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Libyan Antiquities at Risk: protecting portable cultural heritage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2017

Niccolò Mugnai ,
Julia Nikolaus ,
David Mattingly  and
Susan Walker
Niccolò Mugnai
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK.
Julia Nikolaus
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK.
David Mattingly
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK.
Susan Walker
Affiliation:
Ashmolean Museum and Wolfson College, University of Oxford, UK.
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Abstract

This article provides an outline of the Libyan Antiquities at Risk (LAaR) project, which has developed a reference database and website recording Libyan antiquities that are under threat of being stolen and sold on the illegal art market. Since the Arab Spring in 2011 and the subsequent political instability, the number of antiquities that are trafficked out of Libya has risen sharply. The illustrated reference collection created by LAaR is mainly aimed at customs officials, international agencies, museum curators, the police and cultural heritage sector, to alert them about the likelihood of Libyan provenance of previously unrecorded material of similar appearance to known pieces, and thereby help to prevent the sale of Libyan antiquities on the illegal art market. LAaR is a collaboration between the Society for Libyan Studies and the University of Leicester.

يوفر هذا المقال خطوطاً عريضة للمشروع ”الآثار الليبية في خطر“ الذي طور قاعدة بيانات مرجعية وموقعاً إلكترونياً لتسجيل الآثار الليبية التي في خطر السرقة والبيع في سوق الفن غير القانوني . منذ اندلاع الربيع العربي عام 2011 وعدم الاستقرار السياسي اللاحق فإن عدد القطع الأثرية التي يتم الإتجار بها خارج ليبيا قد ارتفع بشدة. إن المرجع المزود بالرسومات الذي تم تصميمه لإرفاقه مع مشروع ”الآثار الليبية في خطر“ موجه بشكل رئيسي لموظفي الجمارك والوكالات الدولية وقيمي المتاحف والشرطة وقطاع التراث الثقافي وذلك من أجل تنبيههم للمصدر الليبي للمواد غير المسجلة سابقاً ذات الشكل المشابه . قد يمنع هذا بيع الآثار الليبية في سوق الفن غير القانوني . إن ”الآثار الليبية في خطر“ هو نتاج تعاون بين جمعية الدراسات الليبية وجامعة ليستر.

Type
Part 1: Conference proceedings ‘Libyan Antiquities at Risk’
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 48 , November 2017 , pp. 11 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Libyan Studies 2017 

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