On Tue, 20 Dec 1994 08:18:00 -0700,
Amy Douglass  <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Every nation, in my view, has a right to preserve its own cultural
>patrimony regardless of whether that heritage bears a direct link to
>the population currently residing in that country . . .
>It's precisely the kind of attitude exhibited in Mr. Baron's reply that
>has led to so much looting in this country and elsewhere:  "Well, it's
>not a part of my prehistory so why should I care?"
Friends, In light of this discussion I thought you may be interested in the
following fwd. from Rick Hauser, a colleague at KTCA-TV in Saint Paul.  Jim
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fw: Bid to stem trade in plundered Iraqi artifacts
Sender: [log in to unmask]
 
        BAGHDAD (Reuter) - Western scientists have gathered in
Baghdad despite the disapproval of their governments to try to
halt trafficking in antiques from Iraq which have been either
illegally excavated or plundered from musuems.
         ``We are professionally concerned with the critical
situation of archeology in Iraq,'' said Professor Hideo Fujii of
Japan's Kokushikan University.
         ``The antiquities trade is a multi-billion dollar industry.
There is a flood of Near Eastern antiquities in the market and
the value of Mesopotamian objects is ballooning,'' said
Professor McGuire Gibson of the Oriental Institute, Chicago
University.
         The group plan to distribute a comprehensive list of the
looted objects to auction houses to try to stop the trade.
         The scientists, from the United States, Britain, Italy,
Japan, Spain, Germany, Austria and France heeded a call by
Iraq's Antiquities Department in which it said it was lacking
resources to safeguard Iraqi antiques.
         Some of the archeologists, who declined to be named, said
their respective governments had discouraged them from visiting
Iraq, which is the subject of crippling U.N. sanctions following
its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
         Muayaad Saeed, the department's head, told the scientists he
had reports of clandestine excavations underway at several
ancient sites in Iraq.
         To safeguard his 10,000 registered archeological sites, he
said he only had 600 guards and two cars. He said the U.N.
sanctions denied him spare parts for vehicles and chemicals
needed to treat antiques.
         He added: ``More than 4,000 objects some of which are major,
even famous pieces of ancient art have disappeared from Iraqi
museums.''
         He said thousands more pieces were being dug up illegally of
which he had no record.
         Whole collections from 11 provincial museums disappeared
after the 1991 Gulf War, when a U.S.-led force ousted Iraq from
Kuwait and sparked uprisings in the Shiite south and Kurdish
north of Iraq. Saeed said none of the items has been recovered
so far.
         ``We are afraid that the loss of these antiquities may have
serious consequences on our studies,'' said Fujii.
         Iraqi archeologists have compiled a photographic exhibition
of some of the magnificently decorated figurines, ceramic jars
and vessels, copper adzes, bowls, plaques and vases which they
said have disappeared from government museums.
         Among the most prized objects is a 3,000 B.C. limestone
statue of a female worshipper, with hands clasped.
         ``It is priceless,'' said one Western scientist.
         John Curtis, Keeper of the Department of Western Asiatic
Antiquities at the British Museum, urged application of what he
termed as ``strictures'' that will not allow any of stolen
artefacts to be kept in a ``respectable collection'' in the
world.
         To curb illegal trade, scholars from the U.S. and Britain
have already published two huge volumes, giving descriptions of
stolen items dating to Mesopotamia, ancient Iraq.
         Smugglers of antiquities, if convicted, face death by
hanging in Iraq and unauthorized diggers can be sentenced to at
least one year in prison.