From the Ground, Up: The Looting of Vườn Chuối in Archeological and Criminological Context

Summary

The exact nature of the illicit antiquities trade from ground to market in Southeast Asia remains poorly known outside of Thailand and Cambodia, where most research has been focused. This paper helps to address this imbalance by documenting and contextualizing looting activities at the Bronze and Iron Age site of Vườn Chuối, located within urban Hanoi. We provide a brief excavation history so as to place looting into archaeological and bioarchaeological contexts, and discuss current and future research on salvaged burials. The methods used to document the recent looting are then discussed, followed by a summation of what little is known about the Vietnamese antiquities trade in general and its relationship to regional trade networks. Finally, we briefly discuss the current regulatory landscape and conclude by discussing how best to protect Vườn Chuối and similar sites in and around Hanoi and continue to raise public awareness of the archaeological repercussions of the trade itself.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Recent Developments in East and Southeast Asian Archaeology I: Material Culture Studies

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15131