Green Saharas, Grey Markets: Commercial Exploitation of North African Prehistory, an Overview

Paul M. Barford

doi:10.23858/APa58.2020.018

Published: 2020-07-27

Vol. 58 (2020)

Green Saharas, Grey Markets: Commercial Exploitation of North African Prehistory, an Overview

Paul M. Barford

Archaeologia Polona

Section: Discussions and criticism

https://doi.org/10.23858/APa58.2020.018

Abstract

The collection-driven destruction of the archaeological record by artefact hunters not only threatens to obliterate part of the world’s cultural heritage, but also profoundly affects our ability to understand the human past of the region. This text takes a preliminary look at the material and archaeological consequences of a little-known aspect of the antiquities market, the gathering of surface finds to fuel the online collectors’ market in ancient lithic tools. It attempts to characterise the dynamics and effects of this commerce on the basis of a survey of the internet trade in Stone Age artefacts from North Africa and how they reach and are spread in the market countries. It demonstrates that the effects of these activities are having a devastating effect on parts of the archaeological record of the source countries.

Keywords:

Archaeology, Sahara, Neolithic, artefacts, archaeological looting, antiquities trade

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Paul M. Barford. (2020). Green Saharas, Grey Markets: Commercial Exploitation of North African Prehistory, an Overview. Archaeologia Polona, 58, 311 –. https://doi.org/10.23858/APa58.2020.018

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Atwood, R. 2004. Stealing history: tomb raiders, smugglers, and the looting of the ancient world. New York.
Google Scholar

Bar-Yosef, D. 2013. Towards a typology of stone beads in the Neolithic Levant. Journal of Field Archaeology 38(2): 129–142.
Google Scholar

Barker, A. 2018. Looting, the antiquities trade, and competing valuations of the past. Annual Review of Anthropology 47: 455–474.
Google Scholar

Bednarik, R.G. 2011. About ostrich eggshell beads. The Bead Forum 59: 2–8 (accessible online: http://www.ifrao.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/97Ostrich.pdf).
Google Scholar

Berner, J. 2002. American Indian artifacts: genuine or reproduction? Roswell.
Google Scholar

Brodie, N. 1998. Pity the poor middlemen. Culture Without Context 3: 7–9.
Google Scholar

Brodie, N. and Renfrew, C. 2005. Looting and the world's archaeological heritage: the inadequate response. Annual Review of Anthropology 34: 343–361.
Google Scholar

Brodie, N. 2015. The internet market in antiquities. In F. Desmarais (ed.), Countering Illicit Traffic in cultural goods: the global challenge of protecting the World’s Heritage, 11–20. Paris.
Google Scholar

Brodie, N. 2017. Virtually gone! The internet market in antiquities. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property; Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation: Seoul, Korea, 2017, 190–204. Seoul.
Google Scholar

Brodie, N. and Tubb, K.W. 2002. Illicit antiquities: the theft of culture and the extinction of archaeology. London.
Google Scholar

Brooks, N. 2013. Beyond collapse: climate change and causality during the Middle Holocene Climatic Transition, 6400–5000 years before present. Geografisk Tidsskrift – Danish Journal of Geography 112(2): 93–104
Google Scholar

Bruhns, K. 2000. www.plunderedpast.com. Society for American Archaeology Bulletin 18(2):14–15.
Google Scholar

Chippindale, C. and Gill, D. 2001. On-line auctions: a new venue for the antiquities market. Culture Without Context 9: 4–12.
Google Scholar

Corbey, R. 2000. Tribal art traffic a chronicle of taste, trade and desire in Colonial and Post-colonial Times. Amsterdam.
Google Scholar

Deckers, P., Dobat, A., Ferguson, N., Heeren, S., Lewis, M. and Thomas, S. 2018. The Complexities of metal detecting policy and practice: a response to Samuel Hardy. Open Archaeology 4(1). Electronic document: https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/opar/4/1/article-p322.xml.
Google Scholar

Di Lernia, S. 2005. Incoming tourism, outgoing culture: tourism, development and cultural heritage in the Libyan Sahara. Journal of North African Studies 10(3–4): 441–457.
Google Scholar

Ede, C. 1976. Collecting Antiquities an Introductory Guide. London.
Google Scholar

Fay, E. 2011. Virtual artifacts: eBay, antiquities, and authenticity. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 27: 449–464.
Google Scholar

Fay, E. 2013. Trading in antiquities on eBay: the changing face of the illicit trade in antiquities. PhD Thesis, Keele University October 2013. Electronic document: http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/197/1/Fay%20PhD%202013.pdf.
Google Scholar

Francis, P. 1994. Beads of the world: a collector's guide with price reference. Atglen.
Google Scholar

Garve, R., Garve, M., Türp, J.C. and Meyer, C.G. 2017. Labrets in Africa and Amazonia: medical implications and cultural determinants. Tropical Medicine and International Health 22(2): 232–240.
Google Scholar

Gilmer, M. [2009]. About NWA meteorites. Galactic stone and ironworks. Webpage http://galactic-stone.com/about-nwa-meteorites/
Google Scholar

Graburn, N.H.H. 1977. Ethnic and tourist arts: cultural expressions from the Fourth World. Berkeley.
Google Scholar

Greenwell, D. 2005. Flint artifacts of North Africa. Self published [no place given].
Google Scholar

Hardy, S. A. 2017. Curbing the spoils of war. UNESCO Courier 2017–3: 12–16.
Google Scholar

Harsch, E. 2006. Combating inequality in Africa. Africa Renewal 20(2): 16–21.
Google Scholar

Hothem, L. 1992. Fake chipped artifacts: some considerations. Lancaster–Ohio
Google Scholar

Hugot, H-J. 1991. Essai sur les armatures de pointes de flèches du Sahara. Calvisson.
Google Scholar

Jury, L. 2005. Art market scandal: British Museum expert highlights growing problem of fake antiquities. Independent 24 May 2005. Available online: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/art-market-scandal-british-museum-expert-highlights-growing-problem-of-fake-antiquities-222955.html.
Google Scholar

Keats, J. 2014. Playing the meteorite market. Discover magazine, June 2014: 34. Available online: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/playing-the-meteorite-market).
Google Scholar

Keenan, J. 2003. Tourism, development and conservation: a Saharan perspective. In D.J. Mattingly, S. McLaren, E. Savage, Y. al-Fasatwi, and K. Gadgood (eds), Natural resources and cultural heritage of the Libyan Desert: proceedings of a conference held in Libya. 14–21 December 2002, 14–21. London. Also: http://www.psi.org.uk/ehb/docs/keenan-tourism-200302.pdf.
Google Scholar

Keenan, J. 2005. Looting the Sahara: The material, intellectual and social implications of the destruction of cultural heritage (briefing). Journal of North African Studies 10(3–4): 471–489.
Google Scholar

Keenan, J. 2013. The material, intellectual and social implications of the destruction of cultural heritage (Briefing). In J. Keenan (ed.), The Sahara: past, present and future, 214–32. Abingdon.
Google Scholar

Klenker, E.K., Dreikluft, R., Milburn, M. and Jiang, Z. 2016. Sahara: material culture of early communities: prehistoric artifacts. Self published [no place given].
Google Scholar

Krishnan, N., Ibarra, G.L., Narayan, A., Tiwari, S. and Vishwanath, T 2016. Uneven odds, unequal outcomes: inequality of opportunity in the Middle East and North Africa. Washington, D.C., World Bank Group Report. Electronic document: https://bit.ly/2BBjJj8.
Google Scholar

Lehr, D. 2019. Art and antiquities: conduits for money laundering and terrorist financing. AML Challenges, Dec 2018–Feb 2019 (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists). Available online: https://www.acamstoday.org/art-and-antiquities-conduits-for-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing/.
Google Scholar

Lever, M. 2016. A damaged past: the effects of historical artefact collecting on the stone artefact record. Victoria Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria 5: 47–50.
Google Scholar

Lhote, H. 1958. A la Découverte des Fresques du Tassili. Paris.
Google Scholar

Lidington, H. 2002. The role of the Internet in removing the ‘shackles of the saleroom’: anytime, anyplace, anything, anywhere. Public Archaeology 2: 67–84.
Google Scholar

Mackenzie, S. and Yates, D. 2016. What is grey about the “grey market” in antiquities. In J. Beckert and M. Dewey (eds), The architecture of illegal markets: towards an economic sociology of illegality in the economy, 70–86. Oxford.
Google Scholar

McIntosh, R.J., Togola, T. and McIntosh, S.K. 1995. The Good Collector and the premise of Mutual respect Among Nations. African Arts 28: 60–69.
Google Scholar

Sawaged, T. 1999. The Collecting Culture: an exploration of the collector mentality and archaeology's response. Nebraska Anthropologist 121: 80–88.
Google Scholar

Simak, E., Dreibelbis, C., Liechty,J., Donato, M. and Dubin, L. S. 2010. African beads: Jewels of a continent. Denver.
Google Scholar

Stanish, C. 2009. Forging ahead. Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love eBay. Archaeology 62(3): 58–60.
Google Scholar

Stevenson, A. 2016. Conflict antiquities and conflicted antiquities: addressing commercial sales of legally excavated artefacts. Antiquity 90(349): 229–236.
Google Scholar

Tokely, J. 2006. Rescuing the Past: The cultural heritage crusade. Exeter–Charlottesville.
Google Scholar

UNESCO 1970. Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, Export and transfer of ownership of cultural property. Paris.
Google Scholar

van Ham, T., Leukfeldt, R., Bremmers, B., Stol, W. and van Wijk, A. 2011. The art of the Internet: a study of illegal online trading in cultural goods. The Hague.
Google Scholar

Vernet, R. and Le Quellec, J-L. 2017. Recension de: Eckhard Klenkler, Robert Dreikluft, Mark Milburn and Z. Jiang 2016. Sahara. Material culture of early communities. Les Cahiers de l’ l'Association des Amis de l'Art Rupestre Saharien 19: 295–297.
Google Scholar

Vitelli, K.D. 2000. E-commerce in antiquities. Society for American Archaeology Bulletin 18(4): 4–5.
Google Scholar

Whittaker, J. C. and Stafford, M. 1999. Replicas, fakes, and art: the twentieth century Stone Age and its effects on archaeology. American Antiquity 64(2): 203–214.
Google Scholar

Wright, D. K. 2017. Humans as agents in the termination of the African Humid Period Front. Earth Science 5: 1–14.
Google Scholar

Zerboni, A., Salvatori, S., Vignola, P. and Mohammed, A.A. 2018. The long-distance exchange of amazonite and increasing social complexity in the Sudanese Neolithic. Antiquity 92(365): 1195–1209.
Google Scholar