When you buy through links on our land site , we may earn an affiliate commission . Here ’s how it process .
About $ 50 million worth of artifacts and antique were shipped from both Egypt and Turkey to the United States in 2016 — the eminent annual value from each of those countries in at least 20 old age , concord to U.S. Census Bureau papers .
The artifacts , totaling about $ 100 million between the two state , were import " for consumption " and not for temporary display in a museum , the documents say . Most of the artifacts were ship to New York City , where numerous antiquities dealer , auction bridge family and nontextual matter galleries are based . It can be hard to determinewhether a loading of artifacts was recently looted , law - enforcement officials told Live Science .
This 2,000-year-old Egyptian sarcophagus was found by U.S. law enforcement and was returned to Egypt in 2011.
In addition , the genuine resale value of the shipment may be higher , because the values seen in the written document are but those that importer hold , a representative for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said . audit are now and again guide on shipment , but the spokesperson declined to say how often they occur . [ See pic of the Artifacts from Egypt and Turkey ]
Egypt has experiencedextensive lootingsince the country ’s 2011 revolution . The looting is linked to thedeaths of children(they were killed while work in narrow robbery shafts ) and antiquity guard ( who were shoot numb while trying to protect website ) . Anagreementbetween the United States and Egypt design to cut short the antiquities trade was sign in November 2016 and expire into effect near the goal of that twelvemonth .
MeanwhileTurkeyshares a vast border with bothIraqandSyria , two countries that have experienced heavy robbery as a result of on-going wars . Last year , a Live Science investigationrevealed that artifact shipments between Turkey and the U.S. increased after Iraq was invaded in 2003 , and then increase further after the civil war in Syria go in 2011 . Scholars and multiple governments ( include the United States ) havedocumentedthat artifacts are being sent from Iraq and Syria to Turkey before being sell abroad . to boot , a coup effort take place in Turkey in July 2016 , although scholar and law enforcement functionary decline to theorise on whether the coup try is lead to more artifacts being shipped from Turkey to the US .
This stolen or looted mummy hand, dating to the eighth century B.C., was brought into the United States from Egypt.
Golden deliveries
The papers unwrap that the importee of " antique " atomic number 79 coins ( defined as being over 100 year older ) made up a significant part of the consignment from Turkey and Egypt in 2016 .
More than 46 lbs . ( 20 kilograms ) of age-old atomic number 79 coins were shipped from Turkey to the U.S. in 2016 , the document show — almost the weight of about 9,000 advanced - day U.S. penny . The documents also reveal that more than 22 pound . ( 10 kilo ) of antique gold coins were shipped from Egypt to the United States in 2016 .
For comparing , the documents also reveal that between 1996 and 2003 , in that entire span , less than 1 lb . ( 0.45 kg ) of antique gold coins was ship from each of those two nation to the U.S.
A Live Science investigation put out in 2016 found that the number of antique atomic number 79 and nongold coin ship from Turkey to the U.S. hasincreased steadilysince 2003 , when the Iraq War start . Aseparate Live Science investigation , also published in 2016 , break that the number of gold and nongold coin being ship from Egypt to the U.S. increase after the 2011 Egyptian rotation . [ See pic of the Looting in Egypt ]
Tracking down looted artifacts
The process of identifying looted artifact coming into the U.S. can be difficult , natural law - enforcement functionary and scholars told Live Science .
The U.S. Census Bureau documents show that many of the artefact are shipped under dim drift , such as " antique of an age exceeding 100 geezerhood . " Another vague heading simply state that the artefact in a loading are “ Collection and Collectors ’ piece of Archaeological , Historical or Ethnographic Interest . ”
Additionally , in response to Live Science ’s Freedom of Information Act postulation , U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials told us that senders of artifacts or antiques shipments to the U.S. are not expect to commit photos of the target they transport , and customs examiner do not normally take photographs .
concealment Torah prevented Live Science from reach the paperwork filed with shipments . However , it can be difficult to establish that an artefact was looted based on this paperwork , said Erin Thompson , a professor of art criminal offence at the City University of New York .
" Middlemen are experts in making looted and bootleg antiquities await like they are part of the licit mart by strip and restoring them and create forge paperwork that make it seem like Egypt give permission for its export , " Thompsontold Live Science last yearin an e-mail .
In addition to Customs and Border Protection , which patrols the U.S. border and audit shipments , U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) conducts investigation into looted artifacts that are already in the country , said Brendan Raedy , an ICE spokesperson . Raedy severalise Live Science that the agency has an attaché in Cairo who air information about stolen artifacts and foray archaeological sites .
ICE officials have remark that those who take looted or slip artifacts into the United States tend to contain on to them for year before trying to sell them , Raedy said . " The stuff and nonsense that you ’re figure popping up , that we ’re getting our hands on now , in a lot of cases was slip or looted [ in ] 2007 to 2012 , " Raedy told Live Science .
This makes it difficult to make up one’s mind what kind of looted artifact have been embark to the United States in recent years . " In term of really digging into the forcible trends … we ’re probably a little spot away from that at this time , unfortunately , " Raedy said .
ICE factor are put to work with museum and owner of passee stores , learn them how to detect ransacked or stolen artifacts , he noted .
Another job , Raedy say , is that sometimes , looted artifacts are bring in under declaration that have nothing to do with artifact . For instance , in November 2016 , ICE agents returnedan eighth - century - B.C. mummy handto Egypt that Raedy say had been shipped to the United States as a " skill fiction picture airplane propeller . "
Original clause on Live Science .
