In this book, author Günther Wessel explores illegal trade with antiquities. Why they are traded, how, who digs them up, who sells them. Who pays moneIn this book, author Günther Wessel explores illegal trade with antiquities. Why they are traded, how, who digs them up, who sells them. Who pays money, who deals with them, why museums are full of them. The problem of falsifications, that the money may go directly to finance extremist groups like IS.
We have an introduction and a closing word by two different authors and then Wessels own text. Sadly, he doesn't annotate anything, so apart from the papers he directly cites, you have to work your way through the literature mentioned in the back, which is... unfortunate. I understand that it's easier to write this way and to be honest it's something I still struggle with. But there is a reason why it's done, and it's a good one. My notes on this book are with page references, and that's why I may have read this book but am not done with it yet: I have to convert the last 30 pages or such from post-it markings to notes.
Apart from that, it's very readable and easy to understand. You don't have to have any background knowledge. But be aware that this may become an emotional read as you get outraged. The story on the disc of Nebra made me rethink self-justice, if only for about five minutes.
Now, 2019, I'd like an update on what changed in the last four years. Did anything change at all? We still have an atrocious amount of warzones on this planet, digitalisation progresses, did the great waves of refugees change anything? Or the raised awareness in the German public? What can the private person do, apart from just not buy the stuff and raising awareness by talking about these issues?...more
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