Bureau/Office of the Month:

Cultural Property
Protecting the World's Heritage

Part of the Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, the unit administers the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, a law that makes the United States party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export or Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Law enforcement agencies regard the illicit international market in art--along with drugs and arms--as one of the top illicit trading activities in the world.

Archaeological and ethnological artifacts carry an intrinsic value that exceeds whatever price the market might assign them. They are irreplaceable objects that define a culture and represent the cultural patrimony of a nation. Although the image of Indiana Jones snatching a prized artifact from the Temple of Doom is a glamorous one, in reality he should have left the object in place. When scientifically excavated, archaeological artifacts provide far more information about the development of mankind. Sadly, there are unscrupulous individuals who, for personal short-term gain, are willing to sacrifice a nation's patrimony by pillaging it and feeding the demand in the illicit international antiquities market.

Developed and developing countries alike suffer from pillage. Rich or poor, few governments are able to adequately guard and protect archaeological sites, especially those in remote areas, or to protect indigenous groups from losing to the illicit art market ceremonial objects important to their traditional practices. With more than a third of its territory in public or Indian land, the United States suffers significant pillage of Native American burial sites even with numerous laws to deter this practice. India's Archaeological Survey is government steward of more than 4,000 officially recognized historical sites throughout the South Asian subcontinent. With its limited budget, this under-funded department is forced to perform archaeological triage, preserving and protecting the highest priority sites while unprotected places often fall prey to pillagers.

The Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act establishes a Cultural Property Advisory Committee, appointed by the President, to review requests from countries for U.S. import restrictions on their archaeological or ethnological artifacts whose pillage jeopardizes their national cultural heritage. As a significant destination for many pillaged artifacts, the United States may respond to these requests by imposing import restrictions, prospectively, through emergency action and/or bilateral arrangements with other countries.

Members of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee meet with Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs William Bader, center; from left, Gary Vikan, director, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; right, Patty Gerstenblith, professor of law, DePaul University, Chicago.
Photo by Shawn Moore

The committee has 11 members--two from museums, three archaeologists, three experts in the international sale of cultural property and three from the general public. The panel reviews requests from countries seeking U.S. assistance under the UNESCO Convention. The assistant secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs provides the necessary technical and administrative support to the committee, which conducts extensive research and analysis before reaching its findings and reporting them to the Department of State. The under secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs exercises the delegated decisionmaking responsibility in these matters.

Recently, the State Department announced an emergency response to a request from Cambodia. As a result, the U.S. Customs Service now restricts the importation of stone archaeological material from the Khmer Empire (10^th to 13th centuries). These materials illustrate the high degree of artistic, social and economic achievement of the Khmer culture of that period and testify eloquently to the culture's profound religious beliefs. At an alarming rate, many monuments and sites such as Angkor and Banteay Chhmar are being damaged and destroyed by pillagers, who remove these stunning sculptural and architectural elements with chisels and chainsaws for shipment to illicit markets abroad.

Agreements not only establish restrictions but also suggest strategies for preventing further depredation of the sites and plans for preserving these cultural resources. For example, in the U.S.-El Salvador bilateral agreement, both countries agreed that El Salvador should use its best efforts to re-establish the national museum, destroyed by an earthquake some years earlier. Emboldened, Salvadoran cultural authorities took the agreement to their national legislature and requested funding for a new museum. The response was positive and the museum will officially open this year, giving Salvadoran citizens and visitors alike access to the legacy of pre-Columbian cultures that once thrived in this Central American country. In addition, the agreement and the museum development project opened up new professional exchange opportunities supported partly by ECA's International Visitors and cultural specialists programs.

A gold Moche backflap (200­300 A.D.), worn by ancient warrior-priests from present-day Peru, confiscated from smugglers in Philadelphia and returned to a museum in Peru.
Photo by Walter Ava

Currently, ECA's Fulbright program is funding a scholar's work in Guatemala, where the United States has a bilateral agreement to protect sites of the Mayan civilization. In El Salvador, a similar program is developing grassroots public awareness of the importance of protecting cultural patrimony. A continent away in Mali, another Fulbright scholar is promoting archaeology in the Djenne region. Already, the bilateral agreement has reduced looting in Djenne, where a cultural mission from the national museum has established an educational program converting local looters into stewards of their cultural sites. At Peru's famous Sipan archaeological zone, the resident archaeologist has turned serious pillage into protection by creating an archaeological park that gives local residents long-term economic gains from cultural tourism.

Cultural Property has produced an image database of categories of restricted items on its web site that shows scholars, museums, collectors, dealers and customs inspectors the types of material restricted, unless accompanied by an export permit issued by the country of origin. Now, interested parties from every corner of the globe can instantly and more accurately identify restricted categories of objects, using the Internet as a 21st century tool to reduce the incentive for pillage of yet undisturbed sites.

The United States' ability to restrict the importation of pillaged artifacts is an effective means of protecting nonrenewable cultural assets important to all nations for cultural, educational and scientific purposes. Cultural Property's permanent staff of two, supplemented by contract employees, supports the Department and the committee in this effort and has developed considerable expertise in global cultural heritage protection issues.

ore than 130 smuggled objects of antiquity dating back to the 9th century B.C. were returned to the Republic of Turkey in a State Department ceremony in March. Evelyn S. Lieberman, under secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, presided over the ceremony in which the U.S. Customs Service repatriated the objects to Turkey's cultural minister, M. Istemihan Talay, who received them on behalf of his government.

The ancient Greek, Roman, Hittite, Byzantine, Phoenician and Assyrian artifacts were pillaged from archaeological sites in Turkey and smuggled into the United States in 1997, destined for a gallery in California. The gallery's owner pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy in Oklahoma City, a transit point for the smuggled artifacts. Several individuals, including a reserve U.S. Air Force major stationed at Incirlink Air Base, were arrested in Turkey. If convicted, they face prison terms of up to seven years.

Some of the artifacts seized by U.S. Customs and repatriated to the government of Turkey.
Photo by Walter Ava

The arrests culminated a two-year investigation by U.S. Customs officials and the Turkish National Police, who cooperated closely in apprehending the Turkish ringleader. An employee of the commissary at the air base, the ringleader hired men to loot tombs in Turkey and then offered the stolen artifacts for sale to collectors and art galleries. Following a lead on the smuggled goods in Oklahoma, U.S. Customs Agent William Wallrapp posed as a collector in undercover meetings with the suspected smuggler.

The State Department and the law enforcement community hope the successful prosecution of this case will deter further pillage and illicit trade in artifacts unlawfully and unscientifically removed from their country of origin.

While the standards of conduct of the Office of Government Ethics make no explicit reference to removing cultural property unlawfully from another country, Foreign Service employees are required to obey all U.S. laws and regulations concerning the illicit movement of cultural property. The diplomatic pouch and household shipment from assignments abroad may not be used for such purposes.

More information about the Department's efforts to protect cultural property can be found on the web site http://exchanges.state.gov/education/culprop.

Frequently Asked Questions about Cultural Property Q: When did the United States become a party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, U.S. Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property? A: In 1983. Q: What is the primary protection offered by the United States under the 1970 UNESCO Convention? A: The United States may impose import restrictions on certain categories of archaeological or ethnological material, the pillage of which has placed the requesting country's national patrimony in jeopardy. This action would be in response to a request for such restrictions from a State Party to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. Such a restriction enables the United States to enforce its own import laws, since it cannot enforce the export laws of other countries. The import restriction would become effective on the date a descriptive list of the categories of objects is published in the Federal Register. After that date, the restricted objects may enter the United States legally only if accompanied by an export certificate issued by the country of origin. Q: Is a U.S. import restriction retroactive? A: No. Restrictions take effect from the date of publication of the Federal Register notice. Q: Does the restriction apply to material that is already out of the country of origin but not in the United States at the time the restriction becomes effective? A: No. However, there must be documentation verifying that it left the country of origin prior to the United States import restriction. Q: Does an import restriction apply to objects on loan for exhibition purposes? A: No. Objects on loan for temporary exhibition purposes are exempt from an import restriction when immunity from seizure has been granted by the Department under Public Law 89­259, "Exemption from Judicial Seizure of Cultural Objects Imported for Temporary Exhibition." Q: May articles of stolen cultural property enter the United States? A: No. It is unlawful to trade in stolen material. As a general rule, in the United States, title to an object cannot be conveyed if that object has been stolen. Q: What is the difference between stolen and illicitly exported cultural property? A: Generally, for an object to be considered stolen it must have an owner. An illicit export occurs when an object is taken out of the country of origin without a permit, if a permit is required. Most art source countries have national laws that (1) vest ownership in the state of all cultural assets, known and unknown, above the ground and below the ground, thereby making the nation the owner; and (2) restrict the export of cultural objects except for temporary exhibition, research or conservation purposes.