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SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS
ANCHISE PUBLICATION
Artefacts, roots, networks: endangered archeology and trafficking of archaeological objects -
The economic and social context of illicit trafficking in archeological goods
The globalisation and acceleration of the antiquities market necessitate responses beyond national borders, requiring at minimum European-level coordination and reflection. Various national and international organisations, associations, and individuals are working to protect sites and artifacts through documentation and disruption of trafficking networks. These illicit activities not only deprive sites of their discoveries but also strip objects of their meaning by severing them from their contextual information.
The International Symposium (8-9 October 2023) organised by Université de Poitiers (HERMA laboratory) in the framework of the ANCHISE project, highlighted several key challenges in confronting this issue. First, the identification of objects stolen from museums or private collections remains difficult, even when inventories exist, as appearances can be altered and documentation falsified. Second, and perhaps more critically, the market is flooded with looted objects from clandestine excavations – orphaned artifacts with no documented history. These anonymous objects, transformed solely into market commodities with fabricated histories and pedigrees, become nearly impossible to identify as illicit once they enter the legal art market, creating a troubling coexistence of legal and illegal objects.
This volume serves multiple purposes:
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to strengthen collective awareness by pooling data and information from Mediterranean-region stakeholders, highlighting both unique and common characteristics;
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to address emerging regional cooperation through various projects;
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to examine collaboration between actors throughout the process, from object identification to legal proceedings.
"Artefacts, roots, networks: endangered archaeology and trafficking of archeological objects" documents the symposium and aims to shed light on the trafficking of cultural goods. It includes summaries of the main actors and researchers who spoke at the symposium, focused through thematic analyses.
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ANCHISE CONTRIBUTIONS
The open-access contributions to other scientific publications and journals,
disseminating the ANCHISE knowledge and results.
From Risk to Response:
How the Heritage Sector Addresses Illicit Trafficking
Publisher: AURORA Project / Balkan Museum Network
With contributions from authors across multiple regions, the AURORA publication highlights institutional responses, legal challenges, digital tools, and community-based initiatives. From high-profile restitution cases to the use of satellite imagery, digital databases, and cross-sectoral cooperation, the articles reveal the wide range of strategies used to safeguard heritage.
ANCHISE article "Artefacts, Roots and Networks: An Interdisciplinary Approach to fight Endangered Archaeology and The Trafficking of Cultural Objects" explores the illicit trafficking of archaeological objects in Europe and its neighboring regions, based on contributions from the international symposium above mentioned
DigitalTwin versus MemoryTwin
Publisher: Springer Verlag
This book presents a collection of papers focusing on 3D digitisation in the domain of cultural heritage. The use of data acquisition technologies in digitising cultural heritage holds great potential for preserving and disseminating the history of mankind. However, to exploit these opportunities in full, comprehensive guidelines for documenting the process of digitisation are required. Only then can the efficiency and credibility of digital representations be assured.
The ANCHISE article "New Interoperable Solutions for Cultural Heritage Protection: The ANCHISE Toolset" details the technological architecture of each tool, discuss implementation challenges across varied operational environments, and evaluate their performance through stakeholder feedback.
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
This open access book is authored by a rich mix of contributors from across the landscape of research, academia, LEAs, civil protection, and other first responders, practitioners, public and private organizations and industry to address some of the most contemporary challenges within global security domain.
The ANCHISE article "A Semantic Engine for Fighting Cultural Goods Crime" demonstrates the main functionalities provided by Guardian-CH, applying logical, rule-based reasoning for revealing new relations between the source and the destination points of stolen objects, among the different types of goods and their distribution channels, as well as among diverse structures and activities of traffickers.
Electronic Imaging Journal, Issue 37
Publisher: Society for Imaging Science & Technology
In the paper "Automated Monitoring of Stolen Cultural Artifacts on Online Marketplaces", the KiKu-Mon tool is presented. It is shown how, in case of theft, the original owner can upload descriptive keywords and photos of the stolen objects to start monitoring tasks to track and identify the stolen objects on targeted online marketplaces and get alerted when identical or highly similar objects appear on the monitored sales platforms.
With the support of proposed novel techniques, the paper argues that developed monitoring tool can efficiently and effectively monitor stolen artifacts on online marketplaces, significantly reducing the manual inspection effort.