2023-06-30 12:48:57
The illicit trade in antiquities is not the third in importance in the world, only surpassed by that of arms and drugs, even though this mantra is repeated continuously and is even repeated in statements by Unesco or Interpol. Is an urban legendas verified by the archaeologist Donna Yates Assistant Professor at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at Maastricht University and an expert on international trafficking in cultural objects and crimes related to art and heritage.
In an article published in ‘Antiquity’ who signs with his colleague Neil Brodiesenior researcher in the Endangered Archeology of the Middle East and North Africa (EAMENA) project at the University of Oxford, both specialists in the illicit antiquities trade present the ‘stratigraphic excavation’ that have been made about this statement, searching for its origin and veracity through academic articles, press and political documents of the last 50 years.
“We never got to the bottom as the claim has no solid basis,” they assure, because the statement that it is “the third” in importance “is not based on any research carried out or on any statistics compiled or originates from any competent authority.”
Yates and Brodie recall that despite being unfounded, it was included in the special edition of the Unesco Courier published on the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Convention, along with data that was discredited. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said in 2020 that the illicit trade in antiquities accounts for between 4,000 and 11,000 million dollars a year, when reports from the Rand Corporation and the European Commission reveal that the total volume of the trade in antiquities (legal and illegal – “the two are inseparably mixed”), not including coins, “has a global value of a few hundred million dollars a year or, within Europe, between 64 and 318 million euros per year,” the researchers point out.
Both experts continually see in articles submitted to academic journals and grant applications that they are asked to review, as well as in political reports, mentions that the illicit traffic in antiquities is the third largest in terms of volume, after drugs and weapons.
They have verified that this statement is sometimes included no source or generically and when citing a published source, you only have to go back a link or two in the chain to arrive at an unquoted statement. «is a factoid (false belief or urban legend)“, they conclude. »An assumption or speculation reported and repeated so often that it is popularly considered true«.
The urban legend, which has been repeated at least since it was published in the ‘Journal of Field Archeology’ in 1974, has shaped itself over time, sometimes applied to art, sometimes to antiquities and sometimes to cultural property. And going from second to third place in size as a criminal activity, although always without data to support said statement.
Interpol contradictions
In the international press (‘The New York Times’, ‘The Guardian’, Associated Press, AFP…) they have found many examples of detectives, managers and experts from foundations and art organizations that reproduce this widespread belief. Even representatives of Interpol have taken it for granted on occasions, although the International Criminal Police Organization itself He admits he doesn’t have numbers. that allows you to state that the trafficking of cultural property is the third or fourth most common form of trafficking. “In fact, it is very difficult to get an exact idea of how much cultural property is stolen around the world and it is unlikely that there will ever be accurate statistics,” he noted in response to FAQs on his website.
“It is very difficult to get an exact idea of how much cultural property is stolen around the world and it is unlikely that there will ever be accurate statistics”
“Interpol is partly to blame for the pervasiveness of this statement,” Yates and Brodie consider in their article, before remarking that “it is not based on the research of any academic or business or professional expert, it is not drawn from statistics criminal organizations or any relevant organization or government and no one has verified«.
These specialists in crimes against property have detected how this statement has infiltrated documents and reports from the European Union and found “disturbing and dangerous« that politicians buy this statement since they can make important decisions based on it. “This leaves antiquities poorly protected, as it is unlikely to prevent true manifestations of this form of crime,” they say.
They further highlight that “the prevalence of unsubstantiated claims in this area gives people involved in the trade something to legitimately criticize and, in doing so, opens the door for factual data, accurate information and discussion of harms are dismissed as ‘inaccurate data’«.
The researchers from the University of Maastricht and Oxford conclude that “high-quality data and expert analysis to replace factoids that are currently embedded in public discourse« and then communicate the results clearly, as well as »stop lazily repeating what should now be a discredited fact«.
Because “antiques and other cultural objects are fundamental components of our heritage and identity,” they stress. “We don’t need to financially classify your illicit trade to make the social harms more damaging.”
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