As Vanessa Kam reported recently in Art Documentation, the losses in last
spring's looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad were not as catastrophic
as originally feared. Nevertheless, an estimated 15,000 items from the
Iraq Museum's collection of 500,000 artefacts remain unaccounted for;
stolen museum objects are turning up in neighboring countries and on
the international antiquities market; and thousands of archaeological
sites in Iraq that were once protected by armed guards are now unguarded
amidst the chaos.

Below are more details from an international conference held in Amman,
Jordan, attended by museum curators and customs and law enforcement
officials from the region.

For continuous updates, see
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/iraq.html
"Lost Treasures From Iraq" -- a project of the Oriental Institute at the
University of Chicago. The site includes the Iraq Museum image database
of objects from the Baghdad museum; photos of looted archaeological sites
in Iraq; links to bibliographies documenting the contents of Iraqi museums
and libraries; and the IraqCrisis news and discussion list on cultural
heritage in Iraq.

András Riedlmayer
Fine Arts Library
Harvard University
=======================================================================
BBC Monitoring International Reports
June 1, 2004

IRAQI MUSEUM SAYS NEIGHBOURING STATES SEIZED OVER A THOUSAND STOLEN ARTEFACTS

"1,235 stolen artefacts"
published in English by Jordanian news agency Petra web site
 Source: Petra-JNA news agency web site, Amman, in English 1 Jun 04

Amman, 1 June -- Director-General of the Iraqi Museum, Dr Donny George
affirmed that three of Iraq's neighbouring countries had seized about
1,235 pieces of antiquities stolen from Iraq after the US occupation.

Dr George told Jordan News Agency, on the sidelines of the "Regional
meeting to fight illicit trafficking in cultural property stolen In Iraq"
currently being held in Amman, that Jordan has more than 1,000 pieces
of antiquities, Syria 200 pieces and Kuwait 35 pieces. He affirmed
that Saudi Arabia had seized some artefacts, the number of which
it will reveal during today's meeting

The director said that the number of items that have been looted from
the Baghdad Museum was estimated at 15,000, noting that the museum
used to have more than half a million pieces of antiquities.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Associated Press
June 1, 2004, Tuesday

Jordan urges closer cooperation to stop smuggling of Iraqi treasures

By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer

AMMAN, Jordan, June 1 (AP) -- The looting of ancient Iraqi artifacts
was the crime of the century, the chief of Jordanian Customs said
in a speech Tuesday, and he called on countries neighboring Iraq to
do more to curb trafficking in thousands of missing treasures.

The curator of the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad estimated about
15,000 artifacts still were missing nearly 14 months after the fall
of Saddam Hussein.

In the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam
in April 2003, looters rampaged through Iraqi museums and stores of
ancient treasures.

Jordan, one of Iraq's six neighbors, has confiscated hundreds of
Iraqi artifacts, carpets, paintings and books that have been stolen
from Iraq's museums and archaeological sites.

Mahmoud Qteishat, director-general of the Jordanian Customs Department,
said the looting of Iraqi artifacts was the "greatest crime of the
century" and he called for closer cooperation among countries near Iraq
to catch the thieves and smugglers.

"Customs authorities, concerned regional and international organizations
and countries neighboring Iraq must consolidate their efforts and
reactivate techniques of cooperation to combat the smuggling of
Iraqi artifacts," Qteishat said.

He spoke in the Jordanian capital Amman, at the opening of a two-day
symposium devoted to curbing the smuggling of Iraq's looted treasures.
The symposium is hosted by the Jordanian government and Interpol,
which is based in Lyon, France.

Donny George, director of the Iraqi National Museum, accused two
of Iraq's neighbors, Turkey and Iran, of "not assisting" efforts
to recover the stolen Iraqi treasures.

Of Iraq's six neighbors, Turkey and Iran were the only ones who
did not send representatives to the symposium. George's accusation
came too late in the day to elicit a response from the Turkish and
Iranian governments.

George was interviewed by Petra, Jordan's official news agency,

Qteishat, the customs director, urged Interpol, the United Nations
and antiquities experts to compile a database to help count, trace
and return looted artifacts to their owners.

He also called for countries bordering Iraq to implement "random
inspection" of passengers and goods coming out of Iraq and to use
"modern techniques" to monitor border traffic.

The chief of Interpol, Willy Deridder, told the symposium that
archaeological sites in Iraq continue to be looted, particularly
those in the south of the country. The 4,000-year-old ziggurat of Ur
is in southern Iraq.

Speaking in French, Deridder said that Iraq has 100,000 archaeological
sites and 10,000 of them are "almost impossible to protect."

Deridder said between 13,000 and 14,000 missing objects remained
missing - an estimate that is much fewer than initially thought.

The symposium is being attended by representatives of Western
police forces, such as the FBI and Britain's Scotland Yard, and
the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the
International Council for Museums, and customs officials from Syria,
Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
___________________________________________________________________
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/911B53A6-F2F8-4B4B-A70C-094D91506F07.htm
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday 01 June 2004

Iraqi treasures remain missing

 Thousands of precious artefacts stolen from the Iraqi National
Museum last year remain lost, the head of the museum has revealed.

 "Fifteen thousand objects are still missing from the Iraq museum,"
which was looted at the end of the US-led war last year, Donny George
told reporters in Amman on Tuesday.

 "We are sure that Iraqi antiquities are going out through
Turkey and Iran," he said.

 George was speaking on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of
customs officials from several of Iraq's neighbours, as well as
US and European law enforcement agents.

 He said some of Iraq's neighbours, including Jordan, Syria,
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia had cooperated with Baghdad and seized
hundreds of items smuggled through their borders in the aftermath
of the invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.

Safekeeping

 The director-general of Jordan's department of antiquities,
Fawaz Khraysha, said more than 1000 stolen objects had been seized
and were being held in safekeeping until the Iraqis request their
return.

    [PHOTO]: The US is criticised for 'not doing much'
             to protect the museum

 "We have around 1046 objects, various ones.  They have been
listed on CDs and copies have been given to Iraq and to UNESCO,"
the UN cultural agency, Khraysha said.

 George said Syria was holding in safekeeping about 200 artefacts
looted during the war while Kuwait managed to retrieve 35 objects
stolen from the museum.

 "Saudi Arabia told us they have objects but we don't know exactly
how many.  We are in contact with them through the ministry of
foreign affairs," George said.

 He added that these countries should hold on to the items until
stability returns to Iraq.  The missing items include a half-sized,
headless statue of Sumerian king Entemena made of diorite as well
as an important ivory and gold plaque known as the Lioness and the
Nubian, which is inlaid with precious stones.

Theft continues

 Artefacts are still being taken from the country's archaeological sites.

 "Looters are digging as we speak and we can't do anything about it,"
said George.

       "We are sure that Iraqi antiquities are going out
        through Turkey and Iran"
                      -- Donny George,
                         head of Iraqi National Museum

 He complained that the occupation forces were not doing "that much"
to stop the looting because "they have, as they say, other priorities
such as security, water, electricity".

 Iraq is planning to set up a 1300-strong antiquities police force --
and is looking for vehicles to patrol the country's numerous
archeological sites.

 However, according to a senior Interpol agent, Karl Heinz Kind, policing
is hampered by the fact that there are 100,000 archeological sites in Iraq
but only 10,000 are registered.

 "This makes it impossible to protect all of them and the major problem we
are now facing is the continuous looting of Iraq's archeological sites,"
Kind said at the start of the meeting.

###############

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