Abstract

For most of its history, archaeology has too often taken an indulgent attitude toward looting and antiquities trafficking. The primary response to these dangers has been to publish the main findings made outside of academia. As a result of this approach and the prominent role played by police techniques in investigating such crimes, investigations are primarily based on documentary research. This approach makes it harder to determine such essential factors in this field as an object’s collecting history or discovery date. This paper proposes new ways of studying collecting history, drawing on research projects on the use of archaeometry to shed light on cases of looting or trafficking involving police, court, or government intervention; hence, its qualification as “forensic”. Although the current state of knowledge does not enable the presentation of novel research, we believe that researchers and interested institutions should be made aware of the advisability of using archaeometry more directly in the fight against these scourges.

Highlights

  • Throughout history, culturally valuable objects have been forcibly removed from the places where they were created to be taken elsewhere

  • We call the application of these new archaeometric techniques to the investigation of crimes related to looting and antiquities trafficking “forensic archaeometry”

  • The main objective of ARCHGEOLOOT is to train a new generation of researchers to develop innovative procedures for determining the material, site, and excavation date of looted archaeological objects. These procedures will be based on a set of new forensic archaeometry methodological protocols and use advanced data-mining and machine-learning tools

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Summary

Introduction

Throughout history, culturally valuable objects have been forcibly removed from the places where they were created to be taken elsewhere. We call the application of these new archaeometric techniques to the investigation of crimes related to looting and antiquities trafficking “forensic archaeometry” This term is rare in the academic literature of both archaeology and the forensic sciences. The main objective of ARCHGEOLOOT is to train a new generation of researchers to develop innovative procedures for determining the material, site, and excavation date of looted archaeological objects These procedures will be based on a set of new forensic archaeometry methodological protocols and use advanced data-mining and machine-learning tools. In this paper, we pay special attention to the debate arising as a result of police investigations in the country into the trafficking of antiquities looted from archaeological sites This phenomenon is obviously not limited to Spain, but rather is international in scope. Other measures have been taken to better combat looting and the illicit trafficking of cultural objects, in general, and of antiquities, in particular

The International Legal Response
Operational Responses
The Problem of Objects with No Known Provenience or Collecting History
Connivance with Private Collecting
The Debate between Objects and Context
The Debate over a Date
Falsification of Provenience and Collecting History
New Analytical Methodologies to Tackle Old Challenges
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