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A History of Looting:

Egypt

March 13, 2013

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Looting and the Illicit Trade of Antiquities

Today: Egypt (Waxman)

Greece, Italy, Turkey (Waxman)

Iraq

Peru

China

Cambodia

Africa

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Artistic Patrimony

Who owns the art of ancient civilizations?

Does it belong to the world as a whole?

Does it belong to the country it came from?

Should all art be returned to its homeland?

Several debates raging as we speak over artistic patrimony and who ownsart

To return or not to return: that is the question at hand

Starting with Egyptian antiquities and Zahi Hawass

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Why do countries want their art back?

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Why do countries want their art back?

Lawsuits and criminal prosecutions abound (think Marion True of the Getty)

Battle over who should own these objects that represent the heritage ofhumankind

Over the last 200 years: taken from country of origin and transported tomuseums around the world

Should they stay where they are, exhibited and preserved with care,

accessible to people from around the world?

Should they return to their country of origin?

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Why do countries want their art back?

Should they return to their country of origin?

Demands for restitution have risen tremendously

Historic justice for imperialism?

Modern settling of scores?

Why has this issue of restitution been taken up with such fervor now?

At its core, what is this war over ancient art about?

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Have claims for restitution gone too far lately?

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Discovery of Spanish

Galleon in 2007

American deep-sea explorers

International waters off thecoast of Spain

Spanish galleon sunk in 1804by a British warship

Inside they found $500 million

in gold and treasures

Who does this belong to?

What countries are asking for

its return?

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How did Western countries end up with all thisart anyway?

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16th to 18th Centuries

From 16th c: Europeans are the dominant force

Conquering, destroying past cultures, claiming ancient history for itself

Cultural shift was one-way

What did Europeans bring home with them?

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18th to 20th Centuries

18th c.: age of Imperialism

First emulation of classical antiquity (e.g. Neoclassicism)

19th c.: rediscovery of Egypt by Napoleon; discovery of ancientMesopotamia

Museums emerge in 1793 (Louvre)

20th c.: Asia, Latin America, and Africa

Today: we live in a different age

Once-colonized and now independent countries

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Today well investigate the history of looting andthe current battle for Egyptian antiquities.

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Looting in Egypt

Looting in antiquity

Target practice

Napoleon

Diplomats, tourists,archaeologists, treasurehunters

Egyptian art is scattered allover the globe

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Looting in Egypt

Looting in antiquity

Napoleon

Target practice

Diplomats, tourists,archaeologists, treasurehunters

Egyptian art is scattered allover the globe

Profit, science, nationalism

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Egyptian Tomb

Raiders

Old and New Kingdom tombs

Since they were built, they havebeen under siege by looters

Stone

Tomb robbing: well organized

Corrupt priests and bribedofficials

By 1000 BCE: most of Valley ofKings tombs had been looted

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Finds from King Tutankhamens Tomb, October 1922Funerary furniture, sculptures, gold, beads, jewels, bows and arrows, shoes, underwear

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Howard Carter with the sarcophagus of King Tutankamen,1922

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Trial of Tomb

Robbers

During reign of Ramses IX(1126-1198 BCE)

Thebes

Records survive

Paser: mayor of Eastern

Thebes

Pawero: mayor of WesternThebes

Eyewitness accounts

Tomb entrance, Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt

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Witnesses described how they pried open theentrances of royal tombs: Then we found the

august mummy of the king. There were numerous

amulets and golden ornaments at his throat, his

head had a mask of gold upon it, and the mummy

itself was overlaid with gold throughout...We

stripped off the gold which we found on the august

mummy of the king and the amulets andornaments, and the coverings in which it rested.

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What happens after this?

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Tomb Robbing in

Ancient Egypt

Paser takes testimony is taken

to the local governor

Inspection ensues

Politics

Paser renews his battle

45 tomb robbers appearedbefore court

Penalties?

Egyptian Pendant: Perhaps what the tomb robbers were looking for?

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Come out, they said, We are going to take

plunder for bread to eat. They took me with them.

We opened the tomb and brought away a shroudof gold and silver. We broke it up, put it in a

basket, brought it down and divided it into six

parts.

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What did pharaohs

do to stop looting?

Moved mummies from tomb to

tomb, sarcophagus tosarcophagus

Tried to keep one step ahead ofthieves

Strong, trusting guards

Tomb entrance, Valley of the Kings, Upper Egypt

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Over the next several centuries, temples wereneglected, buildings were quarried for their

stone, desert sands covered monuments, and

people built on top of these places.

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17th and 18th

Centuries

Mumiya: aphrodisiac and

medicine made of ground upmummies

Mummy linen used for paper

Bones burnt for ink

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Napoleon in Egypt

1798: seize strategic trade

route to India

Brought a team of 167 experts

with him: Savants

Egyptology and rediscoveryof ancient Egypt

Description de lEgypte

Left six years later (with aboatload of antiquities)

After Napoleon...

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Napoleon in Egypt

1798: seize strategic trade

route to India

Brought a team of 167 experts

with him: Savants

Egyptology and rediscoveryof ancient Egypt

Description de lEgypte

Left six years later (with aboatload of antiquities)

After Napoleon...

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After Napoleon

Egyptomania

Next 200 years

Diplomats, tourists, dukes,merchants, treasure hunters:vied with one another

Eager travelers began to

despoil the very civilization theyloved so much

England, France, Germany

Giovanni Belzoni, Treasure Hunter and Archaeologist

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Giovanni Belzoni

1778-1823

Profit from Egyptomania

Europeans traveling to Egypt toexplore and cash in

Belzoni: frontline

Temple of Abu Simbel, Tomb ofSeti I, entrance to pyramid

Archaeologist, thief, explorer,greedy collector,preservationist, tomb robber

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Every step I took I crushed a mummy insome part or other... When my weight boredown on the body of an Egyptian it crushedlike a box. I sank altogether among the brokenmummies with a crash of bones, rags andwooden cases... I could not avoid beingcovered with bones, legs, arms and headsrolling from above.

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Today, Egypt is demanding the return of many ofthese looted objects. Spearheading this campaign

is Zahi Hawass.

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Dr. Zahi Hawass

Great preserver of Egypts heritage andhe is deeply concerned about theconservation and protection of Egyptsmonuments

Archaeologist, Egyptologist

Secretary General of the Supreme Councilof Antiquities

Directs ongoing excavations at Giza,Saqqara, and the Valley of the Kings

Asking for the return of Egyptian artifacts

Charming fellow: hes in all kinds ofdocumentaries on Egyptian art and society

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Zahi Hawass and Indiana Jones?

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Dr. Zahi Hawass

Five objects at the top of Hawass hit list

Rosetta Stone (British Museum)

Bust of Nefertiti (Neues Museum,Berlin)

Zodiac of Denderah (Louvre)

Statue of Hemiunu (Hildesheim)

Sculpture of Ankhaf (Boston Museumof Fine Arts)

Partage System

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Why is Zahi Hawass demanding the return of these objects?

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To house these objects, Hawass is building theGrand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, set to open in

2015.

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Other elaborate plans include the building of22more museums and increased penalties for

dealing in stolen Egyptian antiquities. Plus

something else...

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Rosetta Stone, 196

BCE

The British Museum

47 tall by 32 wide

Granite

1680 pounds

Text in hieroglyphics, Demotic,

and ancient Greek

Why is it so important?

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Hieroglyphics

Demotic

Ancient Greek

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Jean-Franois

Champollion

Deciphered Egyptianhieroglyphics in the 1820s

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Rosetta Stone, 196

BCE

Napoleon and Egyptiancampaigns; stone discovered in1799

Was it stolen by the French?

Then how did it end up in theUnited Kingdom?

Will the British Museum give it

back?

To return or not to return?

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At the top of Hawass wish list is the Bust ofNefertiti.

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Bust of Nefertiti,

1345 BCE, limestone

Queen, wife of Akhenaton

The Beautiful One Has Come

19 painted limestone bust

After the Sphinx and the

Pyramids, she is the next mostfamous Egyptian icon

Neues Museum, Berlin

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Bust of Nefertiti,

1345 BCE, limestone

How did it get to Germany?

Discovered in 1912

Partage system

Egypt quickly felt duped

First request for return in 1925

(excavation permits denied)

1929: exchange

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Connection to Hitler

and Goering

1933: Hitler becomes

chancellor and the Egyptianstry again

Goering agrees that it might bepossible

Hitler then denies the bustsreturn wholeheartedly

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Do you know what Im going to do one day? Imgoing to build a new Egyptian museum in Berlin I

dream of it. Inside I will build a chamber, crowned

by a large dome. In the middle, this wonder,

Nefertiti, will be enthroned. I will never relinquishthe head of the Queen.

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Connection to Hitler

and Goering

WWII: moved to a salt mine for

protection

After WII: Wiesbaden

Collecting Point

Returned to West Berlin

East Berlin vs. West Berlin until

1989

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Nefertiti and Zahi

Hawass

Pushing for its return

2007: another request

Exchange for other antiquities

German response

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Also on Hawass list is the Zodiac from the Templeof Hathor at Denderah.

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Temple of Hathor at Denderah

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Temple of Hathor at Denderah

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Images and

Symbols ofEgyptian

astronomy and

astrology

Nut: Sky Goddess

Geb: Earth God

Sky, planets,

constellations,

eclipses

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Images and

Symbols ofEgyptian

astronomy and

astrology

Nut: Sky Goddess

Geb: Earth God

Sky, planets,

constellations,

eclipses

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Denderah Zodiac

One of Napoleons savants

was the first to lay eyes on it in1799

Sebastien Louis Saulnier andJean Baptiste Lelorrain in theearly 1820s

Saulnier decided France musthave it

Permission from Egyptian ruler

How was it removed?

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Denderah Zodiac

Survived its extraction

Shipped to France

Sold to Louis XVIII

Bibliothque Nationale

Louvre in 1919

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Should the Zodiac be

Returned?

Experience of Temple of

Hathor at Denderah

Location and safetyof

Denderah

Accessibilityat the Louvre

Act of vandalism: but should it

be returned to a place that noone visits?

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Egypt wants treasures back

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Zahi Hawass is pushing for the return of these

objects, creating new, state-of-the-art museums,

cracking down on the illegal antiquities market,

and...

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What else is Zahi

Hawass doing?

He wants to copyright the most

famous Egyptian antiquities, suchas the Great Pyramids, the Bustof Nefertiti, and the Sphinx.

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Can you think of any representations/reproductionsof the pyramids?

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But this is slightlyoff scale

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The Pyramids in big-budget Hollywood movies: 2008sJumper

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Today, Egypt is still often in the news because oflooting of archaeological sites.

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