MoUs: Italy Renewed; Egypt Still Pursued; Cambodia and Belize Get a CPAC Interlude

United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Treasury Department have promulgated rules, effective today, that extend import restrictions on archaeological material originating from Italy.

First erected by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the U.S. and Italy in 2001 and subsequently refreshed in 2006, 2011, and now 2016, the import barriers seek to deter cultural property looting and trafficking by denying entry to endangered pre-Classical, Classical, and Imperial Roman artifacts bound for the American marketplace.

The import barriers result from Italy's request for American assistance pursuant to Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Under import regulations authorized by the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA), certain categories of 9th century B.C. through 4th century A.D. antiquities, armor, mosaics, jewelry, sculpture, and other archaeological material from Italy may be seized by CPB if trafficked across the U.S. border. The designated list of objects subject to the legal restrictions can be found here.

Italy asked for the latest MoU renewal in February 2015, and the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) met in April last year to weigh the matter. The renewal process concluded within a usual time frame. By contrast, Egypt's first and only request for an MoU with the U.S. seems to have stalled without explanation.

Egypt asked CPAC to consider enacting protective import measures in April 2014, attracting a variety of public comments from preservationists, ancient coin collectors, the Association of Art Museum Directors, and other stakeholders. Yet despite CHL's admonitions in June 2011 and July 2013 for emergency legislation to protect at-risk Egyptian material, followed by a call in March 2014 to implement CPIA import restrictions "with all deliberate speed," import regulations covering ancient Egyptian artifacts still have not been approved.

CPAC, meanwhile, will be meeting in executive session next month for an interim review of MoUs covering jeopardized archaeological material from Cambodia and Belize, both approved in 2013. Public comments will be solicited at a later date should either agreement be considered for extension.

Photo credit: Matthew Strickland

Text copyrighted 2016 by Cultural Heritage Lawyer, a blog commenting on matters of cultural property law, art law, cultural heritage policy, antiquities trafficking, and museum risk management. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of any blog post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited. CHL is a service of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, Inc.

Culture Under Threat Conference in Cairo: Red Arch Raises Important Questions Posed by U.S. Imports of Art, Collectors' Pieces, and Antiques

Why did the declared value of U.S. general imports of antiques over 100 years old from Syria climb 133% between 2012 and 2013, from approximately $4.7 million to $11 million?

Why did the declared value of U.S. general imports of antiques over 100 years old from Iraq skyrocket 1302% between 2009 and 2013, from $322,564 to $4,523,126?

These were some of the questions posed by Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research at an historic international summit held in Cairo on May 13 and 14.

Antiquities Coalition co-founder and Red Arch board member Peter Herdrich
(far left) stands with delegates and organizers of the Cultural Property Under Threat conference.
Antiquities Coalition Chair Deborah Lehr (7th from right) spearheaded the historic gathering.

Titled Culture Under Threat and cooperatively organized by the Washington, D.C.-based Antiquities Coalition and the Middle East Institute, the conference featured government ministers from ten nations. Together, they signed the Cairo Declaration, a document proposed by Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty, calling for:

• the establishment of a high-level task force to coordinate regional and international efforts against cultural heritage trafficking,
• the creation of a public awareness campaign against the black market trade, and
• the formation of an independent center to combat antiquities laundering.

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates proffered the Declaration in the wake of widespread plunder and destruction of archaeological, historical, and religious treasures located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

“Criminal networks and terrorist groups have systematically looted historic sites and profited from the sales of these antiquities in international black markets,” the government ministers decried. They further denounced the sale of “blood antiquities,” which help fund ISIS and other terror groups.

In light of the extensive cultural heritage looting in the MENA region and because transnational commodities traffickers have been known to penetrate complex trade systems in order to turn contraband into cash, international trade data presented by Red Arch Research sparked important discussions among conference participants. The data highlighting U.S. imports of nondescript antiques from war-torn Syria and Iraq may prompt law enforcement and customs authorities to confirm or dispel any suspicions raised by the numbers.

Additional questions posed by the trade data include:

Why did the declared value of U.S. general imports of archaeological, historical, or ethnographic pieces from Egypt jump 105.5%, from approximately $5.2 million in 2012 to $10.7 million in 2013, which made Egypt the #2 source of such commodities by value behind the United Kingdom at $11.4 million?

Why did the declared value of U.S. general imports of archaeological, historical, or ethnographic goods from Lebanon spike 4,483%, from $6,546 in 2012 to $300,000 in 2013?

Why did the declared value of U.S. general imports of collectors’ coins (excluding gold coins) surge
- 82% from Turkey, from approximately $1.7 million in 2012 to $3 million in 2013?
- 417% from Lebanon, from $54,651 in 2012 to $282,434 in 2013?
- 2,604% from Libya, from $4,793 in 2012 to $129,620 in 2013?

UN Office of Drugs and Crime Regional Representative
Masood Karimipour listens as Red Arch Director Rick St. Hilaire
addresses the Cairo conference delegates.

Smugglers have been known to over-value or under-value invoices to disguise money transfers—a practice called trade based money laundering. Criminals also have been known to create shell import and export companies to hide the origins and transfers of illegally trafficked cultural goods. In past years, the CHL blog has chronicled cases where traffickers surreptitiously described Hindu sculptures as "handicrafts” on customs forms, affixed "Made in Thailand" stickers on ancient Ban Chiang pots to make them appear modern, manipulated the description of a Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton from Mongolia as a fossil reptile from Great Britain on import paperwork, or falsely declared ancient Egyptian artifacts as “original sculptures and statuary” from Turkey, the UAE, and other nations. These cases illustrate the Basel Art Trade Guidelines (2012) warning that:

In comparison with other trade sectors, the art market faces a higher risk of exposure to dubious trade practices. This is due to the volume of illegal or legally questionable transactions, which is noticeably higher in this sector than in other globally active markets. Far more serious than shady dealings in a legal grey area, the sector’s shadow economy encompasses issues ranging from looted art, professional counterfeiting and fake certificates to the use of art sales for the purpose of money laundering.

Because the legal art and antiquities marketplace nurtures opacity, placing excessive emphasis on discretion over transparency, a black market temptation exists among smugglers, fences, and launderers to hide drops of illegally acquired goods deep within the sea of legitimate commerce. And the sea is vast. Declared American imports of art, collectors’ pieces, and antiques alone totaled over $9 billion in 2013, crowning the U.S. as the top global importer of commodities classified by this customs heading.

Answers are required to the critical questions lurking behind the import statistics: Who is importing the cultural heritage material? Who are the exporters? Exactly what “antiques,” “archaeological pieces,” and “collectors’ coins” are being shipped to the U.S.? From which archaeological sites and through what transshipment countries? And which imports are legal versus illegal? Indeed, uncovering black market trading pipelines, supply chains, and distribution networks navigating within the legitimate stream of commerce should be a key goal of the Cairo conference delegates as well as INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization, dealers and auction houses, and other stakeholders. 
________________________


Invaluable research assistance supplied by Keegan Trace Brooks, JD Candidate, Georgia State University. Data assembled by Red Arch Research from statistics collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Photos courtesy of the Antiquities Coalition.


Copyright note: Although the data presented here is sourced from publicly available information, it has been carefully selected, coordinated, arranged, and analyzed so that it is subject to copyright as a compilation by CHL. The publication, retransmission, or broadcast of this compiled data is strictly prohibited without CHL's express consent.

Text copyrighted 2015 by Cultural Heritage Lawyer. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited. CHL is a service of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, Inc.

The Assyrian Head Repatriation: Filling in the Details of ICE's Investigation

This week U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) returned a looted fragmented limestone head of Assyrian King Sargon II to Iraq. The stone carving once sat atop a sculpted winged bull.

In remarks prepared for Monday's repatriation ceremony held at the Iraqi Consulate in Washington, D.C., Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and ICE Director Sarah R. Saldaña declared, “ICE will not allow the illicit greed of some to trump the cultural history of an entire nation.”

ICE offered limited details in a press release about the artifact's history. But the agency revealed that, "[a]s part of 'Operation Lost Treasure,' HSI New York special agents received information on June 30, 2008, that an antiquities dealer based in Dubai was selling looted Iraqi antiquities to dealers around the world. The special agents seized the limestone statue on Aug. 13, 2008, after it was shipped to New York by a Dubai-based antiquities trading company owned by the antiques dealer."

Assyrian limestone head fragment of Sargon II
repatriated by the U.S. to Iraq on Monday. Courtesy ICE

The press statement added that the "investigation identified a broad transnational criminal organization dealing in illicit cultural property. Some of the network’s shipments were directly linked to major museums, galleries and art houses in New York."

ICE reported that its investigation "resulted in one arrest, multiple seizures of antiquities ranging from Libya, Egypt, and Afghanistan, and the return of many of artifacts. A repatriation ceremony with Afghanistan was held two years ago and future repatriations are anticipated."

Publicly available information fills in some of the details about the trafficked head fragment.

A CHL blog post dated July 24, 2013 reported that federal prosecutors petitioned to forfeit the Assyrian head in federal court in the Southern District of New York. The complaint, filed in the case of United States v. One Iraqi Assyrian Head, alleged that Dubai antiquities dealer Hassan Fazeli exported the artifact from the United Arab Emirates to the U.S. on July 30, 2008. Prosecutors, at the time, did not identify the head as a carving of Sargon II.

Prosecutors explained that Turkey was listed as the country of origin on the customs import form rather than Iraq. And the import form incorrectly listed the value as $6500 rather than $1.2 million, , according to the court complaint.

Prosecutors sent notice of the forfeiture to Hassan Fazeli Trading Company in Dubai, the potential civil claimant. But after time passed without a reply, on June 17, 2014 the federal district court entered a default judgment, awarding the Assyrian sculpture to U.S. authorities with instructions that the head must be repatriated within 90 days "or as soon thereafter as conditions in Iraq permit."

The court granted an extension for the repatriation after a request made by an assistant prosecutor, who told the court that more than 90 days would be needed to return the artifact "[i]n light of [the] current state of world affairs."

The judge asked why there had been a gap between the 2008 seizure of the artifact and the 2014 forfeiture. The assistant prosecutor responded:

I am not aware of why there was. I can offer that in many cases, your Honor, where there are assets to be forfeited, sometimes there are parallel investigations, criminal matters, and sometimes the government proceeds to file criminal charges in matters and items are forfeited in connection with criminal matters. Sometimes the government decides to just proceed civilly. This is a civil complaint in which the forfeiture is purely in rem and only the item that is at issue is being forfeited.

The assistant prosecutor told the court that a confidential source informed law enforcement officials that

Mr. Fazeli ... was attempting to sell this stolen item or an item that we believe to be removed from Iraq in violation of Iraqi law and in contravention of United States regulations as well. This individual, Fazeli, tried to sell it to the CS [confidential source] and based on recorded conversations, based on an investigation by Homeland Security, eventually was able to ship it to the United States with false documentation indicating false origin, actually indicated that the item was from Turkey.

Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York named Hassan Fazeli Trading Company as a potential claimant in another forfeiture case. The civil case involved three ancient Egyptian limestone reliefs, a block statue, and a funerary boat valued at $57,000. It may be the one referred to by ICE on Monday when officials explained at the Iraqi repatriation ceremony that the investigation into the Sargon II head resulted in multiple seizures of antiquities, including from Egypt.

Docketed as U.S. v. One Ancient Egyptian Fragment Depicting Procession of Offering Bearers et al. and reported by CHL on March 23, 2013, the complaint alleged that the Egyptian archaeological material arrived in a FedEx shipment in August 2010 at Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey. The ancient objects "were sold in and exported from Dubai, UAE by Hassan Fazeli Trading Company, LLC .... [They] were purchased and imported by [Salem] Alshdaifat, by and through Holyland [Numismatics],” claimed the prosecutors.

Alshdaifat pleaded guilty in December 2012 to a misdemeanor charge of accessory after the fact in the case of U.S. v. Khouli et al and received a sentence of a $1000 fine.

At this week's ceremony repatriating the Assyrian head to Iraq, ICE referred to a previous repatriation ceremony with Afghanistan that took place two years ago. The agency has only reported two repatriations to that country around that time, so ICE officials may have been referencing an event that occurred at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, D.C. in September 2013.

At that ceremony, federal authorities returned an ancient Roman oinochoe, three 5th century B.C. gold foil appliques, and two 17th century gold ornaments from approximately the 17th century. ICE explained in an accompanying press release:

On March 21, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the HSI New York El Dorado Task Force seized a shipment containing the gold artifacts and the ancient vase at Newark Liberty International Airport, Central Air Cargo Examination Facility, after HSI New York special agents discovered they were destined for a New York City man and later to a New York business suspected of dealing in looted cultural property. Through the investigative process, the antiquities were found to have originated in Afghanistan. On Jan. 25, 2012, the shipment was administratively forfeited.

If these artifacts from Afghanistan somehow were tied to the Assyrian sculpted head fragment from Iraq, that connection has yet to be explained by ICE.

Hopefully the federal agency will provide more complete details describing the investigation, recovery, and return of the Assyrian head fragment now that the matter has been concluded by ICE.

Text copyrighted 2015 by Cultural Heritage Lawyer. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited. CHL is a project of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law & Policy Research, Inc.

Opposition to MoU's: A Change in Policy for the Association of Art Museum Directors?

Museums are vital to the protection of cultural heritage. They preserve art and artifacts for the benefit of present and future generations, and they inspire visitors, students, and scholars to appreciate and safeguard history.

Most museums are tax exempt charitable corporations, holding the public's trust as stewards of human civilization. They are expected to lawfully and ethically acquire artifacts. They also are counted on to promote policies that preserve cultural objects.

So it is with interest that the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) last Tuesday opposed the renewal of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) meant to retain American import barriers on endangered heritage objects from Nicaragua. The group's objection follows a sequence of opposition to MoU's begun in 2014. Does this mark a new policy direction for the organization?

The AAMD is made up of important stakeholders, representing the directors of some of the largest and most distinguished cultural institutions in North America. The group often recites that “it deplores the illicit and unscientific excavation of archaeological materials and ancient art from archaeological sites and the destruction or defacing of ancient monuments” and that it “is committed to the responsible acquisition of archaeological materials and ancient art.” From this point of departure, the AAMD traditionally has supported—albeit softly—cultural property protection agreements authorized by the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). Lately, however, even this mild support has given way to clear opposition to bilateral agreements, which serve to protect archaeological and ethnological objects in danger of destruction.

By way of background, the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) reviews petitions submitted by foreign nations that request American help to safeguard endangered cultural material. The help given takes the form of U.S. import restrictions on archaeological and ethnological objects in jeopardy of looting. The process used to enact these import barriers is defined by the CPIA, the federal statute that gives effect to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

The CPIA requires CPAC members to assess whether a requesting government has satisfied four determinations. The full committee then offers a recommendation to the President about whether he should enact import barriers to protect cultural heritage in jeopardy. If import controls are approved by the White House, a Memorandum of Understanding is signed between the U.S. and the petitioning government. The MoU is often referred to as a bilateral agreement.

When Bulgaria requested American restrictions on cultural goods in 2011, the AAMD told CPAC in a written statement that the "AAMD supports the request for a Memorandum of Understanding from the Republic of Bulgaria with … concerns …..” The organization’s concerns seemed to have swallowed its articulated support, but the AAMD, nevertheless, expressly backed the adoption of the MoU. When CPAC considered a renewed bilateral agreement with Guatemala in 2012, the AAMD once again articulated its “concerns,” but it still offered support for the agreement. The AAMD offered similar backing for the Mali renewal in 2012 (“Subject to the concerns set forth above, the AAMD supports the request of Mali for an extension of the 2007 MOU”). Moreover, the proposed MoU with Honduras in 2013 garnered the AAMD’s endorsement, along with the usual tempering language, “Subject to the concerns raised below….”

Cambodia’s request for a renewed bilateral agreement in 2013 notably attracted the organization's clearest affirmation for an MoU (“For the reasons set forth above, the AAMD supports the renewal of the MOU”). The AAMD, meanwhile, did not offer an express objection to the enactment of an MoU with China, even though its position might be characterized as nuanced.

Then, nine months ago, the AAMD struck an entirely different chord, capped by last week's written comment directly opposing the renewal of a bilateral agreement with Nicaragua.

The AAMD’s statement on the renewal of the MoU with Nicaragua voiced unequivocal disapproval. “The AAMD respectfully recommends that the Cultural Property Advisory Committee … decline Nicaragua’s request…." For the first time, the organization included a paragraph captioned, “All Four Required CPIA Determinations Cannot Be Made for Nicaragua,” although the AAMD actually argued that only two determinations could not be satisfied. Regardless, the group expressed clear opposition to the adoption of an MoU.

The AAMD characterized Nicaragua's request as a plea for an “extraordinary type of protection” that could only be granted if the requesting nation itself proved "significant improvement in the protection of cultural property." The AAMD disquietingly added, “Any time that a country requests and is granted import restrictions without strict compliance with the requirements of the CPIA, the entire program contemplated by the CPIA is placed in jeopardy.”

The objection to a renewed U.S.-Nicaragua agreement followed demurrals aimed at petitions filed by El Salvador and Egypt last year.

The AAMD withheld its support for El Salvador’s renewal request this past September, gingerly writing, “The AAMD encourages the Cultural Property Advisory Committee … to carefully review El Salvador’s compliance …  In addition, the AAMD questions whether renewal of the MOU would meet the test of  19 U.S.C. § 2602(a)(1)(C)(i),” one of the CPIA’s four determinations. “Looting does not appear to have been significantly curtailed even after more than 27 years of United States import restrictions,” the organization added, and it asked “whether a new and different approach to an MOU is necessary.”

With respect to Egypt, the AAMD staunchly advised CPAC in May that it “not recommend any memorandum of understanding … between the government of the United States and the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt … or emergency restrictions at this time.” The AAMD questioned the foreign state's request, pointedly quizzing “Is Egypt Meeting the CPIA Determinants?” and answering the query in the negative, simultaneously downplaying archaeologists' observations of site looting in that country. “At this time, Egypt fails to satisfy at least two of the four determinants,” the AAMD flatly contended.

Given its opposition to bilateral agreements between the U.S. and Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Egypt, will the AAMD oppose future requests for American assistance under the CPIA? If this is the group's new policy, will all 237 members back it?

A number of art museums have been traveling a different road. While countless books and news articles have chronicled how museum collections formed, in part, from plundered archaeological, ethnological, and paleontological material, more than a few major institutions have turned away from--or are starting to turn away from--this legacy of loot.

In fact, the past few years have witnessed a greater awareness among art museum administrators of heritage trafficking. In 2013, for example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art repatriated two Khmer sculptures discovered to have been stolen from Cambodia. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA) meanwhile, developed a close cultural exchange partnership with Italy after taking fresh steps to resist the accession of contraband antiquities from that country. The MFA even hired a curator for provenance to bring real integrity to its collecting practices. The Cleveland Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art joined the MFA, and they are now among the institutions that employ full-time provenance researchers who perform due diligence investigations to find out the true collecting histories of pieces. Dallas Museum of Art director Maxwell Anderson, moreover, spearheaded the effort to deaccession and repatriate artifacts believed to have been looted and smuggled. He earned praise for injecting principles of fairness and transparency to the discussion on heritage preservation as chair of the AAMD's Task Force on Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art.

Whether the AAMD continues to oppose bilateral agreements or chooses a different direction, only time will tell.

Photo credit: Mike Thorn

Text copyrighted 2015 by Cultural Heritage Lawyer. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited. CHL is a project of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law& Policy Research, Inc.

Controversial Egyptian Statue Fails to Sell at Sotheby's Auction

An Egyptian statute failed to sell at Sotheby's Egyptian, Classical, and Western Asiatic Antiquities auction held today in New York. Valued at over $400,000, bidding for "Lot 6" collapsed at $350,000 and did not reach the reserve price.

CHL has been probing the history of the curious piece for several weeks and expects to publish its findings in a future blog post.

In the meantime, this week Glasgow researcher Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis found the archaeological artifact listed in the Schinoussa archive. That is the set of photographs seized by Italian authorities in 2006 at the villa of antiquities dealers Robin Symes and Christos Michaelides. Click here for Peter Watson's article about the pair. The archive catalogs suspicious antiquities.

The Egyptian statue was one of six lots that did not sell today.

Purchasers found a few bargains at today's event, but many pieces commanded high prices. A small clay tablet containing cuneiform script and valued at $9000 sold for $43,750. An Egyptian black granite statue valued at $30,000 fetched $137,000. And a red-figured krater was purchased for $137,000, more than double its appraised value of $50,000.

Text copyrighted 2014 by Cultural Heritage Lawyer. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post without the express written consent of CHL is prohibited.

UPDATED > Proposed U.S.-Egypt MoU Attracts Contrasting Comments from Heritage Preservationists and Ancient Coin Collectors

“Please exempt ancient coins. Don't ruin my hobby. Thanks[.]” That reaction summarizes many comments submitted to the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) by dozens of ancient coin collectors worried about the adoption of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the United States and Egypt. The MoU, if recommended by CPAC and approved by the president, would restrict endangered Egyptian archaeological and ethnological objects from import into the U.S.

Egyptologists, archaeologists, and preservationists cited the increased looting of archaeology occurring in Egypt since 2011 as a prime reason to adopt the MoU. “Many major tourist sites have experienced intensified looting ...,” said the Society for American Archaeology in its public comment. And Egyptologist Dr. Monica Hanna offered several graphic photographs of the ravages of looting.

Last month, the U.S. State Department issued notice of Egypt’s request for an MoU under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). The agency announced:

Egypt, concerned that its cultural heritage is in jeopardy from pillage, made a request to the Government of the United States under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The United States Department of State received this request in April 2014. Egypt's request seeks U.S. import restrictions on archaeological and ethnological material from Egypt representing its prehistoric through Ottoman heritage.

The written public comment period closed yesterday, attracting over 350 submissions.

Ancient coin collectors joined an organized effort to convince CPAC to either reject the adoption of the MoU or to simply exempt ancient coins. One illustrative comment declared:

Ancient coins should not be included in this ban. They are of a different nature than other antiquities, being mass produced in large establishments of ancient governments. In addition, if historical historical (sic) information is considered important, banning the import of these coins will have the opposite effect, forcing coins into the illicit end of the market; if legalized, there would be no such need for smuggling, and historical information could be preserved.

Another submission, evidently carved from a template seen in other comments, stated, “The request of the United (sic) Arab Republic of Egypt should be denied. It does not meet the requirements established by the CPIA [in the] early eighties.” The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild, the International Association of Professional Numismatists, and the Professional Numismatists Guild all urged the removal of coins from CPAC's consideration of potential import restrictions on jeopardized archaeological material.

Organizations representing archaeology and heritage preservation universally submitted comments supporting the adoption of a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Egypt. With a collective membership of over 230,000, the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the Society of American Archaeology (SAA), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) submitted a joint statement highlighting “the loss of archaeological context and thus our ability to understand temporal and social relationships and political structures as they impacted daily life, birth, and death.”

Writing on behalf of the American Research Center in Egypt, Brown University professor and Egyptologist Laurel Bestock offered a first-hand account of the looting threat in Egypt:

Coins and statues are some of the prime types of artifacts that are traded on the antiquities market, and there is no doubt that those my team found would have been immediately saleable had they been uncovered by looters. We found these objects in January of 2011, only days before the revolution began. In the aftermath of the revolution, looting at Abydos increased significantly; I would not be at all surprised if the discovery of the cache had some role in this, as the decision to avoid a public announcement could hardly keep their existence from being known locally. The very area where these were found was the subject of a nightime looting attempt while I was excavating in 2013. Thankfully the local police as well as the head workmen from my excavation, our guards, and our house staff responded immediately. On this occasion no looting was done. But as Dr. O’Connor noted, Abydos has had hundreds of looters pits dug since the revolution. These have been documented by comparing satellite imagery before and after January 2011, and archaeological fact-checking on the ground. To walk across the site is to see holes with bricks and pots thrown aside, gaping wounds in the archaeological landscape. While the incidence of looting has decreased significantly, the threat to the site and the information it contains remains very real. Abydos stands in the middle. Some sites have seen nearly no looting, and some have seen looting that has nearly destroyed them, has made it impossible for archaeologists to conduct work there.

The Penn Cultural Heritage Center submitted a meticulously researched and rigorously documented letterdetailing the recent pillage of archaeological material in Egypt, noting that its institution currently maintains 700+ reports of “looting incidents or cultural heritage damage” since the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The letter argued that “there is a condition of extraordinary pillage of cultural patrimony in Egypt.”

The letter touched on all aspects of the “four determinations” that CPAC must consider under the CPIA, which include:

(A) [whether] the cultural patrimony of the State Party is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials of the State Party;
(B) [whether] the State Party has taken measures consistent with the Convention to protect its cultural patrimony;
(C) [whether] --(i) the application of the import restrictions . . . with respect to archaeological or ethnological material of the State Party, if applied in concert with similar restrictions implemented, or to be implemented within a reasonable period of time, by those nations (whether or not State Parties [to the 1970 UNESCO Convention]) individually having a significant import trade in such material, would be of substantial benefit in deterring a serious situation of pillage, and (ii) remedies less drastic than the application of the restrictions set forth in such section are not available; and
(D) [whether] the application of the import restrictions . . . in the particular circumstances is consistent with the general interest of the international community in the interchange of cultural property among nations for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes.

With regard to the third determination, The Penn Center noted:

Already, there is a strong international response to the pillage in Egypt. As CPAC is well aware, countries implement the 1970 UNESCO Convention in different ways. Most states party grant reciprocal recognition to the export restrictions of other counties. Such is the system in Canada, for example, which, in 2007, intercepted a Greco-Roman bust smuggled from Egypt. Switzerland is the only country with a protection regime involving bilateral agreements similar to those in the United States. Switzerland entered into an agreement with Egypt in 2010. Major market countries such as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, and the United Kingdom have all been involved in the recovery and return of Egyptian material …. The United States would therefore not be alone in responding to the situation of pillage in Egypt with import restrictions.

A public hearing on the MoU proposal will be held in Washington, DC in June.

Photo credit: Enrico Nunziati

This post was updated on May 16, 2014.

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

LCCHP to Host Egypt: Night at the Museum on May 7

On May 7, the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (LCCHP) will be hosting Egypt: A Night at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Egypt has recently drawn attention for the destruction of cultural heritage by the looting and destruction of museums and archaeological sites throughout the country. This spring, Egypt formally requested the U.S. to place import restrictions on endangered archaeological materials originating from within its borders.

Please join LCCHP and our members to learn more about these issues during a private tour of the Egyptian Wing of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (the Penn Museum houses one of the largest collections of Egyptian and Nubian material in the United States) followed by a happy hour near the museum.

When:              Wednesday, May 7^th  

                        Private tour from 6:30 – 7:30 pm
                        Reception from 7:30 – 9:00 pm

Where:             Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
                       3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Admission:        LCCHP members: $17
                        Non-LCCHP members: $22
                        University of Pennsylvania students and faculty: $5

Join LCCHP at www.culturalheritagelaw.orgto receive LCCHP members’ rates for the event. Purchase your tickets hereor visit the LCCHP website at www.culturalheritagelaw.org.

Contact Leila Amineddoleh, at director@culturalheritagelaw.org, or see the flyer (Egypt at Penn Museum) for additional details.

Photo credit: Lucretious

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Egypt Officially Asks U.S. for MoU to Protect Cultural Heritage

The Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) is scheduled to take up Egypt's formal request to have American import protections placed on endangered archaeological material originating from that country. The Federal Register today pre-published a notice announcing that CPAC will begin a review of Egypt's proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 2.

Temple of Isis at Philae in Egypt.

CHL has been calling for greater protection of archaeological sites, religious structures, and monuments since 2011 because of increasing perils to cultural heritage in Egypt. These threats have been chronicled in several CHL blog posts including here and here.

The International Council of Museums itself alerted the world to this swelling problem in 2012 by publishing the Emergency Red List of Egyptian Cultural Objects at Risk.

To submit comments concerning the proposed MoU, go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal and enter Docket No. DOS-2014-0008. Comments must be sent to CPAC by May 14. They must relate to the "four determinations" laid out by the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). These include:

(A) [whether] the cultural patrimony of the State Party is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials of the State Party; 

(B) [whether] the State Party has taken measures consistent with the Convention to protect its cultural patrimony; 

(C) [whether] --(i) the application of the import restrictions . . . with respect to archaeological or ethnological material of the State Party, if applied in concert with similar restrictions implemented, or to be implemented within a reasonable period of time, by those nations (whether or not State Parties [to the 1970 UNESCO Convention]) individually having a significant import trade in such material, would be of substantial benefit in deterring a serious situation of pillage, and (ii) remedies less drastic than the application of the restrictions set forth in such section are not available; and 

(D) [whether] the application of the import restrictions . . . in the particular circumstances is consistent with the general interest of the international community in the interchange of cultural property among nations for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes.

Photo credit: Martyn E. Jones

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

True Grit: Monica Hanna Defends Heritage in Egypt, Receives SAFE's Prize

(C) SAFE. Used with permission.

Khaemwaset was a royal prince who lived during the 13th century B.C. He became the first Egyptologist and was greatly revered in his time for conserving Egypt's monuments.

Now a 21st century Egyptologist has been honored for preserving the past. She is archaeologist Dr. Monica Hanna, who actively searches the desert sands and the Nile banks to defend Egypt's rich heritage against looters and vandals.

Saving Antiquities for Everyone (SAFE) presented the Beacon Award to Dr. Hanna Thursday night, calling her "an outstanding archaeologist and social media advocate whose work has raised public awareness about the illicit antiquities trade and the fight to protect cultural heritage." SAFE's distinguished prize has been presented since 2006 to recognize individuals who bring attention to the global crime of heritage trafficking.

Dr. Hanna has replaced Khaemwaset's chariot, papyrus roll, and royal title with a car, a Twitter account, and true grit. She uses modern-day tools along with old-fashioned courage to travel to heritage sites under attack and tweet for help. Dr. Hanna now has close to 30,000 followers on Twitter's social networking site. The internet-savvy archaeologist also the founded the online community known as Egypt’s Heritage Task Force. 

Prior to receiving the Beacon Award, Dr. Hanna addressed an auditorium of engaged listeners about "Saving Ancient Egypt, One Tweet at a Time." She passionately described the destruction affecting Egypt's heritage since the Arab Spring, and her photographs of armed looters and dynamited sites belied the fact that her daily work remains fraught with danger as she confront criminals, government officials, and civil unrest. She has even been shot at.

Dr. Hanna's determination has paid off, nevertheless. With modesty and enthusiasm, the Egyptologist explained how she rallied her countrymen to clear trash from an archaeological site, inspired local protests against unplanned urban expansion, and gathered help to clean up the mess left behind by thieves and vandals who stole practically everything from the Malawi museum and burning and destroying whatever they could not haul off.

Those in attendance at last week's ceremony in New York learned about three significant perils to cultural heritage in Egypt as Dr. Hanna recited many incidents of looting, land grabbing, and smuggling that have occurred since 2011.

Dr. Monica Hanna's slide showing a large looter's pit
near the Black Pyramid at Dashur, Egypt.

Explaining that there is "looting with machine guns," the archaeologist described plundering that has taken place at Abusir, Dashur, Memphis, and several other historic locations throughout the country.

Dr. Hanna chronicled artifact thefts near the Black Pyramid, facilitated by diggers who greatly expanded the number of illegal looter's pits during the first 30 days after the revolution.

The area of Dashur--a royal necropolis that is home to the Black Pyramid, the Red Pyramid, the Bent Pyramid, and many other important monuments--witnessed an astounding 300% increase in thieves' holes. Dr. Hanna presented satellite images of the pockmarked landscape, which has swelled across the archaeologically rich desert in recent years.

The Egyptologist lamented about the destruction caused by bulldozers that "rummage like cats in a trash bin," irretrievably shredding archaeological material. Blasting too has wiped out evidence of the past, documented by photographs depicting the devastating aftermath caused by freshly exploded dynamite.

Dr. Hanna pointed out the differences between the "organized mafia" and the local villagers who steal antiquities. Organized criminals use four wheel drive vehicles, bulldozers, and weapons smuggled from Libya. They hire locals to dig and give them lunch boxes. More importantly, they often target specific objects of interest like those from the Amarna period, the New Kingdom, and the Old Kingdom. The looting demonstrates that "they have archaeological knowledge," Dr. Hanna warily observed. Local villagers and families, by contrast, use simple rope and shovels.

Decrying unplanned urban expansion, Dr. Hanna described this growing harm with slides depicting a new parking lot built over an old temple site and a soccer field pitched atop an ancient 26th Dynasty burial. Land grabbers and the "land mafia," meanwhile, have wrested control of heritage locations by "hacking out" traces of archaeology and by building modern cemeteries to claim dominion, she said.

Dr. Hanna spoke about "clear channels for smuggling" that menace the country as Egypt continues to be stripped of artifacts that are illegally sold abroad. Antiquities trafficked from the Sinai Peninsula to Gaza eventually fly from Israel to European markets, the Egyptologist disclosed. Artifacts also find their way from the Gulf of Suez seaport of Ein El Sokhna to Dubai, Doha, and other destinations.

Amid the descriptions of endangered cultural heritage, Dr. Hanna expressed concern for the welfare and education of the children of Egypt. Illegal digging, for example, has caused deaths. At Abusir el-Malaq, a site where thieves have created heaps of human bones and fragmented mummies, Dr. Hanna gave an account of how approximately 20 children were killed while unearthing artifacts.

She highlighted that Egypt's children would not have a vested interest in protecting local culture if they failed to embrace the heritage as their own. One teenage boy, whom Dr. Hanna spotted running away from the ransacked Malawi museum, told her it was okay to attack the artifacts because the museum belonged to the government. She implored that a "mistake we need to address is that belief that heritage belongs to the government and not to the people." Dr. Hanna expressed appreciation to the other young people who arrived to help save what was left of the Malawi museum's collection.

Dr. Hanna concluded her remarks to the SAFE audience by offering several suggestions about how Americans could help. She encouraged support for academics who publish scholarly articles documenting archaeological site looting. She emphasized that the illegal sale of artifacts must be reported to authorities. She also expressed strong support for the adoption of import barriers to block pillaged and smuggled Egyptian artifacts from entering the United States.

There will be more heritage to protect as the resilient Dr. Hanna returns home to Egypt. To track her ongoing preservation efforts and to learn more about cultural heritage under threat, readers can follow the modern-day Khaemwaset's Twitter feed here.

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

U.K. is Top Source Nation in 2013 for U.S. Imports of Archaeological, Historical, and Ethnological Goods

Switzerland in 2012 was the #1 source of archaeological, historical, and ethnological material imported into the United States. But U.S. import values from that country fell by 99.8%, leaving the former second place finisher, the United Kingdom, to take the top spot in 2013 as measured by declared customs values of consumable goods.

Data compiled from tariff and trade information supplied by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission reveal this latest picture of imports classified by Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) commodity code 9705.00.0070.

The overall total customs value of archaeological, historical, or ethnological goods imported into the U.S. in 2013 amounted to a declared value of $45,647,923, an increase of 22% from 2012. 

Imports received from the U.K. jumped nearly 54%, totaling $11,451,019. And the U.K. and Egypt together made up nearly half of the $45 million of American imports.

Import values from Egypt skyrocketed 105% at a time of political instability and upheaval. There is a Red List covering cultural heritage from that nation.

Photo credit: Athewma

Israel, which has a legally regulated antiquities market, saw its U.S. import values climb 97%.

India, a source of highly prized artifacts among American collectors, saw a jump of 3805% in its U.S. import values.

Mali, once on the top 20 list of source countries, experienced a 79% collapse in 2013 after the White House, in September 2012, extended import restrictions on endangered Malian cultural heritage. Conakry Terminal on the port city of neighboring Guinea, meanwhile, continues to grow. And in 2013, American archaeological, historical, or ethnological imports from Guinea totaled $347,100, up from $0 the previous year.

Imports from war-torn Syria spiked 1375%. A Red List for threatened cultural heritage is in effect.

The top 20 source countries in 2013 by customs value for archaeological, historical, or ethnological goods were, in descending order, U.K., Egypt, Italy, Democratic Republic of Congo, Germany, Greece, France, Israel, Australia, India, Gabon, Congo, Argentina, Denmark, Norway, Japan, Canada, Guinea, Lebanon, and Spain.

The full list of HTS 9705.00.0070 data is reproduced in the table below. More 2012 data is found here.

HTS Number	Country	2012	2013	Percent Change 2012 - 2013
		In Actual Dollars
9705000070	United Kingdom	7,446,021	11,451,019	53.8%
9705000070	Egypt	5,186,166	10,655,752	105.5%
9705000070	Italy	4,189,800	3,972,732	-5.2%
9705000070	Congo (DROC)	0	3,465,671	N/A
9705000070	Germany	1,826,463	2,052,398	12.4%
9705000070	Greece	928,254	1,801,489	94.1%
9705000070	France	1,694,952	1,250,293	-26.2%
9705000070	Israel	598,212	1,178,980	97.1%
9705000070	Australia	100,768	1,080,405	972.2%
9705000070	India	26,958	1,052,933	3,805.8%
9705000070	Gabon	0	941,213	N/A
9705000070	Congo (ROC)	519,087	906,600	74.7%
9705000070	Argentina	0	759,100	N/A
9705000070	Denmark	31,771	725,025	2,182.0%
9705000070	Norway	0	513,717	N/A
9705000070	Japan	14,909	401,146	2,590.6%
9705000070	Canada	268,177	385,249	43.7%
9705000070	Guinea	0	347,100	N/A
9705000070	Lebanon	6,546	300,000	4,483.0%
9705000070	Spain	3,494,617	242,406	-93.1%
9705000070	Morocco	182,020	219,148	20.4%
9705000070	Austria	119,628	176,227	47.3%
9705000070	Madagascar	16,360	169,900	938.5%
9705000070	Turkey	399,462	147,669	-63.0%
9705000070	Indonesia	14,631	136,714	834.4%
9705000070	Papua New Guin	46,648	135,924	191.4%
9705000070	Costa Rica	0	135,867	N/A
9705000070	Russia	32,599	134,972	314.0%
9705000070	Finland	0	120,101	N/A
9705000070	Syria	6,870	101,349	1,375.2%
9705000070	Netherlands	30,632	78,996	157.9%
9705000070	Sweden	81,865	77,937	-4.8%
9705000070	Nigeria	7,500	73,203	876.0%
9705000070	Mali	254,207	53,128	-79.1%
9705000070	China	59,219	42,288	-28.6%
9705000070	Ghana	20,080	36,463	81.6%
9705000070	Uruguay	0	33,539	N/A
9705000070	Burkina Faso	0	33,205	N/A
9705000070	Bulgaria	18,000	31,379	74.3%
9705000070	Belgium	21,686	25,036	15.4%
9705000070	South Africa	54,816	23,764	-56.6%
9705000070	Ireland	32,363	22,790	-29.6%
9705000070	Ukraine	170,670	21,257	-87.5%
9705000070	Switzerland	8,710,037	20,870	-99.8%
9705000070	Taiwan	0	20,000	N/A
9705000070	Saudi Arabia	0	19,540	N/A
9705000070	Poland	21,379	11,575	-45.9%
9705000070	Solomon Is	0	11,500	N/A
9705000070	Brazil	3,000	10,000	233.3%
9705000070	Uzbekistan	3,000	8,793	193.1%
9705000070	Jordan	4,600	8,000	73.9%
9705000070	Colombia	0	6,127	N/A
9705000070	Romania	5,500	5,500	0.0%
9705000070	Togo	0	4,730	N/A
9705000070	Iceland	0	3,704	N/A
9705000070	Chile	3,500	3,500	0.0%
9705000070	Thailand	10,221	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Mauritania	7,425	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Albania	2,070	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Korea	202,730	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Serbia	2,575	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Algeria	13,152	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Singapore	49,200	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Malaysia	7,794	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Macedonia	42,800	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Niger	6,992	0	-100.0%
9705000070	New Zealand	168,454	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Czech Republic	3,730	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Philippines	22,465	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Cameroon	9,022	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Senegal	3,207	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Mexico	19,380	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Peru	59,014	0	-100.0%
9705000070	New Caledonia	3,750	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Portugal	18,655	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Burundi	14,500	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Pakistan	25,228	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Afghanistan	5,699	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Fr Polynesia	2,500	0	-100.0%
9705000070	Montenegro	25,000	0	-100.0%
Total		37,378,536	45,647,923	22.1%

The numbers posted here do not document the broader category of "collections and collectors' pieces of zoological, botanical, mineralogical, anatomical, historical, archeological, paleontological, ethnographic or numismatic interest" classified by HTS 9705.  The statistics posted are only those covering  HTS 9705's subcategory of archaeological, historical, and ethnological material under HTS 9705.00.0070. Note too that HTS 9705 excludes "antiques" over 100 years old (e.g., silverware and furniture), which are classified elsewhere by HTS 9706.

By Rick St. Hilaire Text copyrighted 2010-2014 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Blog url: culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com