The Trades in Illicit Antiquities: Theory and Complexity in Heritage Crime

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Cultural Heritage During Crises: Crime, Conflict, and Climate Change", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The study of antiquities trafficking has a legnthy history, but engagement has significantly increased following the coverage of cultural heritage exploitation by Islamic State from 2006-2019. The resulting growth in the field – including criminologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, legal experts, law enforcement, and related fields – requires a re-examiniation of the simplistic models of the illicit antiquities trade that have been functional, if simplistic, to date. This paper critically assesses theory in the field, including the author's previous publications, and advocates for departicularizing antiquities trafficking in favor of 'trades' rather than a reified construct of 'the trade'. Evidence indicates there are context specific trades, which are incommersurate with each other based on their geographic, temporal, and economic contexts. By drawing on contemporary theory and re-examining 'the trade' in different periods and locations, a better comparative model of complexity within antiquities trafficking can be produced.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Cultural Heritage During Crises: Crime, Conflict, and Climate Change   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow