At the WAC-4 meeting in South
Africa, I gave a regional report on serious
looting problems in Southeast Asia, particularly
in Cambodia. Here, I would like to continue
to address this critical issue: the illicit
trafficking in archaeological treasures.
I bring up this issue because it is a global
problem very frequently encountered in third
world countries. Inevitably, this problem
directly impacts on archaeological interpretation
because artefacts lose value if we don't
know their provenance or associated context.
Knowledge of the past is thus lost forever...
Due to economic problems, the illicit antiquities
traffic has been intensive in Southeast
Asia for many decades, operating through
a worldwide trade network. This network
involves local people, middlemen, antique
dealers both local and foreigner, antique
shops, and collectors. Many archaeological
treasures have been smuggled out of their
countries of origin to the illicit traffic
centres. The cities in Asia well-known as
centres for antiquities trading are Bangkok,
Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo. The target
sites often are burial sites and religious
monuments. The objects most commonly stolen
include prehistoric artefacts such as pottery,
stone-axes, beads, bronze axes, etc., and
historical artefacts such as stone and bronze
sculptures of Hindu or Buddhist images,
architectural decorations, etc.
However, the case of Cambodia is of particular
interest for the world archaeological community
because it is involves some of the most
popular and desired treasures for art dealers
or collectors from all over the world, in
particular stone-carvings. Cambodian treasures
can be compared to the value of the Egyptian
or Roman or Chinese antiques as well.
Looting in Cambodia
Like many countries in the world, Cambodia
is a rich source of archaeological treasures.
Artefacts have generally been looted from
many recorded and unrecorded archaeological
sites during periods of political instability.
When Cambodia opened the site of Angkor
Wat for tourism, antiquities unfortunately
became the most popular souvenirs on sale
to the tourists. As long as the commercial
value of antiquities is high in the market,
the looters will continue to dramatically
destroy archaeological sites. Sadly, at
the beginning of this year, the Thai police
stopped a truck at night in Prachinburi
Province, a borderland, and found that 117
Khmer stone-carvings had been illicitly
smuggled out from Panteay Chamar in Cambodia
to Thailand. The Panteay Chamar is the biggest
Khmer sanctuary outside the city wall which
was built by the great king of the Khmer,
King Jayavarman VII. Once the police put
all the stone-carvings together, they were
surprised to find bas-reliefs of Avalokitesvara
(God) with a number of small figures of
the Amitabha Buddha (Angle) carved all over
of his arms. The style is known by Khmer
specialists as Bayon art, which dates to
around the 13th century. According
to Lawrence Briggs, an author of "The
Ancient Khmer Empire" published in
1951, the bas-reliefs can therefore be identified
to their original location. In addition
to the 117 stolen pieces just mentioned,
an object from the Panteay Chamar, which
was smuggled out earlier, was found at an
antique shop in River City Mall, Bangkok
with a price of $6,800. This was reported
is given by Prof. Claude Jacques, of The
French School of Far East, who is also a
Khmer-specialist advising UNESCO in Cambodia.
It has been reported that this smuggling
is linked through the wider international
network to antiquities dealers France, Japan,
and the USA.
Clearly, most current conservation and
restoration projects have primarily focussed
on around Angkor area (e.g., Banteay Srey,
Phanom Kulen) owing to problems created
for tourism by unexploded land mines. Consequently
Angkor has the best recorded artefact inventory
of all known archaeological sites in Cambodia.
If there is no detailed study of other,
smaller archaeological sites or sanctuaries,
it will be very difficult to detect illicit
traffic in antiquity and pursue a legal
remedies, since there is no information
to confirm the origin of stolen items.
What should be done?
How can the Cambodian cultural property
be protected? The response of the Cambodian
government to the illegal international
traffic of antiquities is to cooperate with
UNESCO and the Thai government as they have
been formulating antiquities legislation.
At the same time, according to the Khmer
Constitution of 1993, the Ministry of Culture
and Fine Arts plays an important role in
the development and preservation of the
Khmer cultural heritage.
Thailand is well-known as a centre for
illicit trafficking of antiquities. The
Thai Fine Arts Department and the Cambodian
government have set up resolutions preventing
the illicit importation or export of Thai-Khmer
cultural heritage. However, the Thai Fine
Arts Department needs to pursue this agreement
seriously in order to protect cultural property
effectively. For instance, the Thai should
immediately have returned the 117 stone
carvings once the investigation of their
theft was finished, as they are the cultural
property of Cambodia.
It was not until recently that the UNESCO
organized a web page which computerized
all Khmer artefacts from known archaeological
sites in order to disseminate all information
concerning archaeological sites and artefacts
in the files. This includes the date of
the record, a description of sites and artefacts,
a photograph, and detailed descriptions
of artefact and site discovery. In the case
of the archaeological treasures that have
been illegally exported out of Cambodia,
this information will help to identify the
missing pieces. In other words, this will
be facility will help prove if cultural
property has been stolen from its country
of origin. This will facilitate the return
of the cultural property under international
regulation.
As archaeologists, we are aware that the
problem of looting will never cease as long
as people remain very poor and the demand
from collectors remains very high. I think
one simple way we can help save the past
for the future is through education. Education
about the past is a powerful tool to make
people aware of their history, identity,
heritage, and community/national pride.
We need to promote a new perspective about
the value of artefacts, and show that they
are meaningless if we don't know their context.
We must change the public perception of
artefacts solely as art objects. Additionally,
wherever we work in the field, I think it
is our responsibility to produce both academic
and public publications, particularly in
a local language. For instance, if archaeological
objects are stolen from the country of origin,
having a detailed academic report about
them will indirectly help to identify these
objects and proceed with legal action.
Finally, the illicit trafficking of cultural
property, unfortunately, not only destroy
the cultural history of Cambodia but the
world history as well. It would be very
sad indeed if future Khmer generations have
to go to France, UK, Japan, or the USA to
study their own history! |
World
Archaeological Bulletin