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MOLA

@museumofloot.bsky.social

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Museum of Looted Antiquities is a virtual gallery that collects, displays and studies looted antiquities that have been repatriated since 1950 – and the trafficking networks behind them. MuseumOfLoot.org

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MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 1h

At least 100 out of 1,000 well-known archaeological sites around Sudan have already been destroyed so far, especially through the use of heavy, gold-digging machinery.

allthatsinteresting.com/sudan-jabal-...

Illegal Miners Destroy 2,000-Year-Old Heritage Site In Sudan While Digging For Gold

Hundreds of archaeological sites have been vandalized in a similar fashion by illegal miners across Sudan.

allthatsinteresting.com

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6h

Learn more: mola.omeka.net/items/show/1...

Bronze Statue of Dionysus · Museum of Looted Antiquities

The Museum of Looted Antiquities collects, displays and studies ancient art and artifacts that have been repatriated to their countries of origin since 1950.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6h

The sculpture was repatriated in 2002, and now resides in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara. Telliagoglu attempted to appeal the seizure of £3.4 million in assets on the grounds that loss of "his" statue made him unable to pay the remaining £1.9 million. The request was denied.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6h

The court found Telliagoglu (aka David Telli) had used the proceeds of his heroin trafficking business to purchase the bronze, which had been illicitly exported from Turkiye. This makes the case a prime example of antiquities trafficking as a form of trade-based money laundering.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6h

New Case: Statue of Dionysus, contributed by Emily Hamann

In 1996, this life-size Roman bronze statue of Dionysus was seized from a Swiss warehouse that belonged to Turkish trafficker Nevzat Telliagoglu after he was convicted in the UK of drug trafficking charges.

Reposted by MOLA

Lynda Albertson @sauterne.bsky.social · 1d

Thieves used a power saw to remove a painted section from the historic wall inside the tomb of Khentkaus in the Giza Governorate in Egypt. apnews.com/article/egyp...

A limestone pharaonic painting vanishes from the famed Saqqara necropolis in Egypt

Egyptian antiquities officials have reported the disappearance of a pharaonic painting from the Saqqara necropolis near Cairo.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

The Miller case, contributed by Julia Granato, demonstrates the incredible damage that can be done to archaeological sites by a single collector whose "passion" to obtain other's heritage is combined with the financial or logistical means to do so.

Learn more: mola.omeka.net/items/show/2...

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

About 7,000 of the total were seized and repatriated over several years of painstaking work to identify their rightful owners. The massive task was aided by the help of Dr. Holly Cusack-McVeigh (Indiana U.) and her students.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

In addition to the Native American remains were a wide range of antiquities from China, Egypt, Amazonian communities, Canadian First Nations, Iraq, Spain, Peru, Cambodia and Tibet. Miller openly wrote about his looting, especially during the 1950s and 1960s.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

This total included human remains from about 500 individuals stolen from Indigenous burial grounds across the US and Mexico. Miller died at 91 in 2015, but forfeited ownership before death.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

The investigation dates back to October 2013 when the FBI got a tip that Miller, a resident of Rush County, Indiana, had been hoarding looted artifacts from around the world since the 1950s. All told, his collection contained some 42,000 objects.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 2d

New Case: The Don Miller collection represents the largest single cultural property recovery in the FBI's history. The intricacies of the investigation and its aftermath are detailed in a new book by Special Agent Tim Carpenter called The Grave Robber, due out on Oct 14th.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 4d

While Ankara celebrates its triumphs [of repatriations from] abroad, opposition figures argue that Turkey's remaining cultural heritage at home is often mismanaged or threatened by short-term political and commercial interests.

www.al-monitor.com/originals/20...

Turkey boasts of antiquities' return, but faces scrutiny at home

As Ankara celebrates the cultural diplomacy that returned Roman bronzes and Ottoman manuscripts, critics warn that the same government risks eroding heritage at home.

www.al-monitor.com

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6d

In May 2009, the head was repatriated, and it now is at the National Museum of History in Albania's capital, Tirana.

Learn more: mola.omeka.net/items/show/1...

Head of Asclepius · Museum of Looted Antiquities

The Museum of Looted Antiquities collects, displays and studies ancient art and artifacts that have been repatriated to their countries of origin since 1950.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6d

The collector who cosigned the artifact to Christie's has not been made public. Because Rossi had purchased the sculpture legally, Albanian authorities had to purchase the sculpture for 20,000 euros to secure its return.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6d

It resurfaced in 2005, when the Italian Carabinieri discovered it during a raid on a private residence in Rome. Antiquities collector Massimo Rossi had purchased it from a Christie's auction in London in 1996 — just a few years after the head was stolen.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 6d

New Case: Head of Asclepius, contributed by Lisa Duffy-Zeballos

This Hellenistic head believed to depict Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing, was stolen from the Butrint Archaeological Museum in southern Albania in April 1991.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 7d

Here is the Met’s video documenting the joint research project into the object’s creation (but no mention of provenance)

youtu.be/EyHvQnYhduA?...

Look inside a 4,500-year-old sculpture from Iraq

YouTube video by The Met

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 7d

There are lots more objects in the Met collection from the same collector, Elias David. Would be helpful to know what issues they found with the Ibex provenance and whether similar concerns apply to the rest:

www.metmuseum.org/search-resul...

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy.

www.metmuseum.org

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 7d

The Met says the return was returned based upon “provenance research by the Museum’s scholars established that the work rightfully belongs to the Republic of Iraq.”

But the museum offers no explanation for what this research found in a lengthy press release and video about the return. Why?

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 7d

Met’s listed provenance for the piece:

[By 1950, Elias David, New York]; 1969-1974, Mrs. Elias S. David; acquired by the Museum in 1974, purchased from Mrs. Elias S. David, New York. Deaccessioned for return to Iraq in October 2023.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 7d

News: The @metmuseum.org has returned an ancient bronze ibex to Iraq, calling it one of the earliest known examples of hollow core lost wax casting in the world.

www.metmuseum.org/perspectives...

Reposted by MOLA

Chasing Aphrodite @chasingaphrodite.bsky.social · 8d

So far, about 4,000 antiquities have been counted missing in Sudan. 700 pieces disappeared from museums in the cities of Nyala and El GeneinaI, where the museum’s curator was killed when the building was shelled

www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Sudan preservationists struggle to restore country's shattered cultural treasures

The shattered remains of antique pottery and shards of ancient statues lie among broken glass and bullet casings at Sudan’s National Museum, not far from where the Blue and White Nile meet in the capital Khartoum.

www.reuters.com

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 9d

Court records show HSI and CBP are investigating an international network of antiquities looters and smugglers who are trafficking looted Egyptian antiquities via Fada Trading Co. LTD from countries including Thailand into the United States and Europe for sale on the antiquities market.

MOLA @museumofloot.bsky.social · 9d

NEWS: US Government forfeits 14 Egyptian antiquities that were illegally smuggled into the United States.

Customs identified the artifacts while inspecting parcels from overseas transiting through airports in Anchorage, Alaska, Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City

www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/g...