Description

In an exclusive event at the Met, John Kerry blamed groups like ISIL for excavating antiquities and putting them on the market through middlemen. This article questions if they are the only ones to blame, or if buyers are also to blame?

Germany has become a main hub for the export of antiquities through the armed conflicts in Iraq and Syria, with imports of Syrian 'handicrafts' increasing 133% in the US. The article dubs buyers 'war profiteers' from capitalizing on the 'blood antiquities, aka 'conflict antiquities' purchased from nations suffering severe unrest.

Some of the terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, including the Free Syria army, use money gained from antiquities sales to fund their arms procurement. Collectors pay for looting, and also for murder. The article states that with firm regulation and policing at the source as well as at the collector level, the flow of blood antiquities and stolen culture could be ended.