Owning Global Heritage: A Look Into The Antiquities Market

By Worldview
In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 photo, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, the head of the Museums and Antiquities Department, shows a Syrian artifact preserved in Damascus after being delivered from various parts of Syria. Experts, conservators and local residents are scrambling to document Syria’s millennia-long cultural heritage that has been damaged by the country’s war since 2011, by battles against the Islamic State group and by its intentional destruction.
In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 photo, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, the head of the Museums and Antiquities Department, shows a Syrian artifact preserved in Damascus after being delivered from various parts of Syria. Experts, conservators and local residents are scrambling to document Syria's millennia-long cultural heritage that has been damaged by the country's war since 2011, by battles against the Islamic State group and by its intentional destruction. AP Photo
In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 photo, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, the head of the Museums and Antiquities Department, shows a Syrian artifact preserved in Damascus after being delivered from various parts of Syria. Experts, conservators and local residents are scrambling to document Syria’s millennia-long cultural heritage that has been damaged by the country’s war since 2011, by battles against the Islamic State group and by its intentional destruction.
In this Monday, Sept. 21, 2015 photo, Maamoun Abdul-Karim, the head of the Museums and Antiquities Department, shows a Syrian artifact preserved in Damascus after being delivered from various parts of Syria. Experts, conservators and local residents are scrambling to document Syria's millennia-long cultural heritage that has been damaged by the country's war since 2011, by battles against the Islamic State group and by its intentional destruction. AP Photo

Owning Global Heritage: A Look Into The Antiquities Market

By Worldview
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While ISIS destroys and sells ancient artifacts, the illegal antiquities trade is flourishing around the world, including in the U.S. and Europe. 

But a project at the University of Chicago’s Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society is bringing together stakeholders like government officials; academics; museum leaders; and antiquities dealers to monitor and combat the illegal antiquities market. 

We talk about the “Past for Sale” project and an upcoming Chicago conference with Dr. Fiona Rose-Greenland, an archaeologist at the University of Chicago and research director of the ‘Past for Sale’ project. Joining her is Molly Morse Limmer, founder and principal at 2050 Art Services, Inc., and former V.P. and department head of Antiquities at Christie’s-Chicago.