CRIMINALS are using Bahrain as a transit point to ship fake antiquities to unsuspecting private collectors abroad, a leading expert has warned.
While gangs have used conflicts in the Middle East to loot ancient relics and heritage items, other fraudsters have been busy running workshops in the region to make worthless fake artefacts.
In an exclusive interview with the GDN on phone from London, archaeologist Dr St John Simpson spoke of the phoney and substandard quality of products being peddled to buyers abroad.
Emerging
“Of late, we have seen an emerging trend of fake quality materials said to have been inspired by Middle Eastern antiquities, such as stones, glass, vessels and rocks, being sold to buyers,” said the former Bahrain resident who is curator and assistant keeper of the British Museum’s Middle East Department.
“Countries such as Iraq, Syria and Yemen have a rich history and great civilisation, but, unfortunately, when the economic situation and rule of law became bad, some individuals looted the museums and archaeological sites.”
Dr Simpson highlighted a high-profile case involving two metal trunks that arrived at Heathrow Airport on July 1 last year on a flight from Bahrain, destined to a private address in the UK.
Suspicious, the UK Border Force agents opened the trunks and thought they had intercepted a consignment of Mesopotamian antiquities, protected by cardboard and bubble wrap.
However, on closer examination the British Museum experts found that the 190 artefacts were, in fact, fake.
Hundreds of clay tablets covered in cuneiform script (the early form of writing invented by the Sumerians some 6,000 years ago), fired clay figurines, cylinder seals and rather unusual and imaginative animal-shaped pots were seized.
The objects were taken to the museum for closer expert identification and suspicions arose almost immediately as the ‘cuneiform’ tablets seemed to represent a virtually complete range of basic types known from ancient Mesopotamia.
Unusual
They found the inscriptions on the clay tablets were a jumble of signs, some invented, others upside-down, a complete mish-mash which made no sense to the curators, while the clay was clearly the product of a modern workshop.
Dr Simpson said this was an “unusual case” details which were only recently released by the UK officials.
“We are seeing a shift now, with items being deliberately manufactured and sold internationally as original pieces. But they are, in fact, of low quality, made by a person with limited experience and sold to someone with limited knowledge.”
Though he did not have any information on the consigner, Dr Simpson said Bahrain could be used by the smugglers as a transit point.
“Bahrain has been used as a transit point since the Dilmun period, and it’s entirely possible it could be used for transit (by smugglers).”
Dr Simpson, who lived in Bahrain in the late 1960s and studied at the Bahrain School and St Christopher’s School, said he drew his interest in archaeology from the burial mounds.
Meanwhile, Dr Simpson said the fakes will be used for teaching and training purposes and a selection will go on display for a short period at the British Museum when it reopens.
Dr Simpson
Faking tablets have been around for more than 200 years, but this was the first time fakes of this particular type have been seen that was a new production line aimed at a fresh gullible market.
“These consignments confirm the importance of vigilance on the part of our law enforcement agencies and the role that museums need to play in the identification of these objects.
“It seems very likely that more trunks of fakes are out there, and that there are more fakes than there are genuine objects.
“Consignments which are almost too perfect to believe should be treated with great caution.”
Fakes
The GDN reported in 2015 that a shipment, containing a rare archaeological piece from Lebanon, was intercepted by Bahrain’s Customs officials.
The then director of the Bahrain-based Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage, Mounir Bouchenaki, had said the sale of stolen artefacts from Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya had been generating revenues for terror groups such as the Islamic State.
The Interpol, Europol and World Customs Organisation joined forces earlier this month to conduct a global operation resulting in seizure of more than 19,000 archaeological artefacts and other artworks spanning 103 countries.
A total of 101 suspects were arrested, and 300 investigations opened as part of this co-ordinated crackdown.
Seizures include coins from different periods, archaeological objects, ceramics, historical weapons, paintings and fossils.
Officials from the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) did not respond to queries regarding the haul of fake tablets in the UK.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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