An Army helicopter pilot faces charges of selling stolen Egyptian antiquities dating to 3000 B.C., federal prosecutors said Wednesday.Chief Warrant Officer Edward George Johnson was arrested Tuesday in Alabama on charges of transportation of stolen property and wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said.
Johnson, 44, was stationed in Cairo in September 2002 when about 370 artifacts were stolen from the Ma'adi Museum near Cairo, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The items, dating to 3000 B.C. or earlier, had come from an archaeological site excavated in the 1920s and 1930s.
See the above for more details.
Also on:
NY Daily News (with a photograph of one of the Maadi vessels)
The Student Operated Press
Reuters
New York Times
2 comments:
Thank you for ruining a lovely Sunday morning! I thought that looking at what had been going on in the world of Egyptology would be a nice start to the day. However, reading this article about the US airman accused of trafficking or illegally handling the stolen Maadi artefacts has completely ruined a nice start. It reminds me of the time I was flying back from visiting my girlfriend in the States and I found myself sitting next to an ‘antiquities dealer’ who insisted on talking to me. The guy had never heard of the1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property or any of the other international legislative tools. I felt my skin crawl the more this person talked, for it was as abhorrent to me as sitting next to a rapist of paedophile. Before going on about how I feel about dealers and collectors of illicit antiquities and their rightful place doing hard labour in camp X Ray I wanted to point out a good article on the subject of the stolen Maadian artefacts. The article Watrin, L. 2004. Le pilage du Musée Archéologique de Ma’adi et ses suites, Revue du Grepal 2: 88-101, highlights how these invaluable pieces were stolen from the little museum at Maadi run by Cairo University and in 2004 were being sold at Bonhams in London, Christies in New York, shown on the websites of Howard Nowes (New York), Janus (New york), Wallis (Canada), and Orpheus (USA). These artefacts ending up in private collections is not only illegal but immoral, for our understanding of the Maadian culture and its interactions with the Naqadian and Levantine cultures is still in its infancy of being understood, and the material from Maadi is part of this primary record. Re-education of people is required so that this vile trade and collection of illicit artefacts for personal use and satisfaction can be stamped out. I will be forwarding the information gathered on these stolen artefacts to the appropriate authorities in the hope that they can be returned to their rightful owners, and if anyone ever sees any Maadian artefacts for sale (as none should be outside Egypt legally) can they please contact me, as a full photographic and written record is held of all the artefacts stolen from the Museum.
P.S.
Many thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Sorry for spoiling your Sunday morning, Tass, but it is good news that the guy was caught and that the case made the news in so many countries. Raising awareness is part of the battle.
Today's news is that Hawass is sending a delegation to inspect the artefacts.
To anyone reading Tass's comments and his request for any information regarding Maadi artefacts that come up for sale, you can forward any details to my email address to pass on to him. Or go to the Egypt Cultural Heritage Organisation website (ECHO) at
http://www.e-c-h-o.org/.
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