THEFT OF HISTORY A Continuing Threat to Yemeni Antiquities [Archives:2000/44/Culture]

Karen Dabrowska
The latest excavations under Yemeni sands which are unearthing the 3,000 old ruins of a huge temple complex believed to be the lost capital of the Queen of Sheba are an archaeologists dream come true. The circular temple sanctuary is packed with artifacts, pottery, artwork and inscriptions, opening a new door to the ancient civilizations of southern Arabia, Dr. William Glanzman the principal director of an international team which has been working on the site believes. 
But the site could also be a lucrative hunting ground for smugglers constantly in search of easy money from pilfered antiquities. In May this year the customs and antiquities office at Sanaa International Airport frustrated an attempt to smuggle out antiquities from the pre-christian era. They included ancient manuscripts, the statues of humans and animals and a stone jar. 
The smugglers tried to export the antiquities inside bulky boxes under the pretext that they were being sent to the Expo-2000 exhibition in Hanover. 
The antiquities trade does not thrive on recirculating items from private collections. It needs to be refueled and this refueling can only be done through the illicit plundering of archaeological sites, Carl Phillips, Director of Excavations in Yemen taking place under the aegis of the British Archaeological Mission to Yemen, pointed out. 
Britain has the unenviable reputation of being a smugglers paradise. In a report published by the Museums Association in June it is pointed out that in Britain it is still legal to trade in cultural material illegally exported from other countries. The report Stealing History describes in detail the huge scale of modern looting ranging from the alarming rate of destruction of archaeological sites in Italy to the looting in Mali which has become an international scandal. 
The trade is an underground activity and it is impossible to estimate its financial level. Estimates have ranged from £150 million to £2 billion a year. 
Phillips also a lecturer in the archaeology of pre-Islamic Arabia at the Institute of Archaeology in London keeps an eye on Londons antiquities market where a number of valuable items from Yemen have surfaced. 
The bottom line is that if there wasnt a market there would be no looting, said Liz Robertson the Museum Associations policy officer. The trouble is we have no sense of outrage about the looting of archaeological sites in the way that we do about the loss of wildlife and even the removal of birds eggs, she said. 
The Museums Association is urging the British government to sign two international agreements, the 1970 UNESCO and 1995 Unidroit conventions. This would prevent Britain being used as a market place for material which was illegally obtained and provide a means for reclaiming material exported illegally from this country. 
During its colonial days in Aden and south Yemen Britain played a role in the preservation of antiquities. In the 1960s, when Stephen Day was a colonial officer in the then Western Aden protectorate an antiquities ordinance was in force in the colony of Aden. It required anyone wishing to possess or export an antiquity to get the permission of the Director of Antiquities. But there was no ordinance in the interior. 
At that time I was, among other things, adviser to the Fadhli Sultan, Day recalls. He became very interested in antiquities. I remember taking him to the British Museum and giving him a lot of books. He appreciated that this was an important element of national wealth, of great importance to future generations. He brought in an Antiquities Ordinance to the Fadhli sultanate which I drafted and since the Fadhli sultanate was on the eastern border of Aden, the route for most of the smuggled antiquities, including those coming out of North Yemen, it enabled the police to confiscate a lot of smuggled goods and stop any looting within the Fadhli Sultanate. But that was only one of 21 states in the interior. 
Day continues his story with nostalgia and some regrets. The sultan then became Minister of Justice in the federal government and I persuaded him to propose that the federal government which covered most of the interior should introduce an antiquities ordnance. It was at that point that my superior reprimanded me for wasting peoples time because there were many more important priorities than antiquities. And I replied very pompously because I was very young that in 50 years time it might be the only aspect of British rule that anyone remembered. We didnt do it. No antiquities ordnance was introduced and personally I feel ashamed at the absence of any legacy in that respect. I say that having seen particularly what the French did in their former colonial territories. They did marvelous work in developing knowledge about the past. 
After independence the Yemeni authorities have done their best to make up for British indifference to the preservation of the countrys heritage. They have often been praised for their efforts to protect archaeological sites especially during civil wars when buildings and monuments were destroyed and antiquities were stolen from museums. Today a strict check is made by customs to stop illegal exports. 
Forgers have turned out to be conservationists in disguise. Once word gets around that a lot of money has been paid for worthless look alike, many would-be buyers think twice before parting with their money for a statue that could have no value. 
Pilfering of antiquities is also a problem in other Middle Eastern countries. In August, Egyptian police foiled an attempt to smuggle antiquities thought to be worth at least $15 million to the United States. They included a column from a Greek temple and chairs inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl found in a shipment of furniture about to leave the port of Alexandria. 
In Iraq there are small museums at most of the archaeological sites but many valuable artifacts have been stolen. In its Issue of January 1997, Trace, a magazine which liaises with international police forces and the art world in tracing stolen works, estimated 4,000 items were looted during the Gulf war in 1991. Black marketers have been encouraged by legitimate deals. On the legal market an Assyrian stone carving was sold for £2.7 million to a Japanese collector. 

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