Blood Antiquities: The Afghan Taliban and the Ancient Artefacts they've Sold

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Fox News: Afghan Taliban Hang 7-Year-Old Boy to Punish Family
June 11, 2010. And which ancient coin collectors have coins in their homes from John Rieske's so-called "Taliban Hoard" allegedly sold by these people to raise revenue for their activities? What "stories" lie behind all those dugup ancient artefacts collected "no-questions-asked" from those supplied by law-breakers and sometimes organized criminal gangs?

Collectors of ancient artefacts do not know where they come from. They shut their eyes to the consequences of not knowing where their artefacts came from, whose hands they passed through, what activities the funds raised were being used to support. They delude themselves that every time they buy an ancient dugup artefact no-questions-asked they are doing everybody a good turn by providing an artefact with a "good home", that their money might be feeding somebody's starving family. That this particular object "most probably/must have" come from an "old collection" and not some criminal-funding archaeological looting spree. That's what they prefer to think. So much so that they "prefer to think" this more than insisting on finding out the true facts before buying.

Nevertheless many collectors today have blood antiquities in their proudly displayed collections. Which ones? They'd rather not know.

Vignette: Antiquity collectors prefer to keep what they call "politics" out of their discussion lists, they want to ignore the social and political context in which collecting exists, it is more comfortable that way. But is is realistic?

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