Archaeologists fear 'looters' charter'

John Hooper in Rome
Tuesday November 9, 2004

The Guardian

Archaeologists were yesterday aghast over a plan by MPs loyal to Silvio
Berlusconi to legalise the private ownership of archaeological treasures in
Italy. One called the measure a "looters' charter".
At present, all antiquities found in Italian soil are deemed to be the
property of the state and are meant to be handed over to the authorities.

But under the proposed legislation, treasure hunters who declare their finds
can keep and own them if they pay the state 5% of the object's estimated
value.

Supporters have argued that it would bring to light previously hidden
treasures.

In an article for the newspaper La Repubblica, Salvatore Settis, rector of
the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, said he feared "a gigantic treasure
hunt all over the country" if the measures were approved.

Filippo Coarelli, professor of Roman Antiquities at the University of
Perugia, called the plan "an incitement to theft". He added: "Since there
appears to be no limit on the time during which artefacts can be amnestied,
you could rob today so as to sell tomorrow."

Lord Renfrew, professor emeritus of archaeology at the University of
Cambridge and a former director of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre,
said: "It sounds like a looters' charter." He added: "Italy has a very good
tradition of looking after its antiquities. This legislation would be a slap
in the face for those in the administration who work for the conservation of
its heritage."

Italy suffers a thriving industry of tomb robbing and is the source of
thousands of illicitly sold artefacts.

In the 1990s, it was estimated that art and antiquities worth around £150m
were exported from Italy each year, but the trade is so secret no one really
knows its true dimensions. In 1996, in one of the largest antiquities
seizures, police in Geneva recovered 10,000 artefacts worth an estimated
$35m (£18.8m) that had been smuggled out of Italy.

This month, the Art Newspaper published an interview with a robber of
Etruscan tombs who said he averaged a break-in every 10 days.

The proposed guidelines are contained in two amendments to the 2005 budget,
which is being debated in the Italian parliament. Both were drafted by
members of Mr Berlusconi's governing Forza Italia party.

The amendments would give the job of pricing and taxing newly declared
antiquities to the officials who are already responsible for Italy's vast
archaeological heritage.

If they failed within a reasonable time to value an artefact, the holder
would automatically become the legal owner.

Once legalised, the artefact could "be the object of contractual activity",
according to the text of one of the amendments.

Earlier this month, one of the signatories of the amendment said that it
would help the "emergence of archaeological items in private hands".

An archaeologist working in Italy who spoke on condition of anonymity said:
"Anyone who works in this sector knows the [officials] are already
overloaded. You can imagine the flood of requests this would bring and the
difficulty the [officials] would have in coping with them."

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