Egypt Looting: Ongoing

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A certain group of American collectors of dugups have their 'Witschonke Premise'. This view, most forcibly expressed by the eponymous ANS curatorial associate and good old pal of Roger Bland, runs that if a nation's archaeological heritage is being plundered and that nation cannot cope by itself to deal with the problem, the Americans should refuse to have any part in helping them. The Witschonkians of the collecting world therefore will no doubt (if they read French) be rubbing their greedy little collecting hands with glee at the Le Monde report by Claire Talon "Pilleurs d'Egypte" (LeMonde.com, 11.03.12) which highlights just some of the problems facing Egyptian archaeology in the current political and economic situation after the 2011 January Revolution. Among them are outbreaks of heavy looting, for example in Aswan.

A un millier de kilomètres de la place Tahrir, la révolution égyptienne n'a eu qu'un écho lointain. [...] Mais elle a réveillé les espoirs d'une foule hétéroclite de pilleurs de tombes et de trafiquants qui, depuis un an, se pressent sur la "coupole des vents", une colline rocheuse qui abrite les tombes des dignitaires de l'Ancien Empire et des sépultures romaines. "Depuis la révolution, les gens creusent comme des fous sur la rive occidentale d'Assouan, confirme Adel Kelany, inspecteur au Conseil suprême des antiquités de l'Egypte (CSA). Des trafiquants professionnels, mais aussi de simples habitants. Ils deviennent fous quand ils trouvent une tombe, c'est plein de momies ! Dans le vieil Assouan, ils creusent dans leurs maisons des tunnels de neuf mètres de long... dans le granit. La plupart du temps, ils ne trouvent rien, quelques poteries, mais ça fait beaucoup de morts [...]

So they are not, as dugup collectors commonly would have it, making too much out of the scrap metal from coffin nails then...

And there are - among other places - an awful lot of loose ancient Egyptian thingies on sale on V-coins these days. Mostly small geegaw things, the sort of item you do NOT see scattered on the ground beside the gaping holes left by looters. Most of them pocket-size for easy portableising. Have a look at those V-coins dealers (dont trust their search engine it does not show half of it) and see just how many up front have information about collecting histories and export procedures followed.

Of course these dealers would argue that there is no connection between no-questions-asked collecting and the trade in illicitly obtained antiquities. Is that so?