Stealing History : Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World

Rating:
Summary: We Are All Being Robbed
Review: Grave robbing has always happened; the tomb of Tutankhamen was broken into in antiquity, long before Howard Carter found it in 1922. Grave robbing is part of archeological history, and continues today. The lesson in Roger Atwood's book, _Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers, and the Looting of the Ancient World_ (St. Martin's Press) is that starting in the twentieth century, grave robbing became much more efficient, and is effectively robbing not just graves, but robbing civilizations of their history. Atwood has concentrated on one particular site, the royal tombs at Sipán in Peru, and has given its sad modern history in great detail, but that has not stopped him from taking a larger historical view. Throughout the book are the contrasting digging techniques and aims of the robber and the archeologist, with the practical realization that often the two must at least informally work together, particularly in the case of looters finding valuable sites with the archeologist ideally showing up very soon afterwards before the good stuff is gone. Atwood's sobering book shows that there is no reason to assume that the archeologists are winning, and that the treasures of the world may simply be dug out soon, with little learned from the spoils and no more left to learn from.

The problem, of course, is that treasures ripped out of context lose their meaning; one archeologist said that looted objects are pretty but dumb. The problem is accelerated by faster shipping, with traders able to bring looted goods to international markets with an efficiency that was previously unimaginable. Atwood has gone out with the diggers; he gives a scary account of accompanying them on what was for them just an evening's work. He is able to do this in good conscience because the robbers themselves are not the villains of the book. They often have no other means of survival, and are using their land for its best possible production. The bad guys are the dealers, private collectors, and even museum officials who power the digging engine by means of huge payments further up the delivery chain. The main hero of the book is the famous Peruvian archeologist Walter Alva. He had dug up tombs, and run a provincial museum, a quiet and obscure professional life, until looters struck a Sipán tomb in 1987, emerging with riches in gold of a type that had never been seen before or documented. The dealers moved fast to close in on the find, and the smooth robbing of the territory was only stopped when one of the looters felt cheated of his fair pay, and alerted police. When the police found a looter's hoard, they called Alva, who got his first glimpse of the treasures which would make his
name in archeology.

Atwood has described many aspects of the world trade in archeological loot, and how it damages all of us. There is a description of steps here that might cure the problem, like a moratorium on trade in antiquities that have no accurate record of provenance. He admits that there are no magic bullets in his recommendations, and that there will always be loopholes. Museums would have to change their bureaucratic ways, dealers would have to give up part of a lucrative business, and governments would have to enact legislation without succumbing to pressure from the antiquities lobbies. Significantly, he gives examples of locals on other archeological sites who have seen the advantage of preserving their past rather than exploiting it. It will all be a tough sell at all levels, but Atwood's book is clear documentation that unless changes come, the current system will deprive "everyone who ever will live of part of the collective memory that makes us human."



Rating:
Summary: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers and the Looting of the Ancient World
Review: Not quite Laura Croft or Indiana Jones, this book follows the fate of several Peruvian sites and the artifacts taken from them. The focus is as much on the conflicts between the commercial antiquities trade and the archaeologists who wish to study the sites intact (taken to the extreme in actually reburrying sites as to not attract the attention of looters). Not so surprisingly the Museums operate somewhere between - benefiting from the scholarship of the archelogists and also from the tomb raiders who supply them with items for their collections (not directly of course). Well told tales of FBI stings, government policies based more on diplomatic pressures than the "saving" of cultural records and in infighting between the Peruvian archeologist Walter Alva and what seems like the world. On the most basic level, this is about the destruction and loss of history in the quest of money. The book ends with a list of suggestions for what can be done to save these sites from destruction, but I still was left with questions. Some of the measures taken by the government seems a little broad and sweeping. It left me with many questions if government intervention is the best way to stop the flow of illegal artifacts. Although the author seems to show some preference to the side of Alva and the archelogists, he does speak and interview people from all parts of the community, from the actual people who rob the graves and archelogical sites to the people who buy these artifacts either for profit or art. The introduction wrote about Iraq right after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The looting of museums and archelogical sites was immediate. I appreciated the detail of the rest of the book and its covering of covering one subject (Peru and more specifically Sipan) when it would have been very easy to make this a survey and less personal. You get a great sense of the individual personalities involved.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written and Exciting
Review: Stealing History takes an important subject and makes it interesting and readable. Atwood writes the book like an Indiana Jones novel mixed with a true crime story in the context of a history tome. He follows the path of an ancient golden artifact which is the largest ever found in the Americas from the looted tomb in Peru to the New Jersey Turnpike(!) in the US. Atwood writes in a compelling fashion which makes it hard to put the book down. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Compelling
Review: This is just what good non-fiction should be: fascinating, un-put-downable, and important. Not only did I learn about how the art world is allowing the great treasures of history be destroyed or lost to private collectors. This is effectively depriving the world of its history. I recommend this book not just for anyone interested in art and artifacts--though you will learn about it--but for anyone who wants to read an important book about the way we're letting the ability to study our past and our heritage go to ruin. A really good read!