2023-09-11 09:33:45
In 2016, international media were ablaze when it was confirmed that the Israeli National Archives held the oldest Hebrew mention of the city of Jerusalem. According to carbon-14 dating which has just been made public, this fragile piece of papyrus dates back to the 7th century BC, to the period of the First Temple.
This extremely rare papyrus – there are only three, dating from this period and written in Hebrew, that have been discovered by archaeologists so far – is believed to have been obtained by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) during of an undercover operation carried out against an antiquities trafficker, who was arrested in 2012 while buying artifacts from looters.
A discovery which, if it had been monumental in itself, according to the head of the IAA theft prevention unit, Amir Ganot, had nevertheless represented much more. Indeed, the papyrus had been a wake-up call.
“We began looking at the likely origin of the Jerusalem papyrus and determined that it came from the Judean Desert,” Ganor told Times of Israel at the new IAA headquarters on Wednesday in Jerusalem. And, as usual, he continued, “every time we went to a potential cave, we discovered that it had already been looted” – with few objects likely to be saved by archaeologists.
The IAA then turned to the Ministry of Affairs and Heritage in Jerusalem, which was then placed under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office. She had the green light – and the necessary budget – to train a somewhat unusual team of climbing archaeologists to embark on an unprecedented study of all the desert caves. of Judea.
Speaking to the Times of Israel during the presentation of his team’s most recent discoveries – these are four Roman swords in an optimal state of conservation, which date from the time of the Bar Kochba Revolt – Dr. Eitan Klein, deputy director of the IAA’s Theft Prevention Unit, noted that the operation in the Judean Desert was the first time the unit had gone on the offensive against looters – it had tried, until then, to play an exclusively defensive role.
From right to left: Asaf Gayer, Oriya Amichay, Eitan Klein and Amir Ganor, with some of the Roman swords, at the IAA office in Jerusalem. (Credit: Yoli Schwartz/IAA)
The team began its activities in the Dead Sea region, exploring the cliffs near Qumran using drones and mapping technology. high-tech. So far, about 800 caves have been examined across the more than 170 kilometers of territory that straddles the State of Israel and the West Bank. Often perched in the rocky ledges of the cliffs, the IAA team has, to date, carried out 24 excavations which have yielded thousands of discoveries – including some new fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Today, there are 50 additional caves ready to be excavated and about three years of funding to do the work, Ganor said. Klein, for his part, added that some areas of the desert to the west have not yet been affected at all – not by the IAA at least.
Ganor acknowledges that looters know only too well that the conditions inside the caves of the Judean Desert make them little time capsules that hold a treasure trove of antiquities. But when asked what surprised him most about this intensive six-year project, he replied: “It’s the fact that there is still so much to discover in the caves. »
The looting of national treasuries for cash
The Heliodorus stele on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem is among 100 looted antiquities that Michael Steinhardt agreed to return in a deal with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. (Credit: Asaf Shalev/JTA)
International institutions are feeling the effects of a changing trend, even as a large number of people in the public are becoming less and less tolerant of artifacts on display whose provenance has not been clearly determined. Many museums across the globe are now involved in research aimed at returning objects to their original owners, with some returning valuable antiquities to the countries to which they belonged.
The private antiques market has similarly received greater attention over the past decade. Manhattan Deputy District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, for example, took a close interest in the collections of prominent philanthropists such as Michael Steinhardt and Shelby White, who ultimately had to return part of their respective collections to the rightful owners. .
In the Holy Land, things are – as usual – a little more complicated. In some parts of the territory, notably the Judean Hills and the Judean Desert, it is extremely difficult to locate the origin of any artifacts that may have been looted. And it is perhaps even more difficult to know under what authority, under what governmental body they should be returned.
In January 2023, the United States returned a cultural object to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the first time ever – an Assyrian incense spoon, dating from the 7th century BCE, which was part of the Steinhardt collection . Another item from the same collection that has been lost will be returned to the AP if found.
A Neolithic mask on loan from American billionaire Michael Steinhardt to the Israel Museum, January 5, 2022. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP Photo)
From the seized Steinhardt collection, the New York District Attorney also recovered 28 other stolen artifacts from Israel and the Palestinian Territories, including items that are still on display at the Jerusalem Museum, such as the stele d’Heliodorus and masks dating from the Neolithic period. According to a press release sent by the district attorneythe set of masks depicting stylized human faces, which dates from around 7000 BCE, is collectively valued at three million dollars.
These objects had arrived on the global antiquities market through looting. And it is obvious that as long as some people look the other way and are willing to pay astronomical sums to acquire these artifacts, the looting of archaeological sites will continue.
According to an article published in June 2020 in theAl-Aqsa University Journal (For Human Science), “the total number, according to estimates, of archaeological objects looted and trafficked between May 1967 and June 2019 (…) is approximately 8.4 million (…). Regarding the total number of antiquities looters, it is estimated at a figure between 100,000 and 120,000 individuals (a looter, defined in this work as a person who participated – alone or in a group – in the excavation of ‘a site or an archaeological element on one or more occasions), and the intermediaries and traffickers in antiquities represent a few hundred individuals’.
New tactics for a losing battle
Inspectors from the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Theft Prevention Unit with three ossuaries recovered from a burial cave in northern Israel that was nearly destroyed by construction work. (Credit: Yoli Schwartz/IAA)
Each year, the IAA’s theft prevention unit catches about 60 thieves across the country out of about 400 looting events, Ganor said, adding that the pro rata is not so bad, considering that there are some 3,000 archaeological sites in the country. But, frankly, it’s not very good either.
However, since the launch of the Judean Desert Survey Project six years ago and the increased presence of the IAA on site, there has been only one known case of looting. , Ganor said.
The causality between the presence of the AAI and the absence of looting is obvious, Ganor and Klein said. The unit hopes to launch similar projects in other parts of the country where looting is endemic, such as the Shephelah region, which would necessarily require a larger budget and manpower.
The current IAA operation is carried out in cooperation with the staff officer of the Department of Archeology of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria (COGAT) and the Ministry of Heritage. Each agency allocated approximately one third of the total project budget from its institutions.
Archaeologists removing the swords from the rock crevice where they were hidden about 1,900 years ago in a cave in the Judean Desert. (Credit: Emil Aladjem/IAA)
Likewise, when they discover important objects, like the 1,900-year-old swords on display Wednesday, universities are quick to partner with the IAA and take on much of the costly laboratory research, a Klein said.
In the case of the swords, the team hopes to conduct C14 analysis on the wooden handles and leather scabbards, metallurgical testing on the blades, DNA sampling to determine the origin of the wood and leather, and may -may even find blood on well-worn blades to know who they were used on. The evolution of archeology high-tech opens up new horizons.
For Klein, the most surprising and exciting discovery of the last six years is the cache of four swords, a find of unprecedented scale in the region and extremely rare throughout the Roman Empire. These swords are surprisingly well preserved, thanks to the unique conditions of the desert, and he believes they were stolen from Roman soldiers or taken from the battlefield. Each massive sword was custom-made for the soldier who wielded it; no two are alike.
“Roman literature does not tell us the whole story of the Bar Kochba Revolt. “It is up to archeology to complete the picture. »
Archaeologists sifting earth from the Judean Desert cave where four Roman swords were discovered, with views of the Dead Sea. (Credit: Matan Toledano/IAA)
The Judean Desert Survey Project was launched with the aim of recovering the fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls that have not yet been discovered, but for Klein, this is no longer the priority. It strives to connect the people who inhabited the region at different times.
“It is now a historical story, a story of flight, of refugees and, when we talk about the first priests or the people of Qumran, of self-isolation,” he explained.
“By moving from cave to cave in the Judean Desert, we manage to protect our national heritage,” Klein said.
“We are very happy to have managed to protect these swords from the hands of looters. »
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