The Schimmel Collection

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The Turkish government is currently seeking the return of 18 objects from the Ancient Near East Galleries of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (initially reported by Martin Bailey in the Art Newspaper earlier this month, now discussed in the Chasing Aphrodite blog, 'Exclusive: Turkey Seeks The Return of 18 Objects From The Metropolitan Museum of Art', Chasing Aphrodite blog, March 20, 2012.). They all come from the collection made by industrialist Norbert Schimmel (here too). Most of the objects have no documented ownership history other than being in the Schimmel Collection by the mid 1960s or 1970s. As Felch and Fremolino note:

Turkey claims all of them were illegally excavated and smuggled out of the country after the passage of a 1906 law that gave the state ownership of its cultural property. All the contested objects are from the Norbert Schimmel Collection, which the museum has described as “the finest private assemblage of its kind in America” and “one of the most important gifts of ancient and Classical art ever presented to this museum.” Between the 1950s and his death in 1990, Schimmel was a member of the Met’s board of trustees and acquisitions committee. In 1989, he donated 102 objects from his collection to the Met. [...] The Schimmel Collection was published in a 1974 volume entitled “Ancient Art:The Norbert Schimmel Collection.” The editor of the volume was Oscar White Muscarella, a former Met curator who has been an outspoken critic of the role museums have played in the illicit antiquities trade. We’ve asked Muscarella for his thoughts on the Turkish claim and will post his response when we have it. It is interesting to note that for some reason Turkey waited 38 years after the publication of the collecting before asking for the objects back.

David Gill ('Norbert Schimmel as the model collector') notes comments by Shelby White on Norbert Schimmel and precedents for the return of items from the collection to the places they had been removed from (an eye of Amenhotep III, an Apulian dinos ). He also notes Schimmel's role in the funding of the purchase of the Morgantina hoard.


See also: Benjamin Sutton, 'More Antiquities Woes for U.S. Museums Loom, As Turkey Demands 18 Artifacts From the Metropolitan Museum', ArtInfo, march 20th 2012.

Paul Barford: Turkey Seeks Surrender of Part of the Met's Norbert Schimmel Collection Cultural Property Repatriation News and Issues.

Turkey to Reallocate and Deaccession Certain Museum Artefacts

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It is being widely reported by antiquity collectors that Turkey is planning to deaccession certain artefacts held in museum collections. This is significant since Turkish law establishes that found archaeological material is state property, and - since there is quite a lot of archaeological material to be found in the soil of Turkey - the museum storerooms to which this material is sent are becoming overcrowded. It makes sense then to establish a sensible and well-defined accession policy and a means of ethically disposing of anything surplus to it. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has therefore decided

to pass a number of statutory amendments relating to the holding of artefacts by museums. The changes, which were proposed by the Board of Protection of Cultural and Natural Assets and first announced in the Official Gazette on Jan. 19, dictate that artifacts which are not being used by museums can be valued by a specially formed commission and sold. The controversial statutory section now dictates that items which have been brought to museums and have not been claimed by valid owners or put to use by the museums within the period of one year can be sold by the state to collectors following an evaluation process by a commission of experts.

There are of course fears among archaeologists and conservation groups that unless proper safeguards are built into the system, it is possible that this will give rise to an ethos of cashing in on culturally and historically important artefacts by selling them to rich collectors, perhaps foreign, rather than investing resources in facilitating their preservation for the common good.

Many fear such changes could mark the beginning of a mercenary consideration of archaeological finds whereby the financial value of artifacts is placed above their historical significance. The head of the İstanbul branch of the Archeological Association, Dr. Necmi Karul, told the Vatan daily in comments published on Feb. 18 that the changes undermine the most basic of archaeological principles, namely that any artifact from any period of history is part of a shared culture and should, thus, remain as such.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has clarified in a press release that the changes would allow for a better management of museum collections, and rather than selling off antiquities for cash, priority will be given to opening new avenues for the exhibition in other institutes of artefacts which are not being put to use or valued. It will be interesting to see how Turkey puts such a scheme into action, and how many artefacts leaving Turkey with documentation of legal origins as officially deaccessioned objects will be stripped of them by the no-questions-asked antiquities market in subsequent years.

Zaman, 'Controversy over price-tagging of artifacts continues', Sunday's Zaman 22 February 2012.

Minelab Owner on Metal Detecting in Turkey

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I mentioned earlier Peter Tompa's postulated future metal detecting escapades in the "unregulated" eastern Mediterranean. I also discussed the story of the theft of three hundred "site wrecker" depth advantage Minelab detectors which will most likely not be reaching metal detectorists in Turkey just yet. In connection with these two stories, a reader passed along to me a link to a metal detecting forum thread which reveals the realities of metal detecting in this region. One Minelab owner (looks from his shirt and haircut in his avatar photo to be a Star Trek fan) Yalniz Guvercin (may not be his real name) writes07-11-2011, 09:28 PM about:

What I found with Minelab explorer XS (from Turkey):
gold rings that I found on the beach,
silver rings. coins (garrett ace 250 and minelab explorer xs)
I found 250 to ace the gold rings
What I found was not limited to these alone. could not take many photo ... immediately because it usually jeweler selling gold
My English is less than for doing translations Transat google .. I apologize in advance for incorrect translations. (garrett ace 250)

Among the usual congratulatory chitchat, one "Bonesquat" ("Elite Member") observes:

Great stuff you found! You must not have any competition. Nice.

Yalniz adds:

very old history of Turkey. detector to search the ban on turkey. we are doing in secret and at night, call ...

Hmmm. Asked what happens if he gets caught, Yalniz tells fellow detectorists:

imprisonment. at least 48 days. and the detector will be confiscated. We would like to treasure the ban from future

On hearing that, one of the responsible law abiding detectorist - apparently a US citizen from Hawaii - comments:

Arrrrrrrrrrrrg, your a [pirate icon] Don't get caught man! Best of luck to you!

There's "responsible detecting" for you. It's illegal, don't get caught (going out at night), best of luck and welcome to our forum. After a little more halting explanation from the Turk, the Hawaiian adds to his previous comment:

I think I understand. You are able to say if asked you found your items on the beach. I look forward to seeing more of your finds in the future! If you stop posting here I will assume you are in prison.

Once again, no "responsible detectorist" on the metal detecting friendly forum reacted to the notion of "laundering" provenances to circumvent the law. Another "responsible" US detectorist, this one from Claremont, CA reveals the mindset of the milieu:

Too bad about the ban. I would love to be able to detect the grounds around Aya Sofya, or the Topkapı Sarayı. What treasures must be waiting there!

Yes, indeed they are World Heritage Sites precisely to stop greedy oiks going over them with their metal detectors and spades hoiking it all out for their own personal entertainment and profit.

Focus on Metal Detecting: Depth Advantage Detectors Nicked in Bradford

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The British police are looking for a gang of thieves who have on their hands 300 stolen Minelab GPX 4500 metal detectors to get rid of. They were somehow stolen from the trailer of a red and white Renault heavy goods vehicle en route from Ireland to Istanbul in Turkey while it was parked overnight in Low Moor, Bradford. Presumably the thieves knew what was in the trailer as whoever took them must have done so using a large vehicle and it is highly likely there will have been more than one person involved. The combined value of the missing machines is said to be £400,000.

The stolen metal detectors are owned by Minelab, of County Cork, and were being transported from Ireland to Turkey by Turkish agents. The HGV had stopped at a Bradford warehouse but had been parked up overnight on the roadside, close to the Guide Post Hotel. It is understood the Turkish driver slept in his cab and discovered the theft the following morning.

Minelab general manager Sheila Kelleher "said that the metal detectors were a very specialist product, used at the higher end of the market to identify gold nuggets". Well, that's not quite true, is it, because Minelab have been busty advertising these machines with their "depth advantage" as relic hunting tools able to get the goodies out from deeper down. Why does Mr Kelleher pretend they are used exclusively for something else? Well, metal detecting on archaeological sites is not exactly legal in Turkey.

Mrs Kelleher said the theft was of tremendous concern.

It certainly is, it means three hundred artefact hunters somewhere will be having the chance to get themselves a site wrecker metal detector at cut price. If you or a metal detectorist near you knows anything about this theft contact the police, on the non-emergency number 101, or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555 111. Save a site.

Steve Wright, 'Devices used to identify gold nuggets (sic) stolen from truck parked in Common Road, Low Moor', Bradford Telegraph and Argus, Wednesday 18th January 2012

Thread: 'Thieves take £400,000 of Minelabs from a truck', Minelab Owners Forum.

Photo: Apparently the lorry from which they were stolen - parked like that on a busy road? (Telegraph and Argus)

Avenge the Armenians: Steal From the Turks?

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In the blog "Keghart.com", we find a strange compilation of two letters the Boston Globe declined to print in reply to the article by Geoff Edgers about Boston Museum of Fine Arts and a statue: “MFA sends ‘Weary Herakles’ statue back to Turkey,” (Sept. 24, 2011). They were written by two US Armenians Berge Tatian and David Boyajian both of Massachusetts. Tatian (from Newton MA) objects to the return:

[...] It's as if I find a work of art on my property and then go around claiming it as part of my patrimony. The Turk's complaint over looting is pathetic if not laughable when they themselves are guilty of the most egregious crime of looting, that of the properties of the Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians of Asia Minor, after destroying their heritage.

Boyajian of Stoneham MA also objects for much the same reasons:

[...] Turkey has exterminated the indigenous peoples of Asia Minor – Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians – and tried to erase all traces of their existence, while harassing the few who are left. Turkey has destroyed, deliberately misidentified, or grossly neglected most of the churches, cultural landmarks, and villages of these ancient peoples, whom Turks conquered after arriving from Central Asia. Hundreds of such villages have also been assigned Turkish names to erase the fact that these were the lands and homes of people whom Turkey annihilated. [...] Rather than returning the Herakles statue, the MFA should be shedding light on Turkey’s acts of cultural destruction and genocide.

Well, of course this is all about the Armenian genocide of 1915-23, and these two are just trying to entangle the Greek statue in their own quarrel about their own history and identity. We note again the use - so unusually prevalent when reading cultural property arguments written by Americans - the "two wrongs make a right" ("it's OK to steal from the citizens of Turkey because they are all descendants of slanty-eyed culture-damaging monsters from central Asia"). This is the rhetoric of the playground rather than an adult argument.

First of all of course Berge finding an ancient object on his own property in Massachusetts is free to do with it, and call it, what he wants. That is what US law states. That's what US property owners do to native American artefacts found by the thousand on eBay. In the same way Turkish law states certain things about antiquities. The upper half of the Herakles statue was removed in a clandestine fashion, and not reported or subject to the export licencing procedures. it was illegally removed from the site and the country. Those, and no other, are grounds enough for it to go back. In the same way as if Mr Berge had had his car stolen from his driveway, or a Chinese vase from his living room. Its not anything to do with "culture" or "looting", it is theft.

Tatian and Boyajian write as though the establishment of a Turkish nation was the only case ever in world history of population displacement with all that goes with it. Far from it. The process affected my country several times since the end of the eighteenth century. Despite all the historical grievances, the Poles don't go running round advocating stealing from the Russians, Germans, Austrians and Hungarians because of what they were doing to Poland at the time of the Armenian 'holocaust'. It is perfectly natural that villages in the Ukraine which were once Polish now have Ukrainian names, and villages in what was once Germany in the west of Poland have names that can be inflected in Polish and not their original German names which often cannot.

Likewise maybe Tatian and Boyajian would like to give us a list of the preserved places of worship, burial grounds, cultural landmarks, and villages of the ancient peoples who the colonists found here (the Wampanoag tribes) which are the traces of the existence of these peoples and their cultures in Massachusetts (which of course has territorial boundaries entirely coterminous with those of the native groups living there before the colonisation). And where are the thousands of Wampanoag tribesmen? The ones that survived the so-called King Phillip's War? The Narragansett, Wampanoag, Podunk, Nipmuck ? And of course "Newton" and "Stoneham" have well-obvious Wampanoag etymology, don't they?

What, given their own history of cultural replacement, do Tatian and Boyajian imagine gives the people of Boston, MA any right to keep foreign stolen artefacts on the grounds which they cite?

Vignette: The Wampanoag, cultures and communities gone before the Trail of Tears.

Turkish Repatriation Through Archaeological Eyes

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There is a rather pedestrian interview with a Turkish archaeologist Professor İnci Delemen, assistant director of the Perge excavation team, which is probably more of interest to the coiney opposition: Barçın Yinanç, 'Return of ‘Herakles’ a victory for Turkey’s cultural heritage', Hürriyet Daily News, September 30, 2011.

Turkish Looters Caught Just in Time, or Too Late?

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The blogs have been a-buzzing with a recent 'find' from Turkey. A tomb with nice masonry, wall paintings and a chunky carved sarcophagus in the chamber. What is more associated with a known historical personage. Whoopee. But if we take a closer look after the initial excitement fades, a number of questions arise. While the layour of this tomb is still far from clear from the published accounts, we may glean some interesting information from the photo galleries already published (see the references to those given in a comment by Yasar Ersoy on David Gill's Looting Matters blog ) some of which I reproduce below.

The first point is that it turns out that this tomb lies actually under the podium of a temple of Zeus Carios in Milas, a place mentioned in the tourist guides: "the suspects had dug two tunnels— 6 and 8 meters (yards) long, from the house and an adjacent barn, leading to the tomb that is buried some 10 meters (yards) deep" (Turkey Discovers Ancient Underground Tomb), so right under the noses of the antiquities police. That's a lot of earth to shift - where did they put it all without being noticed?

Why on earth did they dig a tunnel 10 metres down ? On the off-chance it would hit something? How did they know there was going to be anything worth robbing here? Or were they just rash and lucky?

The antiquity dealing lobbyists want to see looters as "finders" and just ordinary blokes driven by poverty to do a bit of "subsistence digging". Is that the case here? Hardly. One of the "tunnels" (actually a shaft) comes down exactly in the middle of the burial chamber over the sarcophagus. Now somebody tell me how eight 'ordinary blokes' having dug into a tomb by luck in an adjacent house can marry the measurements taken in the dark underground with the tangle of walls above ground to place that hole so precisely. "Ordinary blokes" with a tape measure, sticks and string?

According to an article "Turkey Discovers Ancient Underground Tomb " Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay described what he saw at the site last week as:

"not an ordinary treasure hunt. It is very organized and it is obvious that they received economic and scientific help", [...], adding that Turkey also would investigate the suspects' possible overseas links.

This is raised by the question of the equipment used:

They used sophisticated equipment to drill through the thick marble walls of the tomb and were working to remove the coffin from the underground chamber when they were detained, according to the Culture Ministry. [...]

This can be seen in the photo gallery attached to the article: Ahmet Bayrak et al. 'Son 100 yılın en önemli keşfi yerinde sergilenecek' Milliyet 12 August 2010)





A core-cutting tubular drill was used to tunnel through walls to investigate what was behind them.









and used to make a hole in the shaft in the roof of the burial chamber


Here they were obviously going to cut through the side wall.

Another point is this has apparently been going on some years. In one of the earlier accounts I read, I came across a note that among the material the robbers had tsken into the tomb and later found by police was a bottle which had an expiry date of 2005 on it (I cannot fnd it now, but am sure I did not imagine it). While this could have been reused after emptied, it could also suggest a version of the story in which the tomb was in fact discovered more than five years ago. Ministry officials suggest that "several treasures that would have been placed in the underground tomb were most likely looted by the treasure hunters and sold in the illegal antiquities trade".

View down one of the vaulted passages, note the heaps of soil along the walls.Now where did this soil come from? Is it material washed into the tomb after the burial, or did this magnificent tomb simply have a beaten earth floor? Nevertheless it is clear that before the police entered this tomb, the material on the floor had been gone through to recover any collectable items, though at the same time destroying any evidence about where items had been placed in the tomb and what else was in it.

One of the photo galleries includes a shot of a (pierced) Byzantine gold coin, with no indication whether it was found in the tomb (evidence of later intrusion), in the soil on top of the temple platform, or in the houses of the looters.

The picture that seems to be emerging from the early reports is a gang which had come together (after all if a couple of guys stumbled acrosss the tomb, why involve six other people?) to make some money out of the discovery. It is possible that they had 'academic' help actually locating the tomb buried deep below a 3.5m tall masonry platform of a later temple in the first place. It is unclear whether the tomb had been opened in the past (earth on the floor, apparently a smashed coffin lid). The current looters had possibly been working in the tomb for several years, clandestinely putting an unknown number of objects of unknown type on the market, presumably somewhere along the line somebody suggesting to buyers that they come from some unnamed "old collections". These objects have so far passed unnoticed to buyers who asked-no-questions, now we will have to work hard to try and identify them and those dealers and collectors who handled them. Anyone who handled rich items of "Greek type" but of unknown provenance in recent months should fall under suspicion.

The Turkish ministry surmises (or perhaps received information) that having emptied the tomb of its smaller items, the gang turned its attention to the richly carved sarcophagus, worth a couple of thousand green ones on the no-questions-asked market no doubt. Possibly they already have a buyer who is sitting waiting for them to get the object out. maybe they saw it only on a video, or maybe they secretly paid a visit to the tomb recently accompanied by teh gang and agreed a price. But how to get it out? It was probably inserted there using a ramp, and the tomb built around it. Obviously this process could not be reversed under the noses of the townsfolk and antiquities police. It seems to me that cutting the access shaft above the sarcophagus was connected with lowering and operating heavy (diamond-bladed?) cutting equipment which was to cut this magnificent sculpted monolith into smaller pieces to be passed out through a tunnel (the robbers having started exploring where they could dig such a tunnel by drilling throught the tomb walls, or perhaps they were going to use the existing access tunnels). The pieces would be smuggled out to Florida, Tokyo or Dubai or wherever where very probably the buyer is already waiting for it. The question is is somebody waiting for a full sarcophagus or are four different buyers waiting for four relief scenes?

The men accused of looting are taken away for questioning. One commentator has said "if I ever come across the people who looted this tomb, I will string them up and torture them". Let us hope that whatever does happen to these men, that the opportunity is taken to get every piece of information from them possible about what was taken, where it went, who they had been in contact with abroad, and who was interested in buying the sawn-up sarcophagus.




The pro-trade lobby suggests that the problem with looting is the lack of something like "the British PAS system" in place in the "source countries". How can this apply to the present case for example? Would the gang of eight report the find to the Turkish PAS for a reward? What kind of reward? The full market value of everything which the tomb contains (including what they could get for sawing up the sarcophagus - and what about dismantling the slabs with the wall paintings)? These are not "finders" but a gang of looters who seem to have been working to order. How would a PAS-type system stop this? We have seen that the collectors that "support" the British scheme when it suits them in fact completely ignore its existence in their purchases (for example here). It is not in the market's interest that the exploitation of this tomb is stopped and the archaeologists move it - that way there is nothing to sell, no grave goods, no "king's skull with diadem, full teeth", no sawnup bits of sarcophagus. Who would pay for rewarding the "finders" in a case like this, where would the money come from?

Surely here another approach would be more effective, how is it possible that the ill-dressed blokes in the picture above could manage to put on the market items from a newly-discovered tomb and NOBODY NOTICED? Surely what we need is to ensure full transparency of the trading of arcaeological objects so that the moment something of unclear origin comes onto the market, it provokes instant examination of the circumstances. This, and only this, is the way to fight looting. If the antiquities trade has nothing to hide, then why are they so adamant on hiding it? Cases like this one show the profits to be made by nobody asking any questions.

Photos: The photo credits can be obtained from clicking on the links in their capttions, they come mostly from two online galleries from the Turkish media.

Eight Tomb Robbers Arrested in Turkey

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Last week in Turkey it was announced that the arrest of some illegal antiquity traders who they had been shadowing for seven months has revealed they had been taking artefacts from an especially significant site. The artefact hunters had been plundering the previously undiscovered tomb of a fourth-century B.C. king. State security officers discovered a clandestine excavation near Bodrum being conducted by as many as eight culture thieves, and in it was found the grave of King Hecatomnus who died in 377 BC (the father of King Mausolus, ruler of Caria, whose tomb was the better-known Mausoleum at Halicarnassus nearby). In the tomb was found a remarkable sculpted sarcophagus 2.75 meters long and 1.85 m high, hailed as "one of the most important archeological discovery in modern times".


MİLAS - Doğan News Agency, 'Illegal excavation reveals an important discovery', Aug 8th 2010.

See also The History Blog, 'Looters lead Turkish police to undiscovered tomb of king', Monday, August 9th, 2010.

Looting Matters: Looting in Caria.

There is a currently a video here of the men being led away by burly Turkish policemen and some of their grave looting equipment, as well as shots inside one or more of the tombs.

Michael Müller-Karpe Still Fighting the Good Fight

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As may easily be observed, portable antiquity collectors can get quite vitriolic about those they see and portray as their opponents. In the latest edition of the US-based "Coin News" is an (anonymous) and insulting article ["„Close to mental confusion“ – a German court on Michael Müller-Karpe’s private crusade"] which seems to be based on material sent by German dealers - from the Arbeitskreis Kunsthandel which jubilantly recounts how a Philistine (unnamed in the media) judge in the administrative court allowed himself ("IM NAMEN DES VOLKES") a few rude comments about archaeologist: "Dr. Michael Müller-Karpe self-appointed crusader in the name of cultural property protection". The court case went against the Hessian authorities who had seized as illicit antiquities some prehistoric bronze bowls apparently bought from an Armenian carpet dealer in Turkey by a holidaying couple and then sold to a Frankfurt art dealer. The Arbeitskreis Kunsthandel adds:

For years Michael Müller-Karpe has been accusing the antiquities trade of dealing in stolen and smuggled goods. Despite having been proved wrong on several occasions (as in the case above) he continues with his groundless attacks.[...] The German art trade and collectors hope that the irrational and resentment-based crusades of the archaeologist in Mainz against collecting and dealing in ancient art will now cease.

I bet they do. What is really odd though is the way they report the matter in dispute: "At the same time, the archaeologist claimed damages of 17 million Euros in total for himself and for the Zentralmuseum in Mainz for defamation". No, not for "defamation", perhaps US coineys, the ones that can read German, would like to read for themselves around the topic in the German media and see what the fuss really was (and still is ) about. They really should not allow themselves to be spoonfed misleading and incomplete reports by those whose interests are in no-questions-being-asked. The question is a by-now familiar one of archaeological and museum professional ethics.

They could start with Matthias Thieme, Rechtsbruch mit Räucherkesselchen" [Frankfurter Rundschau 07.08.2010], or Daniel Gerlach, "Eine gordische Affäre" [Zenithonline, n.d.]. By the way, the coin news version of the German antiquities' dealers press release concentrating on the verbal abuse misses out the most important part, in fact about half the original document, detailing the actual verdict. In fact it is the part of the document containing the rebuke, and makes clear the remarks refer to a letter of 10th May 2010 which went out under the letterhead of the RGZM and what the occasion for those remarks was. This is quite typical of the milieu, satisfied with a mere slanging match than any real discussion of the nitty-gritty.

On his blog of course Peter Tompa is typically vindictive ("German Cultural Property Crusader Gets Rebuked" ). Rebuke is about all the antiquities trade lobby can hand out these days instead of real arguments, that it's from a judge in an administrative court really need not excite us, I've had a few dealings with them in my own professional work and cannot say they are my favourite people. Echoing the German dealers, Tompa writes (note the terminology):

One wonders whether there will be any further ramifications for Müller-Karpe. Hopefully, the ruling will act at least some disincentive for his brand of cultural property vigilantism.

Obviously he's not read the Frankfurter Rundschau article. The question is whether the police will turn up in the German museum professional's office on Monday with cutting equipment.

Photos: Muller Karpe and three of the bowls, photos from Frankfurter Rundschau

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"Can't be trusted" to express an opinion on the origin?

I was not initially going to write about this gold pot seized by German customs. Nathan Elkins has covered it quite well here and here (and clarified what was to me initially a somewhat unclear account in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). However following on from this, an opinion has been expressed which deserves comment). Its from the Washington lawyer again, the one with an apparent irrational but pathological hatred of anything with a name that begins with the letters "archaeolo...". In his text "Recalcitrant archaeologist embarrasses German Police", Cultural Property Observer writes:

"Muller-Karpe is certainly well-known in Germany for his anti-collector and anti-trade views. Thus, it is a bit surprising German customs ever viewed him as someone who could be trusted to provide an independent opinion on the origin of
the vessel in question".

Regardless of the actual circumstances here, what a bizarre statement to make. I wonder to whom Mr Tompa would have had it taken by the German authorities. The Munich (coin) dealer Münzhandlung Hirsch Nachfolger which was trying to sell it claims it is from Iron Age Troy (but presumably, since this case is dragging on has not been able to document that). The attempted sale was challenged in 2005 and the object seized by customs on the grounds that the object was of a type suggesting it was in fact from Sumerian Ur. Michael Müller-Karpe at the Römisch-Germanische Zentralmuseum in Mainz is a specialist in the metalwork of the region, and the co-author of a 1993 work: Metallgefässe im Iraq I (Von den Anfängen bis zur Akkad-Zeit), Prähistorische Bronzefunde, Abteilung II, Band 14. So I'd say he was a suitable person to express an informed opinion on the origin of the object. In the same way US customs officers call on coin dealers such as Wayne Sayles to give expert opinions on numismatic objects stopped at the border.

Why should an archaeologist who is clearly a competent specialist in Near Eastern archaeology not be "trusted" to give an independent opinion on the origin of the vessel in question? Why should we "trust" an antiquity dealer any more?

"Just who did you say you got those artefacts from?"

The shocking reports of a wedding massacre on Monday at Sultankoy in soon-to-be-EU member Turkey were very disturbing. Preliminary reports suggest it was the consequence of an ongoing feud between two families which seems in turn (at least according to the Guardian) to have had its roots in a conflict between the Turkish militia groups. This led me to wonder about the connection between these militia groups and the smuggling of antiquities (etc.). 

I was reminded of Samarkeolog’s post made a year ago “Illicit antiquities trade: source, transit, market, mafia” on the on the “Human rights archaeology: cultural heritage and community” blog. This makes a few interesting connections and really should give pause for thought to all who handle ancient objects (such as coins) coming from this part of the world too. Into whose pockets is the no-questions-asked antiquities market putting money? Even if our various law-enforcement authorities are relatively unconcerned about the heritage issues, perhaps the apparent connections between this type of activity and other illegal (and more socially damaging) activities should, unless dealers and collectors do not 'clean their act up', lead to official concern and action.

Visualisation: The heroin transportation route running through several of the "source countries" for the ancient artefacts currently entering the no-questions-asked market. Its European leg, nicknamed "the Balkan route", passes through Turkey and the Balkans.

PS: You remember the insistence of US antiquities dealers that "Iraqi artefacts are not reaching the US markets"? Well take a look at the map and deduce one of the conclusions one might draw from that statement if true (though for reasons I have stated here, I do not believe it is). To be fair though, the map shows the situation before the US-led invasion which opened up Iraq to all sorts of illegal activity which was not going on before that to the same degree, so perhaps a newer map would show the drug trade routes going through that country now rather than around it.

[The map ultimately comes from here: Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (March 1998). "Europe and Central Asia: continuation, part 3". International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1997. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State. http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1997_narc_report/europ97_part4.html].