[Aztlan] Raiding the Tomb Raiders

[ECOLING at aol.com]

_Raiding the Tomb Raiders_ is the title of a sensational article 
in the July / August issue of _Archaeology_ magazine, pp.37-43.

It reviews the process of discovery of the core 
<<network of looters, smugglers, and dealers 
supplying American museums>>
(the article's subtitle).   Following is reported in the article.

The center of it was Robert Hecht 
(from the family which founded Hecht department stores).

Some most damning items were letters written by the Italian art police 
to William Luers, president of the Metropolitain Museum, 
about the Morgantina silver, a 3rd-century BC silver service the Met   
bought for $2.7 million in 1981-82 and is now returning to Italy,
together with replies by the Met's Ashton Hawkins, firmly refusing
a suggestion that the pieces should be returned to Italy.   Why
were copies of such letters sent to Hecht?   According to the museum's
official account, the silver pieces came from Turkey and were acquired
legally, in Switzerland.   The article considers that the
Metropolitan Museum in New York may have a closer relation with the
antiquities underground than it does with legitimate police authorities.

Museum directors also had passed on to Hecht notices sent to the museums
by the Italian art police announcing that they were putting on their web site 

500 images of archaeological objects stolen or illegally excavated 
in several parts of Italy.

We should not be surprised.   If the newest and greatest is
what the museum public or donors want, and they don't care
much about protecting cultural patrimony, do not place it as a higher value,
then this is what we will get.

The article notes it is excerpted from a 2006 book
_The Medici Conspiracy_ 
by Peter Watson and Cecilia Todeschini.   
Perhaps available via the Perseus Group, www.perseusbooks.com.

Best wishes,
Lloyd Anderson