[meteorite-list] Warning about Lybian Desert Glass Artifacts

[kaolinite at ctc.net]

Michael Masse wrote:

>I had understood that Libyan glass Paleolithic tools 
>are found in what is now arid regions of Libya . 
>What does Egypt have to do with it?  If I recall
>correctly, several of our members have found/
>purchased bulk meteorites, NWAs, etc., have 
>also brought back artifacts and I'm sure they 
>didn't dash into Egypt to acquire them.  
>Please correct me if Paleolithic Libyan glass
>tools acquired in Libya and Morocco are 
>'Egyptian' artifacts.

Contrary to what the name falsely implies, Libyan 
desert glass lies scattered over about 6500 square 
kilometers  of the western Desert of Egypt and 
occurs only in a very small area of Libya. there is 
a map at:

http://www.africaland.it/ldg%20map.jpg

The vast majority of artifacts composed of Libyan Desert 
Glass occur in Egypt, not Libya. Only a very few Libyan 
desert glass artifacts are documented as having been 
found in Libya. However, nothing prevents a local 
person from taking desert glass artifacts from Egypt 
and selling them to naive and unsuspecting buyers as 
having been found in Libya. This type of "artifact 
laundering" can be a common practice among local people 
in the artifact trade according to archaeologists. In 
Morocco, any Libyan desert glass artifact sold in 
Morocco most certainly wasn't found in Morocco and 
quite likely came in from elsewhere else. Given 
amount of looting that has occurred in western Egypt, 
Egypt would likely be the main source of such artifacts. 
If a person didn't collect the artifacts himself, it
is difficult, even under the best of circumstances, to
know from where their LDG artifacts came with any 
confidence.

Frank wrote; 

> I understand what you are saying about the 
>Libyan Desert Glass artifacts"imported" (stolen) 
>from Egypt. I would guess though that prehistoric 
>man might have carried artifacts throughout the 
>Sahara. Libyan Desert Glass

>From what I know, there is no evidence that prehistoric 
humans traded LDG artifacts as far west as Morocco. At 
this time, any LDG artifact from Morocco I would regard 
as having been imported from somewhere else. From what 
I have read, LDG artifacts weren't widely traded 
throughout the Sahara, not even much outside of the LDG 
strewn field. 

>So if LDG artifacts were found and sold in Libya 
>or Morocco and exported, they would be 
>expected to be legally obtained? Just wondering

1. Any LDG artifact "from" Morocco should be regarded 
with great suspicion as to its origin.  As far as I
have found, there is no scientific documentation that 
LDG artifacts were ever traded that far west. 

2. Morocco and Libya have their own antiquity laws 
and export regulations. Therefore, even for artifacts 
legally exported from these nations, a person selling 
these artifacts needs to provide the buyer with legal 
documentation that these artifacts were legally 
collected / bought and exported from these countries. 
The lack of such documentation theoretically can 
cause the buyer problems later on with the US Customs 
Service. 

Again, someone needs to do a detail study of the antiquity 
laws of Egypt, Morocco, and Libya in reference to LDG 
artifacts. It seems like people are being much too 
complacent about the legally of collecting, buying, and 
selling these artifacts. Regardless of whether a minority 
of LDG artifacts might be legal, the overall illict trade 
in these artifacts is contributing to the destruction of 
valuable archaeological sites. The artifacts being taken 
from Egyptian sites are being sold somewhere by someone 
for money. Otherwise, the looting wouldn't be happening. 

Just Some Thoughts,

Keith
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana