The Value of Unprovenanced Antiquities

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antiquities, archaeology, art market, artefact, artifact, collecting, cultural preservation, excavation, looting, provenance, research, value

“Regarding the issue of unprovenanced antiquities: surely even without substantiated provenance, there is still some factual knowledge to be derived– the approximate age of the item, for instance, and its general geographic origin? As a layperson in this area, I understand the additional value of confirmed provenance, but should that also mean that an item lacking provenance has no value at all?”

This was a great question in response to my last post, discussing a magazine editorial on scholarship, ethics, and artefacts lacking in proper archaeological provenance. (An unprovenanced artefact is one with an incomplete or unscientific record of its origin). The one-sentence answer is yes, there is always something to be gained from any existing piece. The more complete, complex answer has to do with the importance of knowledge and the nature of scientific inquiry. In archaeology, consider provenance another word for context. The moment something is pulled out of the ground, 90 percent of its meaning is lost.

Artistic Pinspiration!

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antiquities, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, board, heist, looting, Pinterest

Practical people, on hearing that one’s chosen field is something like art history or anthropology, will often ask (perhaps not unreasonably), “but what can you do with that?”. If an archaeologist or other rare species seems frustrated by the question, it is not for lack of an answer, but rather, because the questioner is missing the point. No one plunges deeply into an abstract academic profession because a magazine article listed it in “Top Ten Careers for Wealth and Prestige”; we do it because we love it. When I was a student, and still now when I work, whenever I get caught up in the effort, or am sick of stumbling on a problem-block, I always come back to the art, and am always cured. An hour in a gallery, or a museum, alone with something a thousand years old, and the wonder, the amazement at humankind and its history remind me why I wanted to do this.

The Problem of Public Awareness

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archaeology, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, collecting, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, excavation, interdisciplinary, looting, public awareness

It is in the nature of research to take one in unexpected directions; what I was not prepared for was a single, simple idea that struck to the heart of a major problem of art crime. I was working on a post recently on how to recognise and protect archaeological sites for the general public; especially in North America, sites can be very hard to detect on the surface and artefacts hard to identify. Sometimes sites are damaged by people who don’t even realise they are on top of archaeology. Trying to develop a simple explanation of what sites and artefacts might look like, I realised I had a deeper question: what might be the consequences if I did?

Links: ARCA

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ARCA, art, art crime, art forgery, art market, art theft, art trafficking, cultural preservation, interdisciplinary, international law, looting, provenance, repatriation, research, smuggling

The Association for Research Into Crimes Against Art is an important international organisation doing exactly what the name suggests, and their site is highly recommended. Conceived as a think tank, it connects professionals from the varied disciplines relevant to art crime worldwide, promotes scholarship, and emphasizes public outreach. The group organises conferences and training in interdisciplinary research, publishes, and keeps a blog on recent media relevant to art crime. It also has outstanding links to more specialised blogs and sites.

Click here or above to go to ARCA’s site.

 

The Impact of Art Crime II: Cultural Loss Is Forever

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antiquities, archaeology, art, art crime, art market, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, in situ, looting, provenance

In economics, there is a model called the broken window fallacy. The example is a thug that breaks a store window: a new window, supplies, and labour all have to be expended to repair the damage, none of which would have happened without that crime. Money is spent, things are happening; doesn’t that stimulate the economy? Two seconds’ thought shows the absurdity; destruction is not productive, and crime does not create prosperity. (If that still seems abstract, imagine being the owner of that store). Now imagine that there were no windows on earth that could replace the broken one. People could offer different kinds of walls, a door installed in the hole left by the window, or a security grill, but there could never again be a window for people to look into.

What Provenance Research Can Do: Looting

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antiquities, archaeology, art crime, art market, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, looting, provenance

Of all forms of art crime, looting of archaeological and historical sites is the most destructive. When an artwork is stolen from a gallery or museum, there is always a risk that the work will be unwittingly ruined, but at least the damage will be limited to a single piece. This is cold comfort when confronted with losing a masterpiece, but by comparison, the loss of a single site is immense. Looters are interested only in what they think will fetch a good price, and will throw away, cut through, or literally bulldoze anything that doesn’t appeal to them.

The Abstract Becomes Personal

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antiquities, archaeology, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, authenticity, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, excavation, international law, looting, provenance

I was breakfasting with a friend a few days ago, cheerfully exchanging notes on current projects and dueling with iPhone apps, when my friend excitedly showed me an e-commerce listing for some “ancient glass beads”, purportedly from Afghanistan. She was interested in them for jewelry-making and colour inspiration, and wanted to know what I thought. I was stunned—the research I do every day, the main focus of my work, was suddenly, intrusively personal. I have fought back tears, hearing reports of decimated archaeological sites or carelessly destroyed paintings, yet this simple craft supply had made the meaning of provenance real to me as nothing had before.

Problems Peculiar to Art Crime

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art, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, cultural heritage, cultural preservation, excavation, FBI, international law, looting, provenance, repatriation, smuggling

Art is a small world, and art crime a bizarre one. Problems arise in trying to combat it that are negligible or even non-existent in other realms of law enforcement or crime prevention. One uniquely frustrating aspect is scale; perhaps in the era of universal globalisation, trafficking networks crossing continents isn’t surprising, but what is, is the scope of time. Art crimes can drag on over a span of years, from the time a piece is stolen, through the hands of fences and dealers, until it is finally sold; art criminals seem to possess extraordinary patience. The more hapless, small-time criminals often find themselves stuck with a work for years, trying to find a buyer without risking getting caught, while more sophisticated types will deliberately slow negotiations or delivery of an illicit piece to help them fly under the radar. There is evidence that the most experienced traffickers even exploit statutes of limitations, planning ahead for deals to be made only after they can no longer be tried, even if caught.

Rescue and Return for Near Eastern Antiquities

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antiquities, archaeology, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, Baghdad Museum, cultural heritage, FBI, international law, looting, museum, repatriation

Click the picture to go to the full story on the FBI website.

The looting of the Baghdad Museum in 2003 and the subsequent looting of archaeological sites throughout Iraq are among the greatest devastations to ever happen in archaeology. The looting, on a smaller scale, continues to this day, and the attack on the museum in 2003 deserves discussion of its own. Once looted, the sites are destroyed and lost forever, but law enforcement agencies across the globe are continuing, most of a decade later, to save anything possible of the literally tens of thousands of stolen pieces.

The Impact of Art Crime I: Thriving Criminal Networks

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antiquities, archaeology, arms deal, art, art crime, art theft, art trafficking, artefact, artifact, international law, looting, museum, narcotics, organized crime, smuggling

An important question commonly asked when people first learn of the theft and looting of art worldwide, is—why does it matter? Art is part of a privileged, elite world, and archaeology is literally ancient history—aren’t there more important problems to address? There are, and reducing art crime can help. Billions of dollars of illicit art and antiquities are trafficked worldwide every year, ranking art crime the third largest criminal endeavour, behind only narcotics and arms dealing. Even conservative estimates place it at fourth, if one edges in money laundering.