Monday, 6 January 2014

Bullets as Tools Enabling the Supply of Antiquities to the Market


The Luxor Times blog is reporting that 1524 objects were seized in a house in
Abo El nomros, Giza:
According to the Minister of Antiquities, the objects were proven authentic by the committee he formed headed by Mohamed Shiha, the director of Giza antiquities. The captured objects include limestone fake doors, statues heads of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses of different sizes [...] and faience ushabtis. [...] they are result of illegal digs by armed groups which explains the 50 caliber M2 machine gun bullets found with the house owner.
Abu El Nomros is on the southwest outskirts of cairo and as I recall is near the region where one of those found with stolen artefacts from the Cairo Egyptian Museum lived. The next question is, will the Egyptian authorities determine who had been buying antiquities from these blokes with guns in the past? How many collectors buying shabtis and sculptures on the international market actually know where they came from and through whose hands they passed? How many care?

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