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Karl Schembri
Malta may be involved in the illegal trading of ancient Mesopotamian artefacts looted from Baghdad’s National Museum two years ago, according to warnings issued from the Iraqi institution.
An item described as a neo-Babylonian seal dating back to 900-700 BC and a set of stamp and cylinder seals dating around 1000-890 BC are being offered for auction from Malta on eBay – the internet auction giant that is feared to be an illegal trading ground for stolen cultural heritage.
The items form part of a long list of ancient artefacts being sold from around the world and singled out as suspicious by Iraq Museum International on its website baghdadmuseum.org – a cultural watchdog set up after the infamous 2003 looting of the Baghdad museum during the war.
The same sellers are also offering other antiquities which they allege to have been found in Malta, including copper coins dating back to Norman rule and Roman jewellery. If exported, sellers would be breaching cultural heritage laws.
The Chairman of the Baghdad Museum Project, John Simmons, told MaltaToday that the Mesopotamian artefacts which are claimed to be sold from Malta are being monitored by the museum although it is proving next to impossible to regulate the flow of cylinder seals, cuneiform tablets, foundation cones and other items for auction on eBay.
“Thieves stole thousands of such objects from the Iraq Museum and continue to strip mine Iraq’s archaeological sites for more,” Simmons said.
“However, there is no warning on eBay about new global efforts to hunt down black market dealers and collectors in order to recover these artifacts.”
MaltaToday tried to get in touch with two anonymous sellers claiming to be operating from Malta but both of them insisted on sending their items only by post.
One seller listed by Simmons’ project operates with the nickname “bjderstr566” was found registered on another site as Joseph Schembri but no further information was available.
Among his items for sale by auction there is a Persian cylinder seal, a Byzantine amphora silver ring and a Roman provincial bronze coin. He also had a fifth century BC Carthaginian blue glass head pendant on auction until last Friday.
Another seller claiming to be operating from Malta calls himself “qvadrigavincente” and has a set of four Babylonian cylinders and stamp seals dating around 1,000 BC.
The same seller is also auctioning old Norman coins which he says were “found in Malta”, a Roman silver pendant and an Islamic glass bangle claimed to be dating back to 7-9 century AD.
Contacted by MaltaToday, the Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, Anthony Pace, said he will be looking into the matter.
“Whoever exports antiquities from Malta needs my office’s authorisation,” Pace said. “I’ve never received any calls for authorisation to export items sold via eBay although I have been investigating other items on auction on the same site together with the police.”
Controlling the import and export of cultural heritage requires constant monitoring and resources, he said.
The Chairman of Heritage Malta, Mario Tabone, said he was concerned by the fact that there were no provenance details about the items on sale.
“One is ethically bound to ask where these goods were found, in what circumstances, and how they ended up in private hands,” Tabone said.
Simmons said: “Before bidding, prospective buyers of Mesopotamian artefacts listed on eBay are urged to carefully read and compare the sellers’ statements and determine that an artefact is both authentic and legitimate. Although we cannot state outright that any of the objects offered on eBay were stolen, the best we can do is capture our data to a database over time, and then evaluate the data to detect patterns.
“We hope that our monitoring the eBay stream of sales will help us develop the technologies to monitor the art market in general. Although the looting of the museum took place 2 years ago, the case is not closed. We will make sure the case stays open until every last piece is returned to the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.”
A spokesman for eBay had said after the Iraq museum looting that it was possible items stolen from Baghdad could end up on eBay but the auctioning website could not check every single sale on its site.
The reported looting of the famous museum during the Iraq war in 2003 was one of the many shocking events of that time.
Dan Cruickshank, an architectural expert and BBC presenter, had reported that “as Baghdad fell to the US Army, on 9 and 10 April… it seemed something had gone horribly wrong. By 14 April newspapers around the world were carrying stories about appalling destruction.
“Museum staff told journalists that 170,000 items had disappeared. It seemed the unimaginable had happened. One of the most important museums on earth had been obliterated. Urban civilisation, writing, arts and crafts - as well as technological innovations such as the wheel and mathematics - had all started in ancient Mesopotamia 7,000 years ago. And now many artefacts of the expression of these momentous developments were dispersed or vandalised.”
karl@newsworksltd.com
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