[meteorite-list] Warning About Libyan Desert Glass Artifacts

From: kaolinite_at_smtp.vnet.net <kaolinite_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue Jun 8 09:41:02 2004
Message-ID: <265940-22004628134055354_at_M2W094.mail2web.com>

Last Saturday evening, I showed a professional
archaeologist friend, who is a member of ROPA*;
has worked in Egypt; and interested in meteorites,
the June issue of "Meteorite Times". As an
archaeologist, she was quite surprised and even
shocked to see pictures of Egyptian artifacts
made from Libyan Desert Glass displayed on the
"Tektite of the Month"- "Libyan Desert Glass
Artifacts"/ web page at:
.
http://www.meteoritetimes.com/current_links/Tektite_of_Month.htm
.
She was shocked because the buying, selling, and
ownership of Egyptian artifacts, including those
composed of Libyan Desert Glass, which have
illegally exported from Egypt since 1970 is
regarded by both the U.S. Customs Service and
the Egyptian government as a crime. Should
either the Egyptian government or the US Customs
Service decide to go after a person, he or she
can be prosecuted for either selling, buying,
or even owning illicit artifacts.
.
In her opinion, it is quite possible that all of
the Libyan Desert Glass (LDG) artifacts found in
the United States in private ownership has been
illegally exported from Egypt. She argues, that
is because in 1970, Egypt passed a law making
the export of any prehistoric artifact without
an export license illegal. It was also in 1970
that both the United States and Egypt signed the
"1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting
and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and
Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property" Soon
after that, enabling legislation, the "Convention
on Cultural Property Implementation Act" was
passed by the Congress and signed into law by the
President. This made the 1970 UNESCO legally
enforceable. As a result, any prehistoric artifact
exported after 1970 without an official Egyptian
export permit became either illegal to either sell,
buy, or own in the United States.
.
>From her experience in Egypt, she is quite
certain that was quite impossible for anyone to
have legally obtained a permit from the Egyptian
Department of Antiquities for the export of any
LDG artifacts for either resale to others or their
own personal collections. (She has sent some emails
to friends in the Supreme Council of Antiquities
to find out if any such permits had been issued by
some chance.) Thus, according to her opinion, any
LDG artifact exported from Egypt after 1970 was
likely exported illegally. Given that the LDG
strewn field wasn't revisited by even scientists
until well after 1970, she believes that just about
every LDG artifact currently in private collections
in the United States was illegally exported. The
practical aspect of this is that any person, who
owns a LDG artifact, but lacks documentation
verifying that the artifact was either exported
legally or it was collected before 1970, might be,
in addition to having their LDG artifacts seized,
open to prosecution by the U.S. Customs Service for
trafficking in or possession of illicit artifacts.
.
Her personal advice to me was not to buy any Libyan
Desert Glass (LDG) artifact(s) that lacked the proper
official documentation indicating that it was either
legally exported or exported before 1970. Otherwise,
if the Customs Service decided crack down on the
illegal trafficking in Egyptian artifacts, it might
be easy for them to make the case, as discussed
above, that any LDG artifact is in the United States
illegally unless I could prove otherwise. Also, it
would cause me lots of grief if the person, who sold
a LDG artifact to me, copped a plea by turning over
to them a list of persons, whom he or she sold the
artifacts to, along with the name of his supplier of
LDG artifacts. This isn't an unheard of possibility
given that the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities
has created Dept. of Stolen Artifacts in order to
seek out what they consider to be "stolen artifacts"
and by whatever legal means possible force their
owners to return them return them to Egypt. Examples
of this is discussed in:
.
1. Egypt reclaims stolen antiquities
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2115607.stm
.
""No matter how significant or
insignificant a relic is, we will
have lawyers everywhere to return
our antiquities," said Dr Hawass."
.
2. The Egyptian curse By Zahi Hawass
http://www.guardians.net/hawass/articles/Egyptian_Curse.htm
.
(Note my friend has worked with and knows Dr.
Hawass quite well. She should know what she is
talking about.)
.
"I believe that men like Frederick
Schultz, whom a New York judge
convicted of stealing and dealing in
stolen Egyptian antiquities and
sentenced to imprisonment for a term
of 33 months and a fine of $50,000,
are the real "Egyptian curse". They
destroy Egyptian monuments and erase
segments of the historical record."
.
"More is the pity that there is no
real "curse of the mummies" to cast
its spell on the looters of Egyptian
antiquities."
.
3. Repatriation, a New Ethos at the Egyptian Museum
of Antiquities, Cairo
http://www.e-c-h-o.org/Repatriation.htm
.
It is obvious from the complexity of antiquities
laws that the above discussion is only a lay person's
interpretation that he has been told. Therefore,
it should not be used to make any judgments about
the legal standing of or for specific situations.
It is just a warning that people who own or trade
in Egyptian artifacts composed of Libyan Desert
Glass might want to talk with a lawyer about their
legal standing. People, who buy artifacts composed
of Libyan Desert Glass might insist on obtaining a
valid legal document certifying that the artifact
that they are buying was legally exported to cover
themselves in terms of legal liabilities.
.
Maybe the International Meteorite Collectors Association
might want to hire a lawyer to look into this matter and
publish a report on the legal status of Egyptian
artifacts composed of Libyan Desert Glass.
.
Yours,
.
Keith Littleton
St. Tammany Parish, LA

ROPA = Register of Professional Archaeologists

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Received on Tue 08 Jun 2004 09:40:55 AM PDT