Monday, January 31, 2011

AIA, Related Groups Call for Increased US Vigilence for Looted Egyptian Materials

The AIA and related groups have called for increased law enforcement vigilance for possibly looted Egyptian archaeological material. See
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/675086/9b952123c1/285206853/7b4b5690fd/

While I understand the AIA's and related group's concerns, I also hope this is not the beginning of a witch hunt aimed at collectors and dealers in Egyptian antiquities, which, after all, have been avidly collected for generations. Remember the claims that boatloads of looted Iraqi materials would be entering the country? Well, that never happened, but archaeologists certainly took out their understandable frustrations about looting in Iraq on collectors and museums, all with little cause, it turns out. I just hope that history does not repeat itself again.

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