Why should we care?

The looting crisis

Illicit antiquities trade

Museum acquisitions

Plunder is a crime

What can we do?

Treaties & legislation

Bilateral agreements

Success stories

Thought to be one of the largest illegal businesses in the world, the black-market antiquities trade stretches from local bands of thieves to larger gangs of looters and international networks to dealers and auction houses in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. Nearly impossible to quantify, the market is estimated to be as much as $4 billion a year, according to Interpol.

Looted goods typically are smuggled across borders and change hands many times, making their origins murky by the time they reach their ultimate destination: a museum or, far more often, the hands of a private collector. Along the way, an illicit item often acquires a fictitious ownership history, or provenance, provided by a dealer or middleman with some knowledge of art history or archaeology. Falsified documents, created to prove authenticity and provide assurance that the item has not been looted, are rarely questioned.

In spite of attempts at tighter control from law enforcement agencies around the globe, the illegal trade persists, fueled by ever developing technological and market advancements. For instance, Internet auction sites have provided a hard-to-control forum for the illicit trade. Advanced technology, such as ground-penetrating radar and metal detectors, has given looters better tools with which to locate. Exploitation of sites using high-tech methods, particularly in Asia and Africa, is booming.

To those who argue that the illicit trade brings economic benefit to hard-pressed local communities, the reality is quite different. According to Stealing History: The Illicit Trade in Cultural Material, “a fossil turtle bought from its finder in Brazil for $10 fetched $16,000 in Europe.…Once commodified on the Western market, objects continue to circulate for years, perhaps centuries, generating money in transaction after transaction. None of this money goes to the original finders or owners or their descendants.…if culture is regarded as an economic resource, then selling it abroad is a poor strategy of exploitation. Cultural heritage is, after all, a non-renewable resource.”

The way money changes hands in the trade of looted antiquities is becoming increasingly complex. In Terrorists raise cash
by selling antiquities (Goverment Security News), ties to terrorism and the illicit arms are well documented, according to law enforcement officials.

Business models are also evolving, as illustrated in the case of the Judas Gospel. The New York Times reports in How the Gospel of Judas Emerged how an antiquities dealer benefits financially by giving the 1,700-year-old manuscript to a foundation set up by her lawyer. The foundation reportedly compensates the dealer from a fee negotiated with the National Geographic Society to restore and promote the discovery of the document.