Almost all are accessible for free (or after a free registration) on
the internet. Each time, I try to draw attention to the most
relevant tidbits of information, esp. things that were not mentioned
before; occasionally, I provide some comment. The usual warning
applies: many links become defective with time. Inclusion
in the list does not in any way mean that I necessarily agree with the
opinions expressed in an article. But for a few
exceptions, the occasional photos and figures accompanying
reviewed articles are just hotlinked images on other web sites, in
other words: do not download them or request
permission to publish them from me, for I do not own the copyright
to them in any way! Please do contact the rightful owners if you
would like to use them for publication purposes. Finally, for the sake
of convenience, all articles and so on are assumed to have been
published on US web sites unless indicated otherwise.
J. Russell, "Sad
News From Mosul," in Iraqcrisis,
online, December 28, 2003: "Mr. Manhal Jabr, Chief Archaeological
Inspector for Nineveh Governorate, passed away in Mosul about 4 days
ago."
"Naissance
à Nouakchott de l'Union des archéologues arabes," in Jeune Afrique - L'intelligent
(France), December 27, 2003: Union of Arab Archaeologists (UAA) as well
as a Center for Arab Archaeology (in Algiers) founded at the ALECSO
conference; a committee was formed to see how they can best assist
regarding Iraq's cultural heritage crisis
N. Cacioppo, "Home
For the Holidays," in The
Journal News (New York state), December 24, 2003: "Close to a
dozen members of the 812th Military Police Company arrived back at the
Orangeburg Reserve Center ... helped recover two ancient artifacts
stolen from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad."
"Réunion
à Nouakchott pour 'sauvegarder' le patrimoine irakien et
palestinien," in Jeune Afrique -
L'intelligent (France), December 24, 2003: 17th conference on
Arab archaeology and cultural heritage organized by the Arab League
Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO), this time
in Mauritania; Iraq was still not represented as it is not an official
member for the time being [due to qualms about the government
structure, I think]; focus on Iraq and Palestine: need for legislative
action, specialized Arab institutions, training of experts and
provision of the necessary funding
B. Biesbrouck, "'Het
is wel degelijk zo erg als eerst gevreesd'. British Museum-conservator
John Curtis over het Iraakse erfgoed," in De Morgen (Belgium), December 22,
2003: interview with Dr. John Curtis: we still don't know how many
artifacts are missing from the National Museum storage rooms as they
have not been completely checked against the inventory; he estimates
that 15,000 to 20,000 artifacts went missing and many have been
destroyed too; the Assyrian ivory relief of a lion attacking an African
boy is still missing; he doesn't think there was a well-organized art
theft ring involved but rather opportunistic looters who acted ad hoc
as well as vandalism; professionals would have smuggled artifacts like,
e.g., the Lady of Warka, out of the country right away [I agree: too
many high-profile pieces have been recovered still in Baghdad even
after weeks and months]; he doesn't know what the situation is
regarding the archaeological sites right now; the Italian carabinieri
were doing a good job protecting sites near Nasiriyyah but since the
November terrorist attack they have given up doing that; for what it is
worth, so far the Western antiquities market is not being swamped with
Mesopotamian antiquities possibly coming from looted Iraqi sites; a
team of 8 conservators (2 from the British Museum) is ready to go to
Iraq for 3 months to assist in repairing and reconstructing the museums
but first the security situation needs to be greatly improved; in
January, 3 Iraqi conservators will come to London for extra training
now that they finally have their travel papers [the CPA wasn't and
probably still isn't set up very well for issuing passports for Iraqis
who need to go abroad, even for these type of semi-official missions];
immediate excavations in Iraq are impossible due to security problem;
there is even talk of a 10-year archaeological-excavation moratorium in
Iraq in order to focus on cultural-heritage reconstruction and
protection of sites; however, planned big infrastructure projects will
necessitate salvage digs to alleviate their potentially desastrous
impact on the archaeological heritage; maybe we need to change the
approach to Near Eastern archaeology so to avoid the perception of
cultural imperialism: Western archaeologists need to cooperate more
with local archaeologists, more of a supporting role maybe? the idea of
National Geographic to have a traveling exhibition of the Treasure of
Nimrud is an example of the old way of thinking: bad idea, also because
the artifacts will likely get damaged in transport and Iraqi
conservators who would have to travel along have more urgent things to
do in Iraq itself
N. Vardi, "The
Return of the Mummy. Collecting Antiquities Used to Be a Fun Adventure.
But Now That Other Countries Are Repatriating Their Most Valuable
Treasures, You Stand to Lose It All," in Forbes, December 22, 2003: "Illicit
trafficking in antiquities totals perhaps $2 billion a year, says the
U.K.'s McDonald Institute for Archeological Research. But it's getting
harder to get away with. Witness the recent repatriation of antiquities
from Iraq, Guatemala and China; new rules that make it tougher to plead
ignorance for a collector caught with a questionable piece; and a
muscular U.S. Customs Service. In May Representatives Philip English
(R-Pa.) and James Leach (R-Iowa) introduced legislation to restrict
importation of antiquities from Iraq and other sensitive parts of the
globe. Meantime, foreign governments, particularly Egypt and Italy,
have stepped up efforts to find antiquities they believe were stripped
from their lands by grave robbers and smuggling rings. They're taking
aim at dealers, museums--and collectors. Here at home federal
prosecutors seem more ready to go to the courts, where recent decisions
have significantly raised the possibility of jail time for those
handling stolen antiquities." "To stay out of the pokey and hold onto
their goods, collectors have to meet difficult legal standards. They
must avoid objects that they know violate so-called patrimony laws,
which allow governments of 'source' countries to declare ownership of
all antiquities within their borders that have not yet been unearthed.
Any conscious attempt to avoid learning the laws can get you in a
snit." "The Art Loss Register also prevented the sale of a Mesopotamian
copper foundation nail dating from 2600 B.C. Turned out it had been
looted from the Iraqi National Museum during the first Gulf war and was
consigned to an undisclosed auction house in 2001." "But the specter of
serious jail time rises from the recent case involving Schultz, the
Manhattan antiquities dealer, which shook the clubby industry to its
foundation. In that case, the Justice Department relied on a 1948 law,
originally used to thwart the trading of stolen cars, which makes it a
crime to transport across state lines goods worth more than $5,000 that
are known to have been stolen." "The English-Leach bill would
effectively ban the importation of antiquities from Iraq. It would also
extend the life span of import restrictions to ten years from five and
grant the President the power to impose emergency restrictions on the
importation of cultural artifacts from any country in the world, like
Afghanistan, not just Unesco convention parties. 'There is a bit of a
dilemma between the national interest and the rights of collectors,'
says Leach. Because of 'troubling implications for how we are
received,' he adds, 'Americans have to be exceptionally sensitive to
the cultural values of others.'" [also available at Yahoo
News]
M. Bazzi, "On
Their Terms. U.S. Soldier Reaches Out to Understand Iraqi Tribal
System," in Newsday (New
York), December 21, 2003: "... Lt. Col. Alan King, an Army civil
affairs commander who has made it his personal mission to understand
Iraq's labyrinthine tribal system." "King's current job title is
[']special assistant for tribal affairs' in the 352nd Civil Affairs
Command, which is responsible for coordinating civil affairs units
throughout Iraq. But he's more like the Army's resident scholar on
tribes. In his Palm Pilot, he keeps notes on the history of each major
tribe and its subsets. The entries are divided into tribe, clan, branch
and family." "And through tribal contacts, he was able to recover 24
artifacts looted from the Iraqi national museum and 59 paintings stolen
from the Museum of Modern Art."
M. Georgy, "Spanish
PM Aznar in Iraq, U.S. Troops Kill 3 Police," in Yahoo! News, online, December 20,
2003: "... U.S troops opened fire on a police patrol south of the
oil-rich city of Kirkuk overnight, ... police Lieutenant Salam Zanganeh
... told Reuters the troops apparently mistook the policemen for
bandits in an area where antiquities smugglers are active."
shan [sic], "Schränke
für Bagdad. Amerikaner wollen Irak-Museum im Frühjahr wieder
öffnen," in Süddeutsche
Zeitung (Germany), December 19, 2003: the Deutsche Archäologische Institut
will provide the National Museum in Baghdad with special storage
cabinets and supplies for its prized cuneiform-tablet collection that
survived the looting unharmed; the Americans want to reopen the Museum
in Spring, the international archaeological community and the Iraqis
want to wait; Dr. Margarete van Ess said that many artifacts need
urgent conservation first and foremost
Ch. Wolf, "Bilder
für Bagdad," in NRZ
(Germany), December 19, 2003: the exhibition "Flug in die
Vergangenheit. Archäologische Stätten in Flugbildern von
Georg Gerster" [flight into the past. archaeological sites in the
aerial photos of Georg Gerster], currently in the Ruhrlandmuseum in
Essen, will be traveling to the National Museum in Baghdad; some of the
photos show Iraqi sites; after the conference in Brussels, Dr. Donny
George Youkhanna traveled to Essen and came to an agreement in
principle with Charlotte Trümpler, director of the archaeological
collection of the Ruhrlandmuseum; security situation must of course
first improve in Iraq and extra funding/sponsoring will have to be found
"Antiquities
department surveys southern marshes," in TIDES Iraq Reconstruction Report,
online, 48 (December 18, 2003): "Iraqi archaeological teams are
surveying the southern marshes as waters from the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers inundate the area. Residents say waters have returned to much of
the al-Amara and Hawr al-Hmmar marshes and the scientists would like to
map out the archaeological sites in the region. It is the first time
the Antiquities Department has the chance to freely survey the roughly
5,200 square kilometer marshes since it was established nearly seven
decades ago." "The marshes were the homeland of Sumerians, ... The area
was difficult to survey when it was a huge wetland with unique flora
and fauna. When Saddam Hussein dried the marshes to flush out
insurgents who sought refuge there following a failed uprising, the
whole area became a no-man's land. For decades Iraqi archaeologists
have only concentrated their diggings on sites on the fringes of the
marshes. The scientists hope to have a clear picture of the ancient
mounds in the area and start excavating those already threatened with
inundation. They expect the area to be one the richest in
archaeological finds in Iraq. They say sites of 'tremendous
significance' await digging. However, as they move to identify the
sites, they fear that lack of security and absence of law and order
would encourage smugglers to carry out illegal digs." "Historians say
at least part of the area occupied by present-day marshes was also wet
during the Sumerian era. In the Iraq Museum there are reliefs and
sculptures showing the Sumerians plying the waters with their canoes
hunting fish or enemies seeking refuge among the reeds. But scientists
say they have evidence that most of the area formed the fertile plateau
which made southern Iraq the Middle East's breadbasket in those early
days. The Sumerians had an elaborate irrigation system that prevented
their orchards and fields from flooding. But the system collapsed and
the wetlands as we know them today were formed about 1,500 years ago.
And since then they have been inhabited by marsh Arabs who had
preserved almost intact their way of life ..."
L. Jury, "MPs
Attack Failure to Halt Trade in Looted Antiquities," in The Independent (UK), December 17,
2003: "The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee [of the UK
Parliament] made recommendations when it investigated stolen cultural
property three years ago, and launched a new inquiry this year prompted
by the situation in Iraq. But in Cultural
objects: developments since 2000, published yesterday, the
committee said there had been 'few concrete achievements' and almost
none of its recommendations had been implemented. The failure to
establish a national database of stolen cultural objects was
'lamentable', ..." "... it appeared looted Iraqi treasures had
made their way on to the British market." "It was a 'serious weakness'
that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport could not even refuse
an export licence when there were suspicions an item was tainted. And
Customs and Excise had no powers to check consignments of cultural
goods."
