[meteorite-list] Legality of Libyan Desert Glass Artifacts Discussion Continued

[kaolinite at ctc.net]

This has been a quite revealing discussion. 

For example, Nicholas Gessler on Thu 
Jun 10 21:18:25 EDT 2004 stated:

"Don't we have better things to worry about than 
whether Libya is going to spend $100s or $1000s 
to repatriate EACH chip, flake or blade of Libyan 
Desert Glass?" at:

In a similar vein, Mr. Charles Viau on
Thu Jun 10 21:18:25 EDT 2004 stated:

"Nah, Sounds scary, but still un-enforceable."

In both posts, the comments of the authors, can 
be condensed to "...it may be illegal, but so what?..."
and "It may be illegal, but since I can't be
prosecuted, so why worry?" I don't know about Mr.
Gessler and Mr. Charles Viau, this is certainly a
morally and ethically bankrupt position to take.
What both of you are saying is that violating the
laws of another country and participating in the
looting of the their cultural heritage is alright
as long as he or she doesn't get caught either 
buying or selling the stolen goods. (If someone
stole the car stereo or tires from either Nicholas 
Gessler or Charles Viau, I would regard it as 
morally wrong for me buy them even if I knew that 
I wouldn't get caught and prosecuted for buying
stolen property.)

Would either Mr. Charles Viau and Nicholas Gessler 
be happy if Americans were stealing petrified wood 
from Petrified Forest National Park and selling 
it to Russians and French dealers to sell to people
in these countries? It be any more legal or ethical
for tthe buyers to excuse this practice because it was
"un-enforceable" or because the American government
wouldn't spend $100s or $1000s to track down and
repatriate each piece of petrified wood? 

An archaeologist that I talked to had these comments
about what Mr. Charles Viau had to say in one of his
posts that shared with him.

1. "I think that this is fundamentally 
an unethical approach."

2.  "In answer to the first question, 
export of antiquities made of Libyan 
Desert Glass from Egypt without a 
specific permit would indeed be illegal. 
You might note as well that Libya, 
Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco have similar 
types of antiquities legislation as are 
as far as I know also signatories to the 
relevant international conventions."

(Export of anything from Libya without a
permit from the U.S. Customs Service is 
also illegal because trade with it is 
still embargoed because of its status as
a state sponsor of terrorism.)

and

"The illegal export of cultural properties 
is a serious issue world-wide, and it is 
gravely damaging the cultural heritage of 
a lot of countries. I would hope that 
members of your list wouldn't get involved 
in it -- and if they are, I hope that they 
get caught."
 
Also, the same archaeologist indicated in a private email 
that Mr. Charles Viau completely misstated the facts 
about the distribution of Libyan Desert Glass artifacts 
when he stated:

"It's not just Libya and Egypt, since that 
stuff has been bartered all over the 
Mediterranean for hundreds of years."

This is a completely false statement.  Except for the 
scarab in King Tutankhamen's breastplate, Libyan 
Desert Glass artifacts haven't been found far outside 
the area of the natural strewn field of Libyan Desert 
Glass. What Mr. Charles Viau stated sounds to me like 
fiction invented and told his customers by a creative 
artifact dealer to hide the fact that his artifacts 
were illegally exported from either Egypt or Lybia.
  
Finally, some people are not above blaming the victim
for the crime, as stated in:

http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/meteorite-list/2004-June/141736.html

In this post, mark ford markf at ssl.gb.com on Fri Jun 11 
03:59:05 EDT 2004 stated:

"One might also take the cynical view, that if 
that part of the world looked after its 
antiquities better, there would be less chance 
for antiquities to go missing in the first place...
and it's not about lack of money, a fence around 
a monument costs next to nothing."

If Mr. Ford would take the time to investigate the matter, 
it is very hard to build a fence around an area of 6500
square kilometer. in fact, the looting of archaeological
sites by people in that area was one of the major reasons 
that the part of western Egypt has been closed to everyone.

Best Regards,

Keith Littleton
St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana