions are constantly on the look out for suitable new measures to
implement.
Making
the public and the authorities more aware of the problem of looting and the
traffic it feeds, has become a major goal today. But the question is how to
reach this goal. Cultural institutions, museums, research bodies and museum
professionals have a leading role to play: in each country town and village, it
is they who must inform people, alerting them to the problem of looting and
trafficking and getting them to react against it.
The
looting of cultural property - a worldwide phenomenon
In
the history of mankind, the looting and trading of cultural property is nothing
new. It was denounced in one of the oldest legal documents in Egypt at the time
of the pharaohs, in the Amherst Papyrus dating from 1134 BC (1). In Western
Europe, it was not long before royal tombs were besieged by treasure hunters.
In Latin America, where ancient civilisations such as the Mayas and the
Zapotecs developed, civilisations that can be compared with those of Egypt, the
traditional term "collector" is always understood to form a
duo with "looter" (2).
The
reason the phenomenon is extremely worrying today is the extent to which it has
grown over the last few decades. Numerous cases of archaeological sites being
looted have been reported in both the southern and northern hemispheres. In
West Africa, illicit excavations on the Thial site in Mali are a prime
example (3).
In Europe, Italy with its great archaeological potential is one of the
continent’s most badly affected countries as far as illicit excavation is
concerned. Every year hundreds of Etruscan tombs are plundered by
"Tombaroli" looters who use an iron bar or "spiedo" to test
and open up the ground (4). Looting is not unknown on the rest of the continent.
In 1992, archaeological items of great value, two marble tombstones and the
capital of a column were illicitly removed from a site in Anavarza in Turkey
(5).
In Asia, apart from the looting of Khmer artworks from Angkor in Cambodia,
which is well-known (6), there is the case of China. According to David
Murphy, who between 1989 and 1990 carried out research on the looting of
archaeological sites in China, about 40,000 ancient tombs have been excavated
illicitly (7). In Latin America, the remains of the Maya civilisation
have also fallen prey to treasure hunters.
Thefts
of artworks from museums have been increasing on a world scale. They reached
such proportions that in 1994 the Secretary General of INTERPOL launched "A
Call for Action" (8). There are no international statistical studies
available on the question. However, according to the lists of objects itemised
by INTERPOL, for instance those drawn up between 1989 and 1993, thousands of
objects including paintings, statuettes made of wood, stone, terracotta or
metal, as well as religious artworks and ancient texts were stolen from
museums, sometimes during exhibitions.
In November 1992, seventeen ancient manuscripts in Arabic were taken from a public
library in Amasya Beyazit in Turkey (9).
In September 1992, thieves stole several icons and a Bible from a church in
Siatista in Greece (10). An estimated three hundred and eighty-five
icons were stolen from Bulgaria during the same period.
A catalogue several hundred pages long entitled Le catalogue des vols de la
sculpture religieuse protégée au titre des monuments historiques (Thefts of
listed religious sculpture from Historic Monuments) and published in 1993 by
the French Ministry of the Interior and the Heritage Department gives an idea
of the scale of thefts from churches in France alone.
In January 1993, seventeen bronze statuettes were stolen from the Karachi
National MuseuminPakistan. In September 1993, several bronze heads
and others in terracotta were taken from Nigeria’s Ile-Ife National Museum.
The same year during an exhibition in Rome, an art nouveau vase (1898-1900)
disappeared. Entitled "Campignons" it was a work by Emile Gallé and
belonged to the Kunstmuseum in Düsseldorf Im Ehrnhof in Germany. Lastly, an
estimated 4,000 items were stolen from Iraqi museums during the Gulf War
(11).
Causes
of theft and looting
A
combination of determining factors explains why the looting of archaeological
sites and the theft of cultural property has been intensifying. The last two
decades have seen an unprecedented growth in the art market. This has now
become an active sector of the economy in which investors try to make large
profits in a short space of time.
An
ever increasing demand by the countries that buy exacerbates the situation,
with disastrous consequences for cultural heritage. The higher the demand, the
more the suppliers of raw material, the looters and middlemen of all types
hasten to meet the needs; and when an object is considered rare, market
speculation is fierce.
Moreover,
the economic climate in poor countries has also reinforced the situation.
Political instability in many countries, the fact that borders are easy to
cross, and the absence of national legislation, or the lack of resources to
enforce it when there is any, clear the way for looting, all to the detriment
of any will to safeguard national heritage.
The
illicit traffic of artworks - a crime against human heritage
Any
artwork, whether it is in essence popular or artistic, is the surest testimony
to the history of a people or a civilisation. It is the stamp left by mankind
in space and time. In this sense it is an integral part of a country’s
heritage. The remains of ancient civilisations that archaeological excavations
bring to light testify to the history of humanity in fields as varied as
technical development, social life, or religious practices, which often involve
remarkable artistic creativity. Thanks to them we can uncover the history of
peoples who have disappeared, whether they have left written documents or not.
However, as far as scientific research is concerned, an artwork can only supply
valid information about the past of the people who produced it if it is studied
in situ, that is to say in its archaeological or ethnological context.
Particularly in Africa, where ancient societies barely wrote, or only very
little, it is vital to have access to material culture so as to be able to
write the history of these societies (12).
As a result, any object that is moved without the necessary precautions being
taken, or without any preliminary study of the environment in which it was
kept, loses all its scientific value and becomes dead evidence. It cannot
supply information on its own history or that of mankind.
Today, researchers are faced with considerable problems posed by statuettes
known as Kissi. These were produced in a limited area around the edge of the
Niger basin in Guinea and present-day Sierra Leone. More than four hundred of
these statuettes are scattered throughout the world and yet not one of them has
ever been found in its archaeological context. Because of this they remain
unintelligible to historians (13). In the same way, a great many damascene
swords looted at the turn of the century from the Luristan necropolises in Iran
now enrich numerous public and private collections in Europe, but have no
specific archaeological interest (14).
Thus the looting of cultural, archaeological and ethnological property is
tantamount to a crime against human heritage. It destroys evidence from the
past, deprives future generations of the fundamental components of heritage and
so erases the memory of ancient civilisations.
The
fight against illicit traffic - a priority for preserving world heritage
The
fight against all forms of looting of cultural property has now become a
resolution that is publicly upheld by international cultural institutions,
particularly ICOM, UNESCO and INTERPOL. These institutions work closely
together on action programmes to support the fight. Their main objective is to
promote safeguarding world heritage, which lives on as the memory of our past.
Different
means of protection can be envisaged for fighting against the looting and
illicit traffic of cultural property. Developing museums as conservation places
for public cultural property, reinforcing already existing security systems in
museums, and carrying out systematic inventorying of the collections in each
museum are among the preventive measures recommended by international
institutions responsible for heritage management and the flow of artworks
throughout the world. To this end their actions focus on three major areas:
training museum professionals, making the authorities more aware of the
problems of conserving national heritage, and also now the priority area of
heightening public awareness so that people in both town and country become
highly mobilised against acts of vandalism in their cultural environment.
In
1970, in the context of protecting world heritage, UNESCO adopted a Convention
on the Means of Prohibiting the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of
Ownership of Cultural Property. The goal was to reinforce international
solidarity in the fight against the traffic of cultural property by setting up
a system of co-operation between States, and ethical standards on the movement
of cultural property. This means that any State Party whose heritage is
endangered by looting of archaeological or ethnographic objects can call upon
the States concerned. The States Parties are committed to participating in all
concerted international operations for applying the necessary measures.
By 1996, eighty-six countries had ratified the UNESCO Convention. They have
recently been joined by France, which along with the United States is the only
major art market country to have done so. Furthermore, the United States has
applied a benefical decree for countries that have fallen victim to the theft
and looting of a specific part of their heritage: bilateral agreements have
been signed with Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Salvador and Mali (1994). These
specific agreements aim to forbid the import into America of any objects from
particular archaeological sites in the countries concerned.
These
measures are very effective when it comes to the ongoing fight against the
illicit traffic of cultural property. It is now a matter of urgency that the
countries that have not yet signed the UNESCO Convention, particularly the
major art market countries, do so.
The same goes for the UNIDROIT Convention, which was adopted in June 1995 on
the initiative of the International Institute for the Unification of Private
Law based in Rome. The convention aims to remedy some of the weaknesses in the
UNESCO Convention. It takes up the principle of "due diligence" which
requires that anyone acquiring an object has to prove they acted in good faith.
Lastly,
there is ICOM’s Code of Ethics, which was adopted in 1986, and to which each
museum professional is committed. The code is totally unambiguous with its
strict rules on acquiring and transferring collections, and on personal
responsibilities as regards collections, colleagues, and the profession. It is
also a tool for fighting against the illicit traffic of cultural property.
Today
considerable progress has been made as concerns national and international
legislation to combat looting and trafficking of cultural property, and public
officials in countries from north to south are increasingly aware of the
problem. This testifies to a strengthening of the will to safeguard the
heritage. However, for greater results in the years to come, concrete actions
must also be undertaken to increase awareness and mobilise public opinion
against illicit traffic as was the case with ivory and furs. In this regard,
the museums that wish to play an exemplary role "in the service of society
and of its development" in accordance with ICOM's definition, must serve
as relays for the diffusion of information on this issue, with the museum
professionals the primary vectors of information.
Notes
(1)
PIERRON Véronique, "L'UNESCO et la trafic des biens culturels", Archéologia,
issue number 284 1992, p.40. VERCOUTTER Jean, A la recherche de l'Egypte
oubliée, Gallimard, collection "Découvertes Gallimard", 1986.
(2)
BRENT Michel, "Pillaging Archeological sites", International
criminal police review n 448/449, May-June / July- August, 1994, p.33.
(3)
SIDIBE Samuel, "Mali's Cultural Heritage : Combating plundering", International
criminal police review n 448/449, May-June / July- August, 1994, p 6.
(4)
PIERRON Véronique, "L'UNESCO et la trafic des biens culturels", Archéologia,
issue number 284, November,1992, p.42.
(5)
Note objets volés / Stolen objects, Turquie, file number : 13649 / 93, OIPC
(International criminal police organization), Lyon (S.G.).
(6)
One hundred missing objects. Looting in Angkor, New edition, ICOM-EFEO,
Paris 1997.
(7)
"Art pirates, Archaeology: The treasures of China's ancient tombs are
being smuggled out of the country", in Newsweek, The International
Newsmagazine, August 22, 1994, p. 36.
(8)
KENDALL R.E., "A call for action", in the editorial issue number 448
/ 449 of the International criminal police review n 448/449, May-June /
July- August, 1994, which is devoted to the looting of cultural property
worlwide.
(9)
Note objets volés / Stolen objects, Turquie, file number : 13649 / 93, OIPC
(International criminal police organization), Lyon (S.G.)
(10)
Note objets volés / Stolen objects, Grèce, file number : 144705 / 92, OIPC
(International criminal police organization), Lyon (S.G.)
(11)
ALBERGE Dalya, "Pst! Un bas-relief sumerien, ça vous intéresse", Courrier
international, n 324 du 16 au 22 Janvier 1997; see also PIERRON Véronique,
"L'UNESCO et le trafic des biens culturels", Archéologia,
issue number 284, November 1992, p. 42.
(12)
DEVISSE Jean, "An authentic picture", UNESCO Courrier, May
1994, pp.39-41.
(13)
KOUNDOUNO Bruno, "La statuaire de pierre dite Kissi", in DEVISSE Jean
(eds), Vallées du Niger, édition Réunion de Musées Nationaux, Paris,
1993, pp. 464-475.
(14)
FRANCE-LANORD Albert, "Le fer en Iran au premier millénaire avant
Jésus-Christ, Revue d'histoire des mines et de la métallurgie, tome I, n
1, pp.76-126.