Illegal excavations that have been continuing for the last three months in the ancient city of Myndos in Bodrum’s Gümüşlük neighborhood have elicited the anger of locals due to the lack of any action to halt the activity. “They’re doing whatever they want in the ancient city. Treasure hunters are looting the national treasures…
The UNESCO Doha Office in partnership with Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority is organizing a workshop on “Ethics of collections and fight against illicit traffic of cultural heritage in the GCC” from the 2nd to the 4th of April in the Bab al Qasr hotel in Abu Dhabi. The illicit import, export and transfer…
In an international conference, organised by Working with Cultural Objects and Manuscripts (WCOM), which will take place at the National Museum of Finland, Helsinki, on June 5-6, 2017, the topic of trafficked cultural objects in Finland is adressed. This in order to generate awareness and kick-start a national debate. The conference is organised with funding…
The annual meeting of the Centre for Digital Heritage (CDH) will take place at the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University on 15-16 June 201. The theme will be Heritage under Threat. During two days, five keynotes, 19 papers and seven posters on this topic will be presented. For a list of accepted papers and further…
In a joint US-UK initiative financed by the SmartWater Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of the international crime-fighting company, SmartWater, a team of undercover operatives and trained Syrian Archaeologists have successfully applied SmartWater’s unique ‘traceable liquid’ to some of Syria’s most treasured historical artifacts, including two precious mosaics from the UNESCO World Heritage designated site of…
About 200 Etruscan, Apulian and Magna Graecia vases, small statues, ceramics and bronze archaeological finds illegally kept in the house of a former art dealer have been recovered by the Italian police in Cossato, northern Italy. The looted pieces, dating from the eighth to third centuries BC and with an estimated value of well over…
Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis identified recently another antiquity likely of illicit origin at the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, on February 17, 2017. Royal-Athena Galleries is the same New York gallery recently in the news about an illicitly trafficked sarcophagus fragment. The provenance and sales details listed for the amphora recently seized was stated on the gallery’s…
Trading in antiquities in Israel requires a license sanctioned by the Antiquities Authority (IAA). Currently, however, only a small number of dealers are only allowed to trade items that that came into private hands prior to the year 1978. Since that time, every antiquity discovered in Israel is property of the state and cannot be…
As recently posted, the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York,had until recently a sarcophagus, which presents a battle between Greeks and Trojans (c. 200 A.D.), on sale. The gallery is owned by Dr. Jerome Eisenberg, New York, and has a more than doubtful history, since it is tighly connected with the Italian illicit antiquities dealer Gianfranco Becchina.…
Geneva’s art world suffered another blow to its reputation in November when prosecutors seized pillaged Syrian antiquities from the city’s free port, raising concerns about money laundering and terrorist financing. Now a group of art dealers, lawyers and consultants is fighting back. Under the banner of the Responsible Art Market Initiative, the group published a set of…
EAA-Community on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 