Culture crime news: 3–9 Mar 2014

News

Hot this week: surprising statements about stolen idols in Australia

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General

Trafficking Culture Project seeks Research Associate/Assistant

Papyrus, Provenance and Looting
2 March 2014, New York Times

UN Agencies Launch New Anti-trafficking Campaign

6 March 2014, RTT News

Ancient, Ethnographic Art headline sale at Artemis Gallery LIVE, March 14
4 March 2014, ArtFix Daily

Africa

SAFE Beacon honours Egyptian archaeologist Monica Hanna
9 March 2014, Daily News Egypt

Ex-BBC man attempted to sell artefact plundered in Arab Spring
7 March 2014, The Independent

Americas

Athorities raid storage locker filled with antiquities
6 March 2014, AFA News

Treasures deserve protection as monument (USA)
4 March 2014, Las Cruces Sun-News

NOPD searching for man suspected of trying to steal Banksy painting
7 March 2014, WVUE

Artifact vandalism near Moab a growing problem
6 March 2014, Desert News

US probing whether Ganesha museum idol was stolen
7 March 2014, Business Standard

Ohio museum: Sculpture may be idol stolen in India
7 March 2014, Associated Press

Thieves target ‘priceless’ Golden Spike at Railroad Museum
6 March 2014, KCRA

Art theft experts offer to help Cuba recover missing works
5 March 2014, The Daily Star

Castro replaces his culture minister
6 March 2014, Havana Times

East and South Asia

US returns Tang Dynasty stone coffin to China
7 March 2014, ECNS

Cambodian relics ‘found in New York’
7 March 2014, Phnom Penh Post

Town prays for its stolen god Shiva to return
8 March 2014, The Australian (Paywalled)

Claim flawed, Australian gallery is keeping stolen idol (India)
9 March 2014, The Hindu

Art experts struggle to distinguish real from a very good fake (India)
9 March 2014, The Times of India

West Asia

Among the Wounded in Syria’s War: Ancient History
7 March 2014, New York Times

Europe

Art theft in Venice and Veneto region decreases while recovery increases
5 March 2014, The Venice Times

Last stolen cultural objects returned to Italy (Switzerland)
6 March 2014, Swissinfo

Oceania

Historical shackles nearly sold off at auction (New Zealand)
5 March 2014, Maori Television

National Gallery of Australia defends practices despite admitting it may have been conned into buying stolen Indian art
5 March 2014, ABC News

Radford roasted for NGA buy (National Gallery of Australia purchase of looted antiquities
7 March 2014, The Australian (Paywalled)

Perils of haste in playing catch-up (Australia: buying looted antiquities to keep up with older museums)
7 March 2014, The Australian (Paywalled)

In Other News

Brazil clamps down on illegal fossil trade
4 March 2014, Nature

How art forgeries became celebrated as masterpieces
4 March 2014, Spear’s