Protecting the archaeological heritage of Greece

Sebastian Heath, the Vice President for Professional Responsibilities at the Archaeological Institute of America, has circulated a statement about the proposed MOU with Greece.

He writes:

The United States' Cultural Property Advisory Committee has asked for comment on a proposed Memorandum of Understanding between Greece and the United States that will help protect Greece's archaeological heritage. The deadline for submitting comments is Sept. 22.

You can read about the proposed MoU at http://exchanges.state.gov/heritage/whatsnew.html (where Greece's formal name "The Hellenic Republic" is used).

The Archaeological Institute of America has established a page at http://archaeological.org/cpac, which gives more information on MoUs in general, and on how to submit comments this round. Cribbing from that page:

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Do not send in your letter by regular mail. First class postage goes through security clearing and can take weeks to reach the State Department.
Letters can be submitted online by visiting the website http://regulations.gov. Enter the docket number "DOS–2010–0339" into the "Enter Keyworld or ID" field and click "Search." In the search results select the check box for "Notices"—this will filter the results so that only the official notice is showing. Finally, click on "submit a comment" under actions.

Heath adds:

It is important to stress in your comments that Greece's archaeological resources are under threat from the illicit trade in antiquities. David Gill, of the blog Looting Matters, has links to his coverage of the issue at:
http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2010/09/protecting-archaeological-record-of.html

Image
Messene. © David Gill

Comments

Marble bull's head from the temple of Eshmun

Excavations at the temple of Eshmun in Lebanon recovered a marble bull's head. It is now suggested that it was this head, apparently first published in 1967, that was placed on loan to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art (Tom Mashberg, "Met Museum Turns Over Another Relic With Disputed Past to Prosecutors", New York Times August 1, 2017 ). The head is reported to have been handed over to the Manhattan district attorney after a request was received from the Lebanese authorities.

It is suggested that the head may have been looted from an archaeological storage area at Byblos in the 1980s during the Lebanese civil war. Mashberg has rehearsed the recent collecting history:
The owners of the bull’s head, Lynda and William Beierwaltes of Colorado, say they have clear title to the item and have sued Manhattan prosecutors for its return. The Beierwaltes bought the head from a dealer in London in 1996 for more than $1 million and then sold it to another collector, Michael …

Sardinian warrior from "old Swiss collection"

One of the Sardinian bronzes of a warrior was seized from an as yet unnamed Manahattan gallery. It appears to be the one that passed through the Royal-Athena Gallery: Art of the Ancient World 23 (2012) no. 71. The collecting history for that warrior suggests that it was acquired in 1990 from a private collection in Geneva.

Other clues suggested that the warrior has resided in a New York private collection.

The identity of the private collection in Geneva will no doubt be telling.

The warrior also features in this news story: Jennifer Peltz, "Looted statues, pottery returned to Italy after probe in NYC", ABC News May 25 2017.

Mithras relief from Tor Cervara

A fragmentary relief of Mithras was discovered in 1964 at Tor Cervara on the outskirts of Rome. It was acquired by the Museo Nazionale Romano.

A further fragment of the relief was acquired by the Badisches Landesmueum in Kalrsruhe in 1976. The source was an unstated Swiss dealer. This fragment has been reunited with the rest of the relief [press release].

Today a further fragment of the relief was reunited with the other pieces. This had been recovered during a raid in Sardinia.