Posts tagged Crime
Busy Day
Dec 20th
There’s still some dispute about how the world started. Scientists have observed galaxies flying apart from each other across the universe. From this they have deduced that in the past the galaxies must have all been much closer together. In fact go back far enough in time, they say, and you’ll find the universe must have been a single point from which all time and space came from.
Some people have uncovered other truths. They tell the story of Ymir, the first of the frost giants who fought against the gods and was slain. From this body the gods created the world. From his skull they made the sky and from his bones they made the mountains. From his eyebrows they made a barrier between Midgard, the world of man and Jotunheim, the world of giants. This is why you rarely see a frost giant in the supermarket.
Scientists had been reluctant to accept the death of Ymir as a reasonable explanation for the creation of the world. “Where’s the evidence?” they asked. Then the creationists smiled for they knew they had won. “Not only can we show you the sky and mountains,” they said. “We can even prove that Ymir had More >
Loot by Sharon Waxman
Dec 7th
In short, the best archaeopolitics book I’ve read since Edward Fox’s Sacred Geography. I was kindly sent a review copy by the publishers and I have a feeling that they were hoping for a bit more than that, so I’ll add a bit more.
It’s subtitled “The Battle over the Stolen Treasures of the Ancient World” The ancient world here is pretty much Greece, Rome and Egypt, which means she doesn’t have a lot to say about the stripping of sites in Africa, the Americas or Asia. To some extent that’s a bit of a shame, but by focussing tightly on a few examples Waxman is able to go into the details of how the market for illicit antiquities works. You have to keep a close eye on what’s happening as I get the impression that one of the inspirations for the antiquities trade was the three-card trick. The book is four parts. She opens by looking at Egypt and the attitude of the Louvre. (more…)
Do you need a note from a criminal to prove an artefact is stolen?
Nov 26th
Looks nice, but are looks enough?
This is the death mask of Ka Nefer Nefer. I can tell you she was connected with Rameses II in some way, but not a lot else. It hard to find information about her lie on the web because her death mask is the big story as far as Ka Nefer Nefer goes. Or rather it’s the travels her mask has been on and the dogged determination of the Saint Louis Art Museum to drag its own name through the mud.
The mask was found in 1952 in Saqqara by the Egyptian archaeologist Mohammed Zakaria Goneim, as part of the exacavations of the pyramid of Sekhemkhet. After this events are disputed. In 1998 it was discovered again when the Saint Louis Museum of Art purchased it. They got it from Phoenix Ancient Art, who say it came from an anonymous Swiss collection before them. The Saint Louis Art Museum is further claiming that a Belgian dealer had it back 1952. This would appear to be an object that’s been shuffled around dealers, like yesterday’s amphorae. If you read yesterday’s entry you’ll also remember I said there was going to be a test. Here it is.
You are More >
Spanish police seize looted amphorae (pay attention, there will be a test)
Nov 26th
From TypicallySpanish comes the news that two men have been arrested in connection with some 1st century amphorae which may have come from the Bou Ferrer wreck off the Costa del Sol.
The looted amphorae. Photo Guardia Civil.If you’re like me you might have a vague idea you’ve heard of Bou Ferrer, but can’t remember where. That’s because it’s not been widely reported in the English-speaking world. Spanish weblog Terrae Antiquae had the details back in November 2006. The Bou Ferrer, named after a diver who worked on the wreck is potentially hugely exciting. It’s big, 30 metres long, carrying 400 tonnes of freight. It’s also extremely well preserved. It’s embedded in the seabed which means the timbers have survived in excellent condition. So far forty amphorae containing garum, a sauce made from rotting fish guts, have been recovered. There’s about 1200 amphorae on the wreck.
Informacion.es says the amphorae were recovered after they heard a man had a collection of amphorae from various eras including some from the Bou Ferrer. After hearing this they chased round various antiquities dealers. The typical plan is to shuffle round the artefacts until they get convincingly lost. Then you turn up with them at an auction house calling them More >
Should we pass on the PAS?
Nov 20th
Treasure hunter. Photo (cc) Elsie esq.
I’m slightly late to be commenting on Derek Fincham’s paper, in the International Journal of Cultural Property, A Coordinated Legal and Policy Approach to Undiscovered Antiquities: Adapting the Cultural Heritage Policy of England and Wales to Other Nations of Origin. There’s a few reasons for that, but the major one is that I’ve been reading round what other people have been saying about the paper. A large part of the paper discusses the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and my own perspective on that seems to be from a different viewpoint to a lot of other peoples.
The site at Goeblange-Miecher.By and large my archaeological training has been on community projects. My first dig was on a community project excavating a Gallo-Roman villa, organised by a society based in the local village in Nospelt. In the UK I was in the local village archaeology group and did a bit of excavation and geophysics and a lot of fieldwalking. All the projects I’ve worked on have been poorly funded, even by archaeological standards, or more often not funded at all. My experience then with archaeology outside of academia is of knowledgable, enthusiastic people with relatively little access More >
Why context matters
Jun 11th
Finding burials is not always easy. Bodies decay over time, and their visibility can vary for a number of reasons. One reason in particular is the wealth of the deceased. If you’re rich you can afford a very lavish and very visible burial. As a result our understanding of the past can be skewed in favour of the social élites. That’s one reason why archaeologists get so excited about large cemeteries. News is coming out of Italy of one such cemetery near Fiumicino airport. What has been found is a necropolis with around three hundred skeletons. What makes these special is that they’re the skeletons of the poor.
There’s various reasons why the Italian archaeologists think they were poor. The grave goods aren’t as plentiful as you get from the richer sites. In the tombs there are ceramic tankards, oil lamps and what remains of ancient shoes. There’s also around seventy coins, mainly of Trajan and Faustina, used to pay the ferryman Charon. The coins date the tombs to the early second century BC. The location may not have been as prestigious, this was down towards the ports of Rome, which played a vital role in connecting Rome with its empire. More >
Illicit Antiquities linked to Islamic terrorists – Who’da thunk it?
Mar 19th
It shouldn’t be news. I mentioned the possibility in 2005, and again late last year. When you buy unprovenanced antiquities you don’t know who you’re buying them from.
Now the Ashland Daily Tidings reports on the work by Matthew Bogdanos, which he says shows that the connection between the trade in illicit antiquities and Islamic insurgents is undeniable. Yes, you read that right. It turns out some members of Al-Qaeda are prone to criminal activity.
Despite that fair-play to Antonia Kimbell at the Art Loss Register who said that she’s seen no evidence of a direct link. The way the Art Loss Register works is they check a database of illicit artefacts. Obviously that means that someone needs to have registered an artefact as illicit, but that’s not a problem so long as Al-Qaeda remember to fill out the paperwork.
I went to look at David Gill’s blog to fact check the workings of the Art Loss Register because Kimbell’s comments seemed unfeasibily moronic. I can’t believe someone that credulous would be able to hold down a job at the Art Loss Register if it worked the way I described it. But it does, and David Gill is also blogging this story.
There’s a lot of More >
Mixed news from New Zealand
Feb 18th
The medals including a double Victoria cross which were stolen from a New Zealand museum late last year have been returned thanks to a $300 000 dollar reward. It’s nice they’re back, but the cost is too high.
Waiouru Museum director Ray Seymour said he hoped the thieves “don’t get one goddamn cent” of the reward.
I have to agree with him and the Prime Minister, Helen Clark, presumably does too. She’s quoted as saying: “You didn’t want to set up expectations for the future that if someone stole something and then gave it back they would be paid for it.” What happens when they’re stolen again? Does the reward now mean that all Kiwi heritage is a target to the enterprising criminal?
The ransom payment could also have major consequences for museums in the UK. The bulk of the money came from Lord Ashcroft, Deputy Treasurer of the Conservative Party. I couldn’t say if the Conservative party will make it official policy to buy off criminals when they get into power.
Vandalism of an African archaeological site
Jan 31st
Vandalism, Lajuad. Photo (cc) Western Sahara Project.
Via the Megalithic Portal comes news of vandalism of rock art. The culprits are soldiers, but in a twist they’re not American. From the graffitti scrawled over the walls of the shelter they’re Russian, Croatian, Kenyan and Egyptian. Along with name and rank the perpetrators also left tags saying which base they were operating from.
I’m slightly frustrated I can’t tell you why these rock shelters are important. That’s because I know so little about this region. After reading the field reports for 2006 I can tell you that some of the art depicts animals that probably haven’t been in the area for 5000 years, so this is prehistoric material. The artefacts and artwork of these people are all we have. In my defence Nick Brooks, who found this graffitti, says that this really is an underexplored area of the world. The finds from here could tell us about how the climate changed and how people adapted to life in their new environment.
Sadly Nick Brooks also reports this isn’t the first time the UN Peacekeepers have damaged archaeological sites in the area. Nor is it a problem with the soldiers. Some of the graffitti quite clearly states the More >
Are Sainsbury’s mis-selling energy?
Jan 10th
I was stopped in the bread aisle today by a nice lady who wanted me to switch my energy supply to Sainsbury’s. It’s a common thing in the UK and the energy companies are collectively known for the ethical standards they employ when selling their energy plans. It’s not a surprise so many of them sponsor weather bulletins – “Today’s weather is brought to you in association with Happy Energy, because we’re a shower of bastards.”
What’s interesting is the sales pitch that you get as you try and find a loaf. My energy supplier was recommended by Greenpeace. Generally that’s enough to persuade sales people from wasting my time. It’s growing less effective. I demurred saying that I didn’t want to sign anything because I was concerned that there was going to be a push for nuclear power and I’m not convinced it’s a good thing. Sainsbury’s, she assured me, had nothing to do with nuclear power. Sainsbury’s even sold a Green Energy plan.
Sainsbury’s don’t actually have their own power stations, they re-sell and right now they’re reselling for EDF. What was the news when I got home? French energy giant EDF has already said it plans to build four nuclear plants in the UK by 2017, More >
