HLS in Focus

Therese Rohrbeck, 3L, with Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, former Chairman of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq.

With winter term well underway here at HLS, Therese Rohrbeck followed up on her podcast with us from a few weeks ago by sending some intriguing commentary from the road about about her experience researching cultural property so far.

“I had a fabulous time in Chicago during the Archaeological Institute of America/American Philological Association (Joint Annual AIA/APA meeting). I spent January 3-6th volunteering for both SAFE (Saving Antiquities for Everyone) and the AIA itself. I served as a 2008 SAFE Beacon Awards Committee member. My responsibilities included helping to recruit new volunteers for SAFE, selling tickets for both the SAFE Beacon Awards ceremony and SAFE Tour, and attending various lectures on archaeology and the law.’

“The SAFE Beacon Awards ceremony honored both Dr. Neil Brodie and Dr. Donny George Youkhanna for their commitment to the preservation of cultural property. I had the opportunity to network with both gentlemen during the conference. Dr. Neil Brodie formerly served as Research Director of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre at the McDonald Institute in Cambridge University. He presented ‘Personal Perspectives on the Antiquities Trade,’ urging archaeologists to refrain from publishing on antiquities which lack provenance or find spot information.’

“Dr. Donny George Youkhanna served as Director General of the Iraq Museum from 2003-2005 and then Chairman of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage in Iraq in 2006. He left Iraq for the safety of himself and his family. During my discussions with Donny, he described to me how he witnessed firsthand the looting and destruction of Iraq’s national museum that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to recover thousands of priceless antiquities that have gone missing. Donny has calculated that 15,000 objects were looted from Iraq’s national museum. Only 4,000 objects to date have been recovered and returned. I went on a SAFE Tour with Donny to the Oriental Institute in Chicago through the ancient Mesopotamian galleries (modern day Iraq). He explained to the tour how the Oriental Institute is renowned not just for the scope and quality of the collection, but for the legal, ethical, and scholarly way it was obtained. ‘

“In addition to networking with an amazing group of scholars, attorneys, and activists, I attended several lectures. Some of the lectures included Archaeological Site Preservation: Approaches and Advances, Archaeology and Law, and The Archaeology of Damaged Landscapes. These lectures helped to build communication between archaeologists and lawyers in finding practical solutions to curb the illicit trade in cultural material. The lectures broadened my understanding of how cultural property is illegally removed from archaeological sites and what law is currently in place to aid its return. My goal next year is to present a paper topic at the conference.”