Pride Goeth....

This month’s Archaeology Magazine has an excellent article about the fortunate happenstance that led to the cracking of one of the largest stolen antiquities rings in history. It is an excerpt from Watson and Todeschini’s The Medici Conspiracy.

“The main point is that the auction houses, collectors and museums in America, and elsewhere, have always subscribed to the fiction that, if it comes from Switzerland, and there is no photographic or other evidence that an antiquity hasn't been in the ground of an "archaeological country," then that object is "clean." This might be what in spin-doctoring is called "deniability." That whole set of reasoning is exploded by the Medici case.”

Aside: Those Medici’s. *shakes head* If ever there was a mess in Renaissance Europe, you would probably find a Medici at or near the center of it. They seem to have a genetic predilection for intrigue.

This wide reaching ring has effected the highest circles in the Art world, forcing institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, among others, to return dozens, possibly hundreds of items. They can at least claim ignorance having bought the work through dealers such as Sotheby’s and Atlantis Antiquities, who could also claim ignorance of how the seller procured the item in the first place. Most of the items were stolen directly from the native archaeological sites.

What was amazing was this ring was so well established and so arrogant that members had dozens of artifacts in their own homes. One even left a handwritten organizational chart of the ring sitting on a desk in his warehouse.

*Duh!*

The biggest black mark is against the J. Paul Getty Museum, who may have obtained as many as 350 of its pieces illegally, including one of its more famous pieces: the Greek Griffins. In a warehouse raid, investigators found a Polaroid of them in a car trunk. The Getty’s former curator, Marion True, is on trial in Rome for knowingly purchasing stolen artifacts.

Also under investigation is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When investigators raided the apartment of the ringleader, Robert Hecht, they found that the Met had sent him copies of official inquiries from Italian authorities as the provenance of some items in their collection, suggesting that perhaps the Museum was not as innocent and unaware as they claim.

What is sad is that institutions such as these probably make up a small percentage of the final resting place for stolen artifacts, most of them probably ended up in private collections from which they will never be recovered.

What we are seeing here is the last vestiges of the imperial plundering native artifacts from the 19th century. When nations such as England or France took control of a region, they simply seized the art works in the temples and ruins and shipped them back home. Cleopatra’s sarcophagus, for example, rests on the floor of the Mediterranean because Napoleon wanted to decorate his parlor (or something). The Vatican has one of the biggest collections of Egyptian artifacts outside of Egypt (though what the Pope wanted with mummies is a mystery to me). Of a stunning find of Etruscan burial complete with jewelry and a chariot, only fragments and photos survive as all the jewelry and most of the chariot disappeared, probably into private collections. These are just a couple of examples of the hundred of thousands of artifacts that have been looted worldwide.

When artifacts are stolen and vanish into private collections never to be seen again, the effect is academically and economically devastating. Because these pieces of history are simply missing, we are denied a complete picture of what history is. Even if they are recovered, because they have been removed from the site and can no longer be placed in context much of the information an archeologist could have gained from finding them in situ is lost. Such theft affects the country it was stolen from as well. The income gained through tourism and loaning the pieces out to museums around the world (if not the outright sale) is lost. But on top of all that is the fact that it’s just rude. These are pieces of the native population’s cultural history. How would we feel if someone swiped the Constitution or the Liberty Bell and sold them to some private Japanese collector to decorate his living room? It’s a despicable trade and I am pleased to see that these countries are cooperating to really crack down on something that has simply been winked at for hundreds of years.

On a more positive note, check out Archaeology Magazine main page for their “interactive digs” of Sagalassos, a ancient Greek colony in Turkey, and Hierakonpolis. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the Antiquities Act, which spurred the growth of American Archeology.

(Coincidentally, I am currently reading a biography of Teddy Roosevelt which is quite excellent.)

Also a looter feeling the sqeeze showed archaeologists a 2,700 Etrsucan tomb.