THREAD: Being a veteran “treasure hunter” that sources from developing countries with histories of antiquities looting isn’t an asset — its a serious problem.
@insidehook may want to consider the risks associated with what they’re promoting here.
.@insidehook says Casa Berbere sells “antiquities from the four corners of the world… work[ing] with a wide network of reputable dealers from Thailand to Tunisia.”
Problem: Tunisia doesn’t legally allow the sale/export of antiquities so not sure how reputable those dealers are.
“Under Tunisian law, the export of movable property is prohibited. Temporary export of movable cultural property is subject to authorization of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs.”
Antiquities looted from Tunisia are frequently offered illicitly for sale on social media platforms like Facebook.
In this post from March 29, 2020, a user in Sidi Alouane, Tunisia offered Roman ceramic pieces (with fresh breakage) in a #Facebook trafficking group.
This brings us to our next point— the sourcing of material for this new e-commerce platform for Casa Berbere’s “museum quality” pieces, which @InsideHook makes it a point to discuss.
Lots of talk here about digital sourcing and authenticity.
Zero about provenance or legality.
What’s interesting is that it appears the owners of Casa Berbere are aware of expert restrictions and the existence of fake documents.
That being the case, we have to assume they’re aware of the MOUs restricting imports of antiquities from Tunisia, Turkey, and Iraq… BUT
Casa Berbere owners say that they are focusing on Tunisia, southern Turkey, and Iraq.
All places rife with looting and antiquities trafficking. All have laws banning antiquities sales and MOUs banning antiquity imports to the US.
Casa Berbere’s dealers and @InsideHook are also promoting collecting from southern Turkey—known territory for antiquities trafficked from war-torn Syria (a war crime)
☝️Those were just the legal problems with what the @InsideHook article was promoting.
So now let’s look at the e-commerce they promote.
Oh… the landing site features Benin Bronzes offered for $10,00-no provenance.
Casa Berbere must be unaware of the fight to retrieve bronzes
Nigeria has been fighting desperately to retrieve the priceless antique bronzes that were stolen during colonialization and distributed to wealthy museums across the world.
Any outlet that promotes antiquities collecting from southern Turkey and Iraq because that’s “WHERE THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY TO FIND TREASURE EXISTS” is irresponsible.
The opportunity exists because of conflicts. @InsideHook is quite literally promoting a war crime.
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Facebook is still providing traffickers with a direct line to financiers of looting activities.
Here, a looter in Egypt posts a video of the pharaonic reliefs he has access to, he just needs funding to help finish the site
A recent case shows how a funding scheme works-THREAD
On June 30, Egypt announced the detention of a gang of 19 people, including a wealthy businessman and a former MP, for a vast scheme that involved both looting and trafficking antiquities
Whether these manuscripts are real or fake, they can still fund illicit networks. In some cases, like the forged Dead Sea Scrolls at the Bible museum, real ancient & looted material can be used to make forgeries.
The September date in the user's photos suggests they are not new.
Regardless of the authenticity, the items generate significant interest among other users in the group
Over a dozen users reply to inquire if the materials are available in Marrakech, Tunisia, Algeria, or Libya
The group admin replies to inquiries to confirm items are in Libya
THREAD: Facebook relies on the public, researchers, & journalists to moderate their platform. But even blatantly violating content does not get removed.
On Sat. we reported weapons for sale in an antiquities trafficking group—it went as expected.
On Saturday, November 28, ATHAR found and reported an advertisement post in a Facebook antiquities trafficking group that was offering weapons for sale to anyone in Egypt.
The user, listed in Cairo, was offering delivery to any governorate.
Facebook's Community Standards explicitly ban content that "Attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate, gift or solicit firearms...between private individuals, unless posted by a real brick and mortar store, legitimate website, brand or government agency"