LONDON, (CAIS) — After the successful archaeological research in Nakhl-e Ebrahimi village in February 2007, experts from Hormozgan Province Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation (HCHTO) have managed to obtain permission to carry out their second season of archaeological research in the Persian Gulf to unearth the largest Parthian fort in Iran Proper, reported the Persian service of CHN on Friday.

According to Abbas Noruzi from HCHTO archaeologists are planning to unearth the Parthian fort located in the village of Nakhl-e Ebrahim near the Strait of Hormoz (also Hormuz) in the Persian Gulf.

Archaeologist Siyamak Sarlak has been announced as the director of the research team.

Noruzi said the purpose of the excavation is to unearth the fort completely and after restoration the historical site will be turned into a tourist attraction.

The Parthian fort in Nakhl-e Ebrahimi village is the largest Parthian fort to have ever been discovered in Iran Proper. The Fort was constructed during the reign of third Iranian dynasty, the Arsacids (Parthians - 248 BCE-224 CE) near the Strait of Hormoz for military and administration purposes.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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‘Whenever someone implies that history is boring, I bring up Napoleon’s penis,” writes Tony Perrottet in his new book, Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 Years of History Unzipped. Having followed the trail of ancient Roman travelers in Pagan Holiday and traced the history of the Olympic Games in The Naked Olympics, Perrottet has turned his attention to the history of Napoleon’s “baguette”—how it wound up in New Jersey, for example—as well as other lesser-known sexually-tainted oddities of history. Ever wanted to know about the nighttime habits of Renaissance-era lesbian nuns, the medieval Church’s curious sex laws or the theories behind Hitler’s one testicle? Tony Perrottet is your man. David Farley caught up with the Australian-born author/travel writer—and World Hum contributor—at the newly reopened International Bar in New York City for a few pints of beer and some talk about famous penis relics.

World Hum: Your previous books—“Pagan Holiday” and “The Naked Olympics”—were personal travel narratives interweaved with history. Your newest book is just the history. What were the challenges in writing this book?

Tony Perrottet: I’ve never been interested in just pure history—it’s always about how it relates to the present. What I did with this book was find stories that would not only get people’s attention, but stories that are embedded in how we think and what we think about today; the same type of things we sit around talking about in bars or at dinner parties: sex, celebrity, food, real estate, scandal. In a way, going back in to the past is the same as a travel writer going to a foreign country. In fact, my history writing is like traveling in the past. The novelist L.P. Hartley’s famous phrase—the past is a foreign country—is true. I want to know what 18th-century Paris looked like, sounded like and smelled like. Historians don’t always fill in all these gaps.

Maybe that’s why history can appear so dry to some of us—because it often lacks the juicy details that you include in your writing.

Yes. It’s true. People hate history. Even the History Chanel isn’t showing history anymore. But
history is very interesting. Look at the history of Napoleon’s penis. Fascinating stuff. People don’t even realize they’re learning about the battle of Waterloo, his marriage to Josephine, why he was exiled to St. Helena.

Speaking of which, in your book, you recount the travels of Napoleon’s penis. Can you give us some of the highlights?

It was removed during the autopsy by his vengeful doctor in 1821 who gave it to a priest in Corsica. That priest died in a blood vendetta a few years later. His family kept it until 1916 when a British collector got a hold of it. It briefly went on display in New York City in 1927 where a Time magazine article noted there was a lot of weeping and giggling among the spectators. In 1969 it went on auction in London but didn’t sell. It went back on auction in Paris in 1977 and was bought by John Kingsley Lattimer, one of the world’s leading urologists, who took it home to New Jersey and stored it under his bed for 30 years.

How did you first hear about Napoleon’s penis and what happened when you first contacted John Kingsley Lattimer about it?

I’ve always been interested in morbid celebrity relics. I was actually doing a piece for Smithsonian on Little Big Horn and was trying to find out about the idea that the Dakota had chopped off the genitals of Custer’s men. So I Googled “severed genitals” and Napoleon’s penis came up. It has quite an online presence. Lattimer is a pretty famous character himself—his collection of curiosities is legendary. So I got in touch with him and went out to New Jersey to have a look at his stuff. He wouldn’t show me the penis, claiming he didn’t know where it was in his curiosity-packed house. I asked on more than one occasion if I could see it, and he’d go on and on about why he didn’t want to show it. But after he died last year, his daughter—who inherited the penis—unexpectedly showed me one day a few months ago.

Where might one find other famous historical penises?

Rasputin’s penis is on display in St. Petersburg. It’s supposed to be 11 inches long or something like that. Most likely, however, it’s not authentic. Tutankhamen’s penis is an interesting case, too. When they did X-rays of Tut’s body in the ‘60s, they discovered the penis was missing and they pointed the finger at the photographers who helped unwrap the mummy in 1922. And then a couple years ago, Zahi Hawass, the head of the antiquities department in Cairo, claimed to have found the penis. John Dillinger’s was supposed to be in the Smithsonian in Washington, but sadly that turned out to be an urban myth. And then, of course, there’s Jesus’ foreskin, but you’re keeping its location a closely guarded secret.

Indeed. At least for now. In a way, one could use “Napoleon’s Privates” as a guidebook to historical sex tourism. If you were going around, say, Europe, what would be the perfect two-week Tony Perrottet itinerary? Give us the highlight tour.

You’d have to start in Naples in the “Secret Cabinet” in the Museum of Archaeology. The cabinet was set up in 1819 when they found a bunch of erotic Roman stuff from Pompeii. The king of Naples was so horrified when he saw the phallic wind chimes, huge penis sculptures, and images of Europa getting raped, he ordered everything into a secret cabinet. Which of course then became a major stop for the 19th-century Grand Tourists. After Naples, you’d have to go to Florence where at the Museum of Science is Galileo’s finger. From there, head to Venice to gawk at old nunneries where travelers would rent rooms and rent one of the ladies for the night, too. Finally, In St. Andrew’s College, north of Edinburgh, you could have found a wig made of the pubic hairs of the mistresses of King Charles II. Sadly, the wig was stolen. Today, you can see the stand that held the wig, though.

Do you think the rest of us will ever get a chance to see Napoleon’s penis?

It depends who buys it. Maybe they’ll make postcards of it or put it on the internet or on display in a museum. It hard to tell what the future holds for the emperor’s manhood.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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For a five-year period during the second half of the 19th century, the exclusive Mediterranean Hotel in the Old City of Jerusalem was a Bohemian cultural center where renowned visitors chose to stay when they spent a few nights in the Holy Land.

Mark Twain, for example, arrived in September 1867, and at least one of the 50 letters that later became the basis for his legendary book “The Innocents Abroad” - the most widely read travelogue in American literature to this day - was written there. Archaeologist Charles Warren, who headed the group from the British Palestinian Exploration Fund that excavated the well-known vertical shafts at the foot of the Temple Mount, stayed there with his team of excavators, and the group stored its excavating tools and measuring instruments in the hotel’s basement.

Over the years, researchers attempted, on the basis of old sketches and photos, to locate the site where the Mediterranean once stood. Now, the mystery has been solved: The Mediterranean is none other than Wittenberg House on the Old City’s Haguy St., which is currently managed by a convert from Judaism, Moshe Hornstein.
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Wittenberg House became famous some 20 years ago, when then MK (and later prime minister) Ariel Sharon purchased an apartment in it and even lived there several days a week with his wife, Lily. The house is named after Moshe Wittenberg, the person who bought it from a Christian owner over 120 years ago - and who was assisted in the transaction by the reviver of the Hebrew language, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, whose knowledge of French made him a valuable middleman.

The solution to the mystery, which will shed light on one of the landmarks of the 19th-century Jerusalem scene, came about thanks to the work of researcher Yoni Shapira, archaeologist Prof. Shimon Gibson and Rupert Chapman, secretary of Britain’s Palestine Exploration Fund.

The fund and its extensive archive, which contains some 10,000 photos of Jerusalem and the land of Israel in the 19th century, is a real treasure for researchers of the area’s history. Nearly 20 years ago, Gibson used the archive to remap the cisterns and shafts on the Temple Mount based on Warren’s work. At the same time, he also searched for the place in Jerusalem where Warren and the members of his team stayed in the 1860s and 1870s.

Eventually, Chapman found a map sketched by Conrad Schick, a renowned architect, archaeologist, cartographer and member of the organization who was a leading researcher of the Holy Land and Jerusalem. Chapman sent the map to Gibson, but Gibson did not then have time to study it. Only recently did it reach Yoni Shapira, who specializes in architectural-historical research and is also the man behind Mini Israel, a park near Latrun featuring miniatures of many Israeli landmarks. Shapira was working at the time on researching and building models for hundreds of structures, and he succeeded in pinpointing the hotel’s location.

Chapman, Shapira and Gibson found the hotel’s first site, where it remained until 1860, relatively easily: It was located near Hezekiah’s Pool (the Patriarch’s Pool). An elderly Armenian woman now lives in one of the apartments that was then part of the hotel, and when Gibson looked out from the balcony of her home, he saw exactly the same view that Herman Melville, the author of “Moby Dick” and a guest at the hotel in those days, described in his journal. At that point, he knew the riddle’s first part had been solved.

But the big challenge was to find the hotel’s location from 1866 onward - its second and more famous venue, the one described in the writings of Warren and Twain. The researchers had two major hints at their disposal: Warren wrote that the hotel where he stayed was next to Bezetha, which is just southeast of Damascus Gate; he also said the structure resembled a khan, or traditional Middle Eastern inn. In other words, it had an unroofed interior courtyard and a large room with a view of the main road.

Shapira began checking aerial photos and GIS (Geographic Information System) maps prepared by the Jerusalem municipality and marked houses that should be checked. Two photos taken from the courtyard of the hotel by Henry Philips, who was Warren’s photographer, assisted him. After poring through hundreds of documents, photos and aerial photos, Shapira climbed onto the roof of the Austrian hostel, one of the highest buildings in the area, and marked three houses for careful inspection. Then he approached the residents and asked for permission to visit and photograph their homes. When he got to Wittenberg House, which also has an open courtyard, the identification was confirmed almost immediately: The courtyard in the photo, the steps and even the crack in the tiles remained in place. Everything matched.

Gibson said the discovery of the place where Mark Twain stayed, even if just for a few nights, is very meaningful for American tourists: “It’s basically like the room where Theodor Herzl stayed in Jerusalem’s Mamilla neighborhood is for us.” It is true that Twain only spent two nights there, but he is the most famous tourist from the U.S. to visit the Holy Land in the 19th century.

Bezetha, said Shapira and Gibson, was at one time a wonderful place for a hotel. It was located in the vicinity of the British consulate, the Austrian consulate and the Turkish pasha’s residence. The area experienced its peak development in the 1860s and 1870s, attracting the bulk of Western consulates and institutions, such as the military hospital, the Austrian hostel and various schools. Well-to-do families living nearby also added to the area’s prominence.

The hotel had 23 rooms altogether. The main building had two stories: a courtyard level, which housed guest rooms as well as a kitchen and lounge, plus a second floor where the bulk of the guest rooms were located.

An analysis of the structure and the number of rooms there corresponded to an additional photo taken by Henry Philips that showed several people in the typical Jewish dress of that time. This photo, which has been on display for years at the Israel Museum and is known as “Jews in Jerusalem,” clearly shows the device on which the hotel hung its room keys.

The large lounge, which now belongs to Ariel Sharon, was, according to Twain’s descriptions, used in the past as a public lounge where guests rested up from day trips around Jerusalem. Today, the room serves as a classroom for the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva and several yeshiva students and their families live there.

In a description of the courtyard, Warren wrote in his book that many of the household chores were done there, such as grinding corn (as shown in a photo by Philips from 1867) and cleaning boots. This was also where merchants from Bethlehem displayed their wares (olive wood beads, inlaid jewelry and more), dried flower sellers displayed their flowers, and missionaries displayed bibles with olive wood bindings made by Jews who had converted to Christianity.

Twain was impressed by the bibles and decided to order one as a gift for his mother. From his hotel room, he wrote a detailed letter to Mr. Isias, owner of a bookshop next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to place his order. That bible is now in the Mark Twain Archive at the University of California at Berkeley

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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With its soaring stone pyramids and geometric temples, Teotihuacan was once the biggest city in the Americas and possibly the world.

However, experts have never been able to say with certainty who built it and why it was suddenly abandoned.

An international team of experts believes the answer may lie under the Pyramid of the Sun, the centre point of the vast ruined city 25 miles outside Mexico City.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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DENVER.—The Japanese American National Museum’s third national conference was held on Independence Day weekend in Denver, Colo. with close to 850 registered participants from 31 states and four countries attending over 50 sessions and workshops.

Themed “Whose America? Who’s American? Diversity, Civil Liberties, and Social Justice,” the event kicked off with a pilgrimage to Amache on Thursday, July 3. The six buses, filled with former internees and their families, left Downtown Denver in the early morning to travel nearly 250 miles to the small southeastern Colorado town of Granada to visit the campsite where 7,800 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II.

Despite the thunderstorm forecast from the night before, the pilgrims were greeted by a clear blue sky and the temperature soared to the mid 90s. Also giving a warm welcome to the group at the first stop, Granada High School, were the members of the Amache Preservation Society, who consisted of high school students.

After cold drinks and lunch, the participants were escorted to the school gymnasium where artifacts, photos, documents and other items related to Amache were displayed. Students from the University of Denver’s Department of Anthropology, held a booth to report on their archeological digs and effort to preserve the Amache history.

There, Hisao Homma, of Torrance, found a familiar face among the archived photos from the camp days. “This is my aunt,” he said, pointing out a woman in the group shot.

It was his first return to the campsite in 62 years. Originally from Sawtelle, Calif., he and his family were sent to Santa Anita Assembly Center, then Amache when he was 5 years old. His father passed away in the camp.

“I am a little bit emotional,” said Homma, who participated in the pilgrimage with his son, daughter-in-law, brother, sister and nephew.

As the presentation by the Amache Preservation Society students ended, the pilgrimage buses drove off to Amache, about a half-mile away from the high school. The 1-square-mile land that once accommodated 29 blocks of barracks, administration buildings, warehouses, an athletic field, a co-op store, high school and a cemetery is now a peaceful green field with herds of cows mooing and munching the grass.

Accompanied by guides from the Amache Preservation Society and University of Denver, each bus made a few stops to tour the archeological dig sites, barrack foundations, a koi pond and more.

Culver City resident Frank Nakano also made his first trip back to Amache Thursday since he left the camp in 1943. His son Bastiaan walked ahead and egged him on as Nakano carefully made his way on the rocky dirt to the barrack foundation where his family used to live.

“We were told that we should be expecting a lot of deterioration,” said Bastiaan. “I did think that more of the foundation would be here, but it’s still satisfying just to see it.”

Nakano finally caught up with his son. “It’s hard to describe to your kids. Now, he’s here. I have an older one who couldn’t make it. There was no way I could describe to them properly about all this going on.”

Bastiaan said the Japanese American internment experience has installed a great deal of pride in him. “I think it’s remarkable how they were able to be put into these camps by the government and yet still go out and fight for the same country that just put them in prison. Instead of becoming really angry about it, they decided to be proactive and make the best of the very crappy situation.”

At the end of the tour, the buses met at the cemetery site for a brief Buddhist ceremony, officiated by Rev. Chieko Ono, of Denver. The pilgrims prayed and offered sho-ko to those who lost their lives at the internment camp, which include 31 men who volunteered to fight for the country while their families were incarcerated.

“I’m grateful that in gathering here today, we will continue to influence the course of history. To influence the shape of social interaction and to build our own spiritual strength so that someday we will see the prayers of a moment when all hearts are truly centered in wisdom and compassion,” Ono told those in attendance between the chants.

Coming back to Amache was not Homma’s intention. It was his Sansei son, Mitch, who gathered the family and registered them for the pilgrimage and the Denver conference. Mitch said his father, like many other former internees, didn’t talk much about the camp days to him and his siblings. So, Mitch started studying about his family—who were brought to the U.S. from Japan by the American Baptist Association.

“Growing up, I wish I knew a lot more about my family history,” the Sansei said, emotionally, as his wife Stephanie gently rubbed his shoulder. “I think it’s an important link to the past that needs to be handed down to all the generations. It’s important to me because I think the stories need to be told. The untold stories.”

“After I started finding some letters the church people wrote to their family in camp, I realized how close the Japanese community was back then. I think it was much closer than now. Even my Sansei generation, we are really busy, caught up in a lot of different things. It’s kind of distant, and a lot of traditions are lost,” he continued.

Mitch explained that visiting Amache gave him a better perspective to what his family gave up in Los Angeles before coming to the camp.

Asked what he wanted to tell his son about this return trip to Amache after over six decades, Homma smiled and said, “Well, thank you for bringing me.”

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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BY CHRISTOPHER DELA CRUZ
Star-Ledger Staff

Finding shattered beer bottles along the perimeter of Rutgers Stadium isn’t usually a shocking discovery, especially for anyone who has tailgated before a football game. But the bottles unearthed recently during construction to expand the stadium were nearly 250 years old.

Archaeologists have been documenting the findings to preserve the remnants of the once-bustling 18th-century Raritan Landing settlement. Discoveries have included foundations of the Rising Sun Tavern and multiple residences, scattered plates, tools, pottery and other items dating to the early to mid-18th century in the spot where the stadium’s large entrance plaza will be built.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Pardubice, East Bohemia, July 11 (CTK) - Archaeologists have uncovered a 4000-year-old grave in Mikulovice, east Bohemia, with remains of what might have been considered a vampire at the time, Nova TV has reported.

The experts made the terrifying find within their research of a burial site from the Early Bronze Age.

One of the graves was situated somewhat aside. The skeleton in it bears traces of unusual treatment.

When buried, the dead man was weighed down with two big stones, one on his chest and the other on his head.

“Remains treated in this way are now considered as vampiric. The dead man’s contemporaries were afraid that he might leave his grave and return to the world,” Radko Sedlacek from the East Bohemia Museum said.

This is for the first time Czech archaeologists have uncovered a “vampire’s” grave, Nova said.

In ancient times, people believed vampires are the dead who occasionally return among the living to harm their health or property.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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A Mercyhurst College professor hopes to rewrite history.

James Adovasio, Ph.D., will travel to St. Petersburg, Fla., later this month to examine and investigate the evidence of human habitation in now-submerged coastal floors.

“During the last major ice age, when glaciers covered large chunks of the country, sea level dropped. Areas that were once exposed are now under water,” he said. “Early humans, as they spread into the New World, would have camped on those coastlines.”

The team of 12, including co-director C. Andrew Hemmings, Ph.D., will examine the waters 100 to 200 miles off Florida’s west coast from July 30 through Aug. 12. It is their hypothesis that an underwater archaeological study will uncover evidence that humans were in North America thousands of years before what is commonly believed.

Such evidence would literally rewrite the history of human habitation of North America — including why, when and where they migrated.

“Everybody agrees that 13,000 years ago, people were all over North America,” said Hemmings, who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin.

Archaeologists, knowing how long it took for the water level to rise, can determine how old artifacts are by their location on the coast, he said.

“If we find anything that was on land until 15,000 years ago, then we realize anything we find is at least that old or older,” he said.

Adovasio said it is commonly believed that primitive North Americans were “fur-clad, spear-wielding, terrestrial hunters.”

Instead, he said, the early inhabitants were most likely living off the coastal vegetation, animals and fish.

“They probably relied on a broad diversity of resources,” he said.

The crew will use a 105-foot research vessel, the Suncoaster, from the University of South Florida. Other equipment includes remote-operated underwater vehicles and sonar to examine the ground.

Adovasio hopes the expedition will not only become part of history, but that it promotes Mercyhurst’s role in archeology.

“We probably have one of the best analysis sites for archaeological work in the country,” he said.

No students are traveling with Adovasio or his team, but part of the laboratory analysis of samples and artifacts will take place at Mercyhurst College.

Project costs are estimated around $200,000. Mercyhurst College provided a combination of funds and services to the project, including labor and equipment through the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is supplementing other fundraising efforts by the crew with a $100,000 matching grant.

“The ocean is a pretty big place — 71 percent of the Earth. …We’re trying to close that gap. It’s a huge undertaking,” said Fred Gorell, a spokesman for NOAA.

NOAA is optimistic that Adovasio’s venture will be a success.

“It’s been said that more history resides under the bottom of the ocean than in museums across the globe,” Gorell said. “When some discoveries are found, it helps fill the empty pages of history.”

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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Much has been written in Azerbaijan regarding existence of Muslim solidarity.

Not pursuing an intention to hurt anyone’s religious feelings, I want to express my opinion that there are even no hints of such solidarity. Even unanimous position of the OIC member-states, which at each session includes the demand of immediate withdrawal of Armenia’s armed troops from Azerbaijani occupied lands in their final resolution is not an indicator of Islamic solidarity. The point in the OIC resolution is rather a diplomacy than religion.

There is a sufficient number of arguments against solidarity. Iran’s support to Armenia, isolated by Azerbaijan and Turkey, may top all possible arguments of the supporters of existence of Islamic solidarity. And this is already not the diplomacy of the Iranian side, as everybody is aware of the unofficial position of this country during the active period of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

Without taking in the details of process, a question arises whether we need such an Islamic solidarity for Azerbaijan, integrating with the world society, has not limited itself only with the Islamic world but spoke of the openness to the whole world and integration with the Euroatlantic area. It means that existence or absence of Islamic solidarity should not be a number one question.

However, each negative information, by any means interpreted in favor of arguments of absence of Islamic solidarity, is anyway frustrating, as 90% of Azerbaijani population practices Islam.

Such information referred to Egypt this time, if exactly, intentions of this country’s scientists to take part in archeaological digs, held by Armenians in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan. Thus, the e-version of Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper (www.ahram.org.eg) posted an article of journalist Mushir Musa according to which Egyptian experts will hold archaeological digs in Armenian Tigranakert.

It should be reminded that Armenian scientists announced the reveal of “ancient Armenian” city “Tigranakert” in the occupied Aghdam region last year. Azerbaijani scientists declared that Armenians call Aghdam, occupied by them, as Tigranakert. Our scientists suggested that the digs are held in the Aguen historical monument, famous to Azerbaijani historians since Soviet times and dating to the Albanian period of the Azerbaijani history.

The Egyptian journalist notes in his article that by permission of the Egyptian Council on Archaeological monuments in summer a group of Egyptian archaeologists will leave for Armenia to take part in the digs of the ruins of ancient “Tigranakert”. Moreover, the author of the article notes, that the ruins of the city were found by officials of the Institute of Archeology under Armenian National Academy of Science, led by doctor of historical sciences Hamlet Petrosyan. It is also reported that the project, connected with Tigranokert, is financed by Erkir NGO association. The article says as is the foundation of “Tigranakert” and adjacent settlements was laid by Great Tigran, whose empire extended to Diyarbakir settlement in Turkey from the one side and Syria from the other.

Thus, scientists of one Islamic state intend to hold archaeological digs in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, a country, whose 90% population practices Islam. At the same time, they do not think about the fact of Armenia’s occupation of a part of Azerbaijani lands or OIC resolution, to whom Egypt is a member.

The issue of the existence of the notorious Islamic solidarity remains open.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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As readers know, the exhibition, Benin - Kings and Rituals: Royal Arts from Nigeria, which started in Vienna, in 2007, went on to Paris and Berlin, was opened in Chicago, on 10 July and will be there until 21 September 2008.

For various reasons, including the fear of litigation and judicial attempts to seize some of the Benin bronzes, only some 220 objects will be displayed in Chicago compared to some 300 objects in Berlin. The bad consciences of some of the holders of these objects seem to have been activated by the previous protests in Chicago and the discussions on the illegality and illegitimacy of their possession. Hence some owners were not willing to let their artefacts cross the Atlantic to the USA where judges are quick to order seizure of artworks which are alleged to have been stolen or dubious provenance.

A 40 page catalogue specifically made for the Chicago exhibition, Benin: Royal Arts of a West African Kingdom, does not appear to be ready yet but will highlight 22 masterpieces from Benin art and includes as essay by the curator, Kathleen Bickford Berzock. As we have mentioned in various articles, the 535 page catalogue edited by Barbara Plankensteiner for the exhibition in Vienna, Paris and Berlin is a masterwork and should be also consulted by all those seriously interested in the arts of Benin. (1) The home page of the Art Institute of Chicago contains very useful information, including videos for the understanding of the exhibition and the arts and culture of Benin.
www.artic.edu/aic

According to reports from Chicago, the opening of the exhibition was an impressive affair with the presence of the august Nigerian visitors as well as prominent Nigerians based in Chicago and Illinois.(2) Important Chicago officials such as the Mayor were present as well as Reverend Jesse Jackson, the African-American leader and activist. Edo singers and dancers as well as West African bands were also there to contribute to the occasion in African fashion by
providing music, an indispensable element in all African social activities.

Once again, the Benin Royal Family emphasized the need for the return of the artefacts which were stolen by the British in 1897. Princess Theresa Evbakhavbokun Erediauwa stated that she wants to build a secure museum in Benin. She and the Nigerian officials there asked for support in recovering the artefacts back through diplomatic channels. She wanted her family heirlooms back. These objects tell the story of her family.

Chief Esosa Godwin Eghobamien stated that the presence on the artworks in Benin would provide more and better context. Visitors to exhibitions where these objects are displayed often do not even know where Benin is and it would be better if they came to see where the artefacts were produced and thus see where civilization started in Africa. Kingsley Ehi, a real estate manager in Chicago and head of the Edo Arts and Cultural Heritage expressed the hope that these artefacts will soon be returned home.

Despite the sad story of the looting of the Benin bronzes, Prince Ademola Iyi-Eweka was impressed by the exhibition; he would like the artworks to be returned. The world should know that Benin has survived despite losing the war against the British. Diplomatic efforts are being made to secure the Benin bronzes but if that fails, steps would be taken to institute legal proceedings.

James Cuno, Director of the Art Institute of Chicago, responded to the please of the Nigerian representatives by saying that the Art Institute of Chicago which is not involved, only possesses half a dozen Benin works of art which are beautiful and important. The encyclopaedic museum allowed art works from various countries to be seen at one place and their interconnections. He was concerned by the trend towards consolidating art from a particular time or place in a single location. A dispersal of the objects enables more people to see the objects and also reduces the risk of calamity. Despite all this, Cuno stated that if there were a request for the return of the Benin objects, the Art Institute of Chicago would consider it seriously.

Cuno’s statement must be considered as noteworthy of attention, coming from a man considered by man as the defender of the “universal museum”’ a guru for all those who believe nothing should leave the British Museum and similar “universal museums.” (3) Cuno has made repeated attacks on those he calls “nationalist retentionists”for claiming ownership in ancient artefacts of ancient peoples with whom they have nothing in common except that they occupy the same territory as the ancient civilizations.

The report on Cuno’s statement is sketchy and we do not have his exact words. We do not know whether he repeated his usual criticism of those claiming restitution in his abrasive style in presence of the Royal Family of Benin and the Nigerian officials. If the statements attributed to him are to be believed, then Cuno has made a small but significant shift in his stand. He did not dismiss outright such claims but is willing to consider such claims. Willingness to consider does not imply acceptance of the claim but it at least shows an admission that such claims may be valid in some cases.

We do not have the full text of Cuno’s statement and may never have it since it appears to be the policy or practice of this exhibition not to publish the full text of statements made at the opening. I still have not seen any text of statements made in Vienna, Paris or Berlin. This is an interesting practice in a scholarly matter.

We hope that when Cuno says he will consider the matter when a request is made, he is suggesting that so far no request has been made. The Nigerians have repeatedly in Vienna, Berlin and Chicago made it clear that they want their artefacts back. What else must they do?

We have shown in several articles that there is no legal requirement for a formal demand. If the Art Institute is willing to consider returning some of the Benin bronzes but feels that the Institute’s regulations or some binding law would require written demand, he should in good faith, inform the Nigerians about this requirement and the relevant procedure. He should not leave it to the Nigerians to beat about the bush. Any other approach would seem to be merely delaying tactic. Cuno as well as the Nigerians are interested in clearing this matter if the co-operation he hopes for is to be fruitful.

A goodwill gesture by the Art Institute of Chicago would be an encouragement to those holding hundreds of Benin bronzes to come forward and make their indispensable contribution. Despite statements by a mischievous director of a famous American museum, neither this writer nor any of those arguing for restitution are suggesting that all Benin objects be returned to Benin. We are only suggesting that it is time that, for example, the British Museum which allegedly holds 1000 pieces and the Ethnology Museum, Berlin, which admittedly has 800 pieces could each afford to return some pieces each. The nightmare of the museum directors that they may one day find their museums emptied of all their African objects is a figment of the troubled imagination of those who have not attempted to understand the position of others.

Discussions in Nigeria on the restitution question, in view of the Chicago exhibition, are concerned with the lack of progress in the process of recovery (4). Comparisons have been made with the spectacular return of a number of objects by US museums to Italy. It is known that the Italians used both diplomatic negotiations, legal proceedings, including imprisonment of a curator of the Paul Getty Museum. In this context, one could also mention the success of another African country, Egypt, in recovering some 3000 objects in the last six years. The Supreme Council on Egyptians Antiquities, under the dynamic leadership of Zahi Hawass, publish their activities at their homepage and their objectives are made known to the public and all concerned.

In an article published in the Nigerian newspaper, The Guardian, it appears that the aim of the Nigerian Government at the moment is to make an inventory of Nigeria’s stolen artefacts. The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation is reported to have disclosed that a committee will be set up to make an inventory of Nigeria’s artefacts within and outside the country. In this connection, it is recalled that the Minister was reported to have referred to the establishing of such an inventory in his speech in February, at the opening of the Benin exhibition in Berlin. Despite all efforts, we have not been able to secure a copy of the text of that statement.

With regard to an inventory of stolen Nigerian artefacts abroad, it should be stated that with regard to the Benin bronzes, the catalogue prepared by Barbara Plankensteiner for the exhibition in Vienna, Paris and Berlin, contains information sufficient for the identification of the locations and owners of the Benin objects. Philip J. C. Dark, in his study, “Benin Bronze Heads: Styles and Chronology”, identified 6500 Benin objects in some 77 places, mostly museums.(5) Similar publications and information on other Nigerian arts, such as those of Ife and Nok are easily available. We know for sure that some Nok objects are in the musée du quai Branly, in Paris, and are there with the consent of Nigeria, after they had been illegally acquired by the French.

A complete inventory of Nigerian artefacts inside and outside the country appears to be more than a Herculean task the utility of which should be carefully considered. Most of the countries than have recently recovered stolen arts do not seem to have made such an inventory but proceeded as and when information became available.

However one looks at the issue of restitution, it is clear that the Queen Idia hip mask means more to Africans and Nigerians than to Europeans and the British. Which European derives inspiration or hope from the African Queen-mother? Indeed, most Europeans are not even aware that there are so many African Queens and Kings held against their will in European and American museums. If the European museum directors do not understand this, they should stop talking about heritage of mankind. What kind of heritage is this which allows one side to high-jack for hundreds of years the religious, ritual and cultural icons of the other?

If the Art Institute of Chicago finally decides to return a Benin bronze, quite diplomacy would be given a great boost. If nothing comes out of cooperation with such institutions, the Nigerians must seriously re-examine their position and methods so far.

In Chicago, stolen Benin artefacts on parade

Tuesday, July 01, 2008
By Tajudeen Sowole

AS the waiting game continues in the effort to retrieve stolen African cultural objects, a distraction may have crept in under the disguise of collaboration with the ‘keepers’ to promote the artefacts.
The latest development in this regard is the exhibition of about quarter of a million works of Benin origin made in brass, ivory and coral, scheduled to open at the Art Institute of Chicago, U.S on July 10, and ends on September 21, 2008.

The exhibition, Benin: Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria is a tour-show which took off at the famous Ehhnologisches Museum, (Museum of Ethnology) Berlin, Germany on February 7 till May 25, 2008.

The event being funded by a U.S based NGO, Sara Lee Foundation, according to information from the organisers is a “groundbreaking exhibition of 220 works in brass, ivory and coral and serves as the sole U.S venue” for the tour show.

Surprisingly, supports for the two exhibitions came from the royal house of Benin as well as the National Commission for Museum and Monuments, NCMM, Abuja. The Art Institute of Chicago stated: “Benin-Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria is an exhibition of the Museum f�r V�lkerkunde Wien-Kunsthistorisches Museum, in cooperation with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria; the Ethnologisches Museum-Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Mus�e du Quai Branly, Paris.”

When the show opened in Berlin five months ago, the organisers, in the brochure, stated thus: “There can be no doubt that the audience granted in 2006 by the reigning king of Benin,
Omo N’Oba Erediauwa CFR, was a highpoint in the preparations for the exhibition because it then became possible to receive objects on loan from the royal house for the first time in
an exhibition outside Nigeria. In addition, we received generous support from and enjoyable cooperation with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments and its General
Director, Dr. O.J. Eboreime, who describes the Benin exhibition in his foreword as probably one of the most outstanding cultural events of the decade to take place outside Nigeria in this field.”
Meanwhile, back home, during the ministerial press briefing by the Honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, on Thursday, June 26, 2008, at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, taking inventory appears to be the government’s next project as regards the nation’s controversial artefacts, among others.

Under the theme, Leveraging Economic Growth Through Tourism, Culture and Value Re-Orientation, the minister, while reeling out several “achievements” of various agencies of the ministry disclosed that a committee will be set up to take inventory of the nation’s artefacts within and outside the country.

While Nigeria is currently attempting to take inventory of its carted away artefacts, countries around the world, even in Africa, are already achieving restitution. In April 2005, part of a 1,700-year old 200-tonne column looted by Italy nearly 70 years ago was returned to its original location in Ethiopia.
Italian troops had seized the obelisk in 1937 and took it to Rome where it has remained despite a 1947 UN agreement to return it to Ethiopia. But the historic return in 2005 makes the difference.
However, it did not take long for the adage: ‘what you sow is what you reap’ to take effect. Towards the end of last year, Italy was rewarded by law of natural justice as a 4th-Century B.C. marble statue, Griffins Attacking A Fallen Doe illegally exported to the U.S was returned to Italy by the Los Angeles based J. Paul Getty Museum.

Contemporary works of Italian origin in various locations in the U.S like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Princeton University’s Art Museum were also returned with the fourth century B.C sculpture.

Many of the items, it was revealed, had been bought by the museums in good faith after they were illegally transported from Italy. But Italy’s unrelenting legal battle to retrieve the works paid off at the end of the day.

Last March, an exhibition, Nostoi: Returned Masterpieces held at the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, which started in December 2007 and organized by the Italian government came to a close after it featured the 68 retrieved works.

In the case of Nigeria, the intention of the government to support an exhibition where its stolen creative outputs would be displayed has become subject of debate in the arts community.
Responding to the issue of the role of government in the said Berlin and Chicago exhibitions, the Sitting-in-for Director General of NCMM, Ochi Achinivu who spoke with The Guardian shortly after the ministerial briefing argued that there is nothing wrong in government’s support of such events or similar ones. ” for the federal government to support any event aimed at promoting the nation’s culture anywhere in the world, I think, it is a good idea,” he said. While declining to make direct comment on the Chicago and Berlin exhibitions, Achinivu however warned that, “collaboration, support and any other persuasive mean available is better than confrontation in effort to have these objects returned”.

Some of the artefacts, illegally left its original location and later acquired by the Ethnologisches Museum from the British after the punitive expedition suffered by the Benin Kingdom as a result of the British invasion in 1897.

The museum was established on 12 December, 1873 specifically for the collection of cultural materials from the peoples of Africa and Oceania. According to the authority of the museum, “several German museums lent their Benin art works to the exhibition.”

Contents of the 40-page catalogue of the Art Institute of Chicago exhibition “highlights 22 of the exhibition’s masterworks.” Curated by Kathleen Bickford Berzock, some of the works include 18 century pieces, Iyoba, Head of Queen Mother, Oba Eresoyen’s Stool, Plaque of Oba Esiegie on Horseback, and Altar Group (Aseberia) with Oba Akenzua I.

For serious nations that truly desire restitution of their cultural and religious objects from anywhere in the world, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee For Promoting The Return Of Cultural Property To Its Countries Of Origin Or Its Restitution In Case Of Illicit Appropriation ICPRCP has a structure in place. At its fourteenth session, held in Paris, June 2007, the 22-member committee, currently including five African countries, Angola, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Libya, Niger and Zimbabwe came up with what it called Draft Rules Of Procedure On Mediation And Conciliation.

Article 1 of the document while saying that the committee requests for the return or restitution of cultural property, “as defined under Article 3 of the Statutes,” also explains in Article 10 under the heading conclusion of the Procedure. The document recommends that a mediation or conciliation procedure shall be deemed concluded when a settlement that all parties deem binding has been reached.

Other options the draft recommended included “when all of the Parties concerned consent in writing to deem the procedure concluded or when all Parties have set a time limit, within which no settlement has been reached.”

The document explains further that the parties shall promptly inform the chairman of the committee, who shall inform the Director-General of UNESCO and the members of the committee at the next session, of any settlement reached or procedure concluded without a settlement. It however warned that the chairman of the committee shall dismiss any procedure that has been concluded without a settlement, while the issue remains before the committee.

Fundamentally, UNESCO recommends that: “Before bringing a case before the intergovernmental committee, the requesting state must initiate bilateral negotiations with the state in which the requested object is located. Only when such negotiations have failed or are suspended can the case be brought before the committee.”

However, how much of these several opportunities offered by UNESCO has been taken in Nigeria’s pursuit of return or restitution of its monumental cultural heritage under hostage abroad is unknown. Achinivu, again, requested that he needs time to make any official statement on this and that it is too early for him as a new appointee to make any definite statement as regards government’s position.
Example of restitution in other part of the world in recent times include a stolen collection of over 90 artefacts dating from more than 8,000 years ago and returned from Germany to Greece, last October. The artefacts believed to be of the Neolithic-era were stolen by armed burglars from a private collection in Larissa, central Greece, in 1985. The materials were said to have been seized by the German police later. After legal tussle initiated by the Greek Government, a Munich court ruled in August 2007 that the artefacts be returned to Greece.

The artefacts, which include stone and pottery; statuettes, tools and tiny vases are said to be as old as between 6500 and 5300 B.C. Sources from the Greek government said the objects have their place of origin in the central Thessaly region of the country where Greece’s most important Neolithic settlements have been excavated.

Posted: July 15th, 2008 under Uncategorized.
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