Databases, Drones, Diggers, and Diplomacy: The Jordanian Request for a US Cultural Property Bilateral Agreement

ABSTRACT

Looting of archaeological sites and thefts from cultural institutions in the Middle East is driven by an international demand for artifacts. Despite the efforts of Ministries of Culture, Departments of Antiquities, cultural heritage NGOs, and local communities, landscapes are destroyed, sites are pillaged, and museums are ransacked across the region. Like other countries, Jordan has a demand driven looting problem rooted in the legal and illegal trade in cultural material from the Middle East (Kersel 2019b). Tourists, locals, and museums desire Jordanian artifacts, often without questioning their market appearance. In addition to the standard set of approaches to physically and legally protecting their cultural heritage, Jordan recently turned to diplomatic measures to curb the illegal movement of looted and stolen materials. In order to support their request for a bilateral cultural property agreement with the United States, Jordan is using data from drones, databases, and archaeologists to prove that looting is an ongoing concern and the purloined artifacts are destined for the US. Deploying a case study based on data from drones, in the following we demonstrate the power of archaeological research in national policy formation and international diplomacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Looting
• diplomacy
• Jordan
• remote sensing
• cultural heritage

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Andrew Dufton and Parker VanValkenburgh for putting together the SAA session on Big Data. We are delighted to present the big data work we have been doing in Jordan, which would not be possible without the support of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan, Meredith S. Chesson, Mohammad Zahran, Jameelah Ishtawy, Mohammad Najjar, and the communities of the Ghor es-Safi region. Funds for this project came from DePaul University and Rick Witschonke. Our thanks to the session respondent Mark McCoy, Patty Gerstenblith, Yorke Rowan, and anonymous reviewers for very helpful comments and suggestions. This paper is dedicated to Andrea Zerbini, a diligent advocate for the use of remote sensing in cultural heritage protection in the MENA region.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on Contributors

Morag M. Kersel (Ph.D. 2006, University of Cambridge) is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Museum Studies Minor at DePaul University. Her interests include the prehistory of the Levant, cultural heritage policy and law, and the trade in antiquities.

Austin Chad Hill (Ph.D. 2011, University of Connecticut) is an archaeologist specializing in Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-based remote sensing. Chad uses aerial photography and 3D photogrammetry, employing visible and multispectral imaging, to identify archaeological sites, document excavations, and visualize landscapes.

ORCID

Morag M. Kersel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9254-0957

Austin (Chad) Hill http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8397-8105