Red list aims to combat plunder of Cambodia's rich heritage

Cambodian authorities are struggling to stem the illegal trade in plundered artefacts from their country. The looting of ancient sites and temples for saleable artefacts has a long history in the region, affected by widespread poverty and inefficient policing but with a rich cultural heritage. Some experts say the problem of looting has worsened since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1990s, not least because its downfall allowed for its development in areas that were previously off-limits.

Cambodia is renowned for many sculpted temples (including the magnificent religious complex at Angkor Wat, visited by 2 million foreign tourists each year). Numerous temples and sites around the country have been hacked at and dug up in recent years by those looking to make money from unscrupulous buyers of Khmer statues and jewellery.

Heritage Watch is an award-winning non-governmental organization set up to preserve Cambodia's heritage in the face of its wholesale destruction. Dougald O'Reilly, its founder and director says "The level of looting is almost unprecedented with hectare after hectare being illegally excavated and the resulting artefacts flooding the market [...] Soon there will be little left to document Cambodia's prehistoric past". But despite this, the buying goes on.

Road workers uncovered a treasure trove of ancient artefacts 10 years ago at Phum Snay in western Cambodia. Among the finds were jewellery, ceramic pottery and even human bones. But shortly after news of the find got out, looters moved in. Within a year, Phum Snay had been stripped bare and its archaeological worth destroyed.

A new colour booklet (called the 'Red List') has been published by Cambodian authorities aims to teach police and border officials what to look for to try to combat this trade. It is an eight-page glossy booklet listing the types of Khmer artefacts most at risk of being stolen and smuggled out of the country. It was produced in collaboration with the International Council of Museums (and is the sixth of its kind in the council's efforts to combat the illicit trade in artefacts around the world). Protecting every historical temple and site scattered around Cambodia is practically impossible, which makes essential educating those who man the borders about what kinds of Khmer artefacts are now at risk .

The illicit trade in archeological artefacts is driven, particularly in the context of the country's endemic poverty, by the high prices commanded in foreign markets by items such as stone and bronze heads. A paper written by a Heritage Watch researcher four years ago analyzed more than 300 Khmer artefacts auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. It found that the offer prices ranged from 7,500 dollars to almost 30,000 dollars each. Around 80 per cent of the pieces had no known provenance, raising suspicions that they were stolen.

Heritage Watch's O'Reilly says domestic and regional buyers account for most of the illicit demand for Khmer antiquities. It is because many items are small, easy to smuggle and hard to identify as ancient that the Red List may prove so useful, he says. But the experts agree that a single document cannot counteract the demand for stolen Khmer artefacts. Given Cambodia's poverty, its inability to protect many of its ancient sites and its porous borders, the plunder of its cultural heritage is likely to continue

Vignette: Cambodian statuary