Forensic Archaeometry Applied to Antiquities Trafficking: The Beginnings of an Investigation at the Frontiers of Knowledge

Temiño, Ignacio Rodríguez; Yáñez, Ana; Villar, Susana E. Jorge; Mateo, Álvaro Reyes; Rus, Javier Rufino; Álvarez, Jesús Salas; Berdonces, Ana Carmen Lavín

doi:10.3390/arts7040098

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Todo ello en un panorama investigador creciente donde de nuevo se cruzan el ámbito investigador y comercial. Pero también ejemplos de investigación transdisciplinar que pueden abrir nuevas líneas de trabajo como la arqueometría forense (Rodríguez Temiño et al 2018) o la aproximación al espacio desde la cognición (Criado Boado et al 2019).…”

Section: El Colectivounclassified

Cuando el futuro corre más deprisa que nosotros. Reflexiones en torno a los diez años de El futuro de la arqueología en España

Sánchez

2021

Complutum

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¿Hemos llegado ya al futuro? Es la pregunta de partida de una reflexión que busca situar la arqueología española tras diez años de la publicación del libro El futuro de la arqueología en España. A través de un repaso por los diferentes ámbitos que engloban la práctica arqueológica se profundizará en los avances que está viviendo el sector y los retos que siguen pendientes. Un manifiesto por la unión del colectivo desde el análisis crítico de la realidad profesional de la arqueología.

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Section: El Colectivounclassified

Cuando el futuro corre más deprisa que nosotros. Reflexiones en torno a los diez años de El futuro de la arqueología en España

Sánchez

2021

Complutum

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“…Additionally, some of the pieces had been damaged and bore marks indicating they had been forcefully extracted from the subsoil. In this regard, current research in the field of 'forensic archaeometry' is seeking to develop scientific techniques to facilitate the determination of the provenience of archaeological objects illicitly extracted from the subsoil and introduced in the international illicit trade [54].…”

Section: Assessing Damage To the Sites Of Origin Of Looted Movable Obmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Damage to Archaeological Heritage in Criminal and Administrative Proceedings

Temiño

2019

Heritage

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The economic assessment of damage to movable and immovable objects considered part of archaeological heritage is a matter of increasing interest, both at the legal level and in terms of government management. The primary reason for this interest is the urgent need to agree on a sound and reliable approach to economically quantifying not so much the cultural value of the damage caused as the civil liability for having caused it in those cases in which it was produced by a harmful human act. Assessment methods require a broad consensus to be considered reliable. The lack of consideration given to this matter has only made the absence of such a consensus more acute. This paper offers a mainly Spanish case-based analysis of the most common valuation methods for both movable and immovable archaeological objects. With regard to movable objects, it examines the problems involved in both the exclusive use of an object’s market price as its cultural value and the lack of justification for the chosen valuation system, concluding that current methods are insufficient. This insufficiency, also perceived by the authors of the expert reports used in the analyzed proceedings, has been dealt with arbitrarily. With regard to immovable object, it concludes that the systems currently used to assess the damage to sites are likewise insufficient, despite having been legally acknowledged in some cases. This paper will thus examine the methods used in environmental assessments—whose parallels with archaeological heritage are clear—and proposes that they be adapted for this purpose.

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“…When illicit collections are seized and recovered by law enforcement officers, they are delivered to museums. As a result, inauthentic objects or artworks deprived of their context become part of the collections of public institutions [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Combined Non-Destructive and Micro-Destructive Approach to Solving the Forensic Problems in the Field of Cultural Heritage: Two Case Studies

Ricca

Alberghina²,

Randazzo

et al. 2021

Applied Sciences

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The present paper discusses the importance of non-destructive and micro-destructive technology in forensic investigations in the field of cultural heritage. Recent technological developments and the wide availability of modern analytical instrumentation are creating new possibilities for performing scientific measurements and acquiring data directly on-site—thereby limiting, where possible, sampling activity—as well as learning about the technologies and materials that were employed in the past to create cultural assets. Information on periods, chemical composition, manufacturing techniques, etc., can be gathered more easily. Overall, the benefits of on-site forensic investigations are multiple, including the potential to increase substantially the speed and efficacy of the criminal justice system. However, such benefits are only realized when data quality is guaranteed and findings can be used as forensic evidence in court. The present paper shows data from the non-destructive and micro-destructive analysis of different artworks and objects provided by the Cosenza Carabinieri Unit for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Anti-Counterfeiting (Calabria, Italy). In particular, two oil paintings on canvas depicting cherubs (Italian: putti), recovered as fragments of larger religious artworks, and two bronze belt and helmet fragments were investigated. In the first case, the research aimed to define the original pictorial layer, identify any reconstruction pictorial areas or pictorial retouching, assess the state of conservation, reconstruct the previous conservation treatments, and provide indications about the chronology of the artworks. In the second case, analysis was performed both to define the bronze chemical composition and the origin of the soil (earth) found within the objects during their recovery. For these purposes, the analytical approach involved the use of non-destructive and micro-destructive analysis as follows: infrared reflectography (IRR), ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UV), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), digital optical microscopy (DOM), scanning electron microscopy equipped with EDX microanalysis (SEM-EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results made it possible to collect valuable diagnostic information and answer questions posed by the institutions for the resolution of various doubts about forensic science and cases concerning the seizure, recovery, or return of archaeological or historical-artistic objects of cultural interest.

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Forensic Archaeometry Applied to Antiquities Trafficking: The Beginnings of an Investigation at the Frontiers of Knowledge

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Cuando el futuro corre más deprisa que nosotros. Reflexiones en torno a los diez años de El futuro de la arqueología en España

Cuando el futuro corre más deprisa que nosotros. Reflexiones en torno a los diez años de El futuro de la arqueología en España

Assessing Damage to Archaeological Heritage in Criminal and Administrative Proceedings

A Combined Non-Destructive and Micro-Destructive Approach to Solving the Forensic Problems in the Field of Cultural Heritage: Two Case Studies

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