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A Fight Yet To Be Waged is a crucial stake. It stands to reason that the same individuals involved in previous lootings should continue their illicit activity. Thus will the situation remain, until it is decided that theft and the destruction of maritime cultural objects are to be sanctioned more severely. Justice, in France, seems to have taken this in, since underwater looting is now prosecuted as are theft or property damage. The Montpellier Court of Justice has sentenced shipwreck looters to prison. The case is currently under appeal but it is a cornerstone that shows, surely, that authorities understand better the consequences of such criminal acts – the irreversible destruction of our common heritage. Much work is still needed, for it appears that judges are, by and large, hardly aware of the impact of the destruction of archeological sites, i.e. prejudice in the form of disappearance of historical traces. Because of this lack of understanding, judges are likely to leave it unpunished. Unique remnants of our past have been callously destroyed by predators – resulting in the irretrievable loss of site integrity – only to keep artifacts whose pristine condition guarantees a quick sale on the market. The only criteria jurisdictions retain, however, is the mercantile value of the object instead of the scientific worth of the sites destroyed. Moral prejudice would have, in fact a much higher value. It is adamant that mentalities change and that the extent of the moral prejudice provoked hence be taken into account by judges, once and for all. Looting hot spots Underwater heritage is at risk throughout the world. Keenly attuned as they are with the environment they revolve around, looters, however, typically operate within specific areas. Their primary targets are countries with limited protection: absent or insufficient legislation, few coastguards (if any), low income or poverty – fertile ground for corruption as local authorities may easily be bought to turn a blind eye or even collaborate. Some countries in the Caribbean (Haiti, Santo Domingo, etc.) or Indian Ocean regions (Madagascar, Mozambique, etc.) are often rampaged by traffickers and uncivil divers from Europe, the United States, Australia, South Africa, and increasingly, Asia, and China in particular. While the sale of stolen objects remains discrete an activity, Internet is becoming the main platform whereby illegally removed objects are sold, e.g. an 18 th century French 74-gunship of the line Scipion that was nearby Saint-Domingue, or bronze Portuguese canons stolen from an underwater archeological site in Madagascar. Experts are enclined to think that this is the location of the vestiges of the San Ildefonso, sunk on the Star Bank in 1527. Few are the solutions available, since international law enforcement forces have insufficient investigative capacity, with most of their agents assigned to cases of theft concerning more usual and easily identifiable movable cultural property such as objects stolen from places of worship, museums, castles, etc. When heritage becomes Mafia interest Underwater cultural heritage is less visible, and is therefore less the object of attention. It remains unlisted in INTERPOL or local enforcement authority databases, and is seldom searched for during routine controls. Things will only change when training in underwater heritage identification is provided to police staff. In addition, underwater archeology specialists are too few to train new recruits. This situation clearly explains why stolen treasures are still found on the market nowadays, world renowned auction houses still sell 3 rd century BC coins from the Roman treasure of Lava – although it is 127
Michel L’Hour listed as ‘national treasure’ in France – and looters have been apprehended and sentenced. The fight against the circulation of stolen heritage and laundering of considerable sums is thus justified in many ways. Let us bear in mind that a Roman Imperial coin – be it, for instance, an aureus struck under Emperors Gallienus (253-268 B.C) or Claudius II Gothicus (268-270) – is worth some €600,000 to €800,000 per piece. That same coin, sold in Singapour or Costa Rica after having been bought in Paris and transported in a simple unverified wallet, can enable de facto near €1,000,000 to be laundered. A more systematic control of numismatists and leading antique coin dealers is thus advisable, if only to reinforce the fight against money laundering. Hence, for each piece of coin sold, dealers and auction houses should systematically be made to provide specific data: provenance, name of the inventor, or previous holder identity and residence, and method of payment, etc. A fight yet to be won In this article, I have described the many circumstances that explain the difficulties met by underwater heritage specialists today: the indifference or forgetfulness of law enforcement authorities, which stems from disinformation and insufficient training in heritage protection, except in a few countries such as Canada, China, and France (among others), who all have dedicated forces (e.g. in France, teams of underwater archaeologists and custom officers). Fostering global awareness on the stakes at hand for the preservation and protection of underwater heritage is more than ever critical. The ratification by a growing number of countries of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage is one first, fruitful step. In the face of urgency, progress is slow. Since looting knows no boundary, investigators, archeologists and curators must, likewise, work together on a global scale. Time is short, and underwater heritage vanishing. It is our responsibility to protect it. Note All original data comes from the author’s findings and field experience. Some relevant sources have been necessarily anonymized. 128
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Cultural objects disappear every da
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Countering Illicit Traffic in Cultu
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Foreword The International Council
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France Desmarais is the Internation
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Marina Schneider studied Law at the
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An International Observatory on Ill
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Introduction illegal import and exp
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Introduction Countering Illicit Tra
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Günther Wessel Dealers and Collect
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Searching for Traces IFAO). Shortly
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Searching for Traces antiquities fr
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Searching for Traces In the spring
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Searching for Traces Langlotz’s 1
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The Internet Market in Antiquities
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The Conflict Antiquities Trade: A H
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The Conflict Antiquities Trade Haus
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The Conflict Antiquities Trade Chin
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The Conflict Antiquities Trade De C
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The Conflict Antiquities Trade (Ply
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Donna Yates • Ceramics. Ceramics
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Donna Yates • Paintings. Both Eur
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Donna Yates The following case stud
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Donna Yates The Latin American anti
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Donna Yates and URL: < http://web.a
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Monica Hanna Documenting Looting Ac
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Looting Activities in Post-2011 Egy
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Assad Seif • pay just compensatio
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Assad Seif Sanctions and regulatory
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Assad Seif The Phoenician cemetery
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Museum Security and Risk Assessment
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Museum Security and Risk Assessment
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St John Simpson witnessed large-sca
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St John Simpson catalogue published
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St John Simpson 9 June 2003. URL: <
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