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Illicit Excavations and Trade in Antiquities

The Unsettled Challenge for Jordan

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Art Crime in Context

Part of the book series: Studies in Art, Heritage, Law and the Market ((SAHLM,volume 6))

Abstract

Illicit excavation and trade in antiquities represents a major and unsettled challenge for Jordan. The recent past has witnessed a phenomenal increase in the number of people involved in these illicit activities which result in the destruction of a significant part of Jordan’s cultural legacy. Illegal diggers make a big mess of the sites and consequently, they destroy the archaeological record and with it: thousands of years of well-preserved layers of history. Due to these illegal activities, Jordan has lost irreplaceable parts of its cultural heritage, of which some are being circulated in the black market. This chapter investigates the various aspects of this phenomenon including its causes, with emphasis on the legal, social, and political circumstances that enable and explain it, the scale of the problem, and how it can be curtailed. The chapter will investigate the roles that should be played by key players such as the local communities, private sector, government, and non-governmental organisations and international organisations to alleviate this problem. Issues like promotion of ethical standards and raising awareness about threats posed by looting of cultural property will be highlighted.

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Change history

  • 28 February 2023

    Due to an unfortunate oversight, the source “Najjar, 2001” was incorrectly cited in the original version of the chapter “Illicit Excavations and Trade in Antiquities”

Notes

  1. 1.

    https://wits.worldbank.org/Default.aspx.

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Acknowledgments

This research has been conducted with the support of the Fulbright Foundation and La Sierra University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan

    Ziad al-Saad

  2. Rathgen Research Laboratory, National Museum Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Stefan Simon

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  1. Ziad al-Saad
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  2. Stefan Simon
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Correspondence to Stefan Simon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Arts & Culture Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Naomi Oosterman

  2. Criminal Law and Criminology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Donna Yates

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al-Saad, Z., Simon, S. (2023). Illicit Excavations and Trade in Antiquities. In: Oosterman, N., Yates, D. (eds) Art Crime in Context. Studies in Art, Heritage, Law and the Market, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14084-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14084-6_6

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-14083-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-14084-6

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