raid against the now deceased ISIL<\/a> finance chief Abu Sayyaf in Syria, U.S. Special Operations Forces recovered a significant cache of archaeological and historical objects and fragments. According to the State Department\u2019s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, \u201cThe cache represents significant primary evidence of looting at archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, theft from regional museums, and the stockpiling of these spoils for likely sale on the international market.\u201d<\/p>\nThe looted materials, which were returned to the Iraq National Museum, included coins, pottery, glass, ivory, stone, jewelry, figurines, bowls, and manuscripts. Types of objects subject to looting appear in the International Council of Museums\u2019 (ICOM) Red Lists of antiquities at risk posted on the State Department website. Here, collectors and dealers can view and learn to recognize the kinds of objects that have been looted from cultural sites, stolen from museums and churches, and illicitly trafficked. Syria and Iraq each have emergency Red Lists.<\/p>\n
The significance of valuable cultural antiquities as currency to ISIL was brought into sharp relief earlier this month in Palmyra, Syria\u2014a UNESCO World Heritage site dating to the second millennium B.C.\u2014with the public execution of a Syrian art scholar who reportedly refused to reveal to ISIL the location of valuable antiquities.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., meanwhile, buyers may want to consult the Red Lists and should pay special attention to an object\u2019s origin. Buyers should ask many questions such as: Where did this come from? When did it come into the country? Does it have an export license from the country of origin?<\/p>\n
\u201cCheck and verify provenance, importation, and other documents,\u201d said Magness-Gardiner. \u201cYou have to be very careful when you\u2019re buying. We don\u2019t want to say don\u2019t buy anything at all. There\u2019s a lot of legitimate material circulating in the marketplace. What we\u2019re trying to say is, don\u2019t allow these pieces that could potentially support terrorism to be part of the trade.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The FBI is alerting art collectors and dealers to be particularly careful trading Near Eastern antiquities, warning that artifacts plundered by terrorist organizations such as ISIL are entering the marketplace. \u201cWe now have credible reports that U.S. persons have been offered cultural property that appears to have been removed from Syria and Iraq recently,\u201d said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":48176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[31],"tags":[2422,2423,2424,2425],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
FBI Tells Art Dealers to Watch for Antiquities Looted by ISIS - Breaking911<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n