Upon learning of my Biblical archaeological background, people often ask: is it legal to buy antiquities in Israel? In some cases, yes, and in some cases, no. Antiquities dealers, mostly located in Jerusalem’s Old City, require a license from the government. Then to take the purchases out of Israel, a buyer needs an export permit from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Both of these steps are designed to decrease looting from archaeological sites which destroys forever the material record. Yikes. Additionally, many radical terrorist groups fund their activities through the sale of stolen antiquities. Oh my.
So if you have your eye on items similar to these Middle Bronze Age (1730-1550 BC) Canaanite terracotta juglets, the best thing might be to purchase a fabulous fake—it’s cheap, it does no harm to a site, and it puts the bad guys out of business. (Plus, you would pretty much need to be an expert to tell a fake from the real thing—many have bought expensive pieces only to learn later that it’s not the real deal-!) A great reason to “just say no”.
Properly-excavated artifacts go to museums or to storerooms to be studied. Years later, methods of “seeing” long-disappeared writing on pottery can be developed (another post on this later)—and we want to have the vessels in hand to be able to examine them better. Help us out, okay?
Notice the decoration on these pottery vessels. The style, the roughness of the clay, and the decoration tell us about their age. These MBA Canaanite vessels display an everted rim, an incised and punctated body. For the layperson, that means the rim above the neck sticks out, rather than a smooth neck pointing straight upward, and the body has been stuck with a small reed or stick to make etched lines and holes on the surface.
Don’t ever be fooled by a new piece of pottery that has been buried in a Middle Eastern field or backyard and watered, distressed, or burned to look old. Remember that I am your friend and you can tell that Old City huckster pulling out a dirt-encrusted piece from under his counter, “MB warned me….” This aging technique may be utilized on glass, iron, pottery, practically anything.
Repeat after me: just say “no” to antiquities purchases. The IAA’s Robbery Prevention Division is watching….
Comments are closed.