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42 Duq. L. Rev. 221 (2003-2004)
The Archaeological Resources Protection Act - Twenty Five Years Later

handle is hein.journals/duqu42 and id is 235 raw text is: The Archaeological Resources Protection Act - Twenty Five Years Later Roberto Iraola' I. INTRODUCTION Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, there was exten- sive looting of museums and archaeological sites in Iraq.1 This conduct was swiftly condemned and in the United States legisla- tion was introduced in both the House and the Senate providing for import restrictions regarding cultural and archaeological ma- terials from Iraq.2 The looting of archaeological sites is a lucra- tive and old business.' In the United States, one estimate indi- cates that a third of the approximately 2,000,000 sites located in federally owned lands have been looted. In some parts of the * Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement and Secu- rity, Department of the Interior. J.D., Catholic University Law School (1983). The views expressed herein are solely those of the author. 1. See, e.g., Micah Garen, Looting Continues at Archaeological Sites Around Iraq, BAGHDAD BULLETIN, Jun. 24, 2003, available at http:www.baghdadbulletin.com/pageArti- cle.php?articleid=39&catjid=25 (After the recent war, the looting reached a fevered pitch. Important sites such as Isin, Umma, Umma Akrab and Larsa were turned into swiss cheese by teams of looters, reportedly up to 200 to 300 strong at times.); Dan Vergano, Expedition Verifies Looting of Iraqi Ruins, Museums, USA TODAY, Jun. 11, 2003 (Ground surveys of 23 sites revealed serious looting at 14 ancient cities, and a helicopter survey of 13 sites in southern Iraq found serious looting at 10 locations.); Edmund L. Andrews, On Iraqi Highways, Artifacts for Sale, INT'L HERALD TRIBUNE, May 29, 2003 (After American forces first entered Baghdad, looters raided Iraq's major museums and its main library, which is a repository for thousands of cuneiform tablets.) 2. See Legislating Protection for Iraqi Heritage, ARCHAEOLOGY, Jun. 27, 2003, avail- able at http://www.archaeology.orglmagazine.php?page=onlinelfeatures/iraqHR2009 (discussing differences between H.R. 2009 (Iraq Cultural Heritage Protection Act) and S. 1291 (Emergency Protection for Iraqi Cultural Antiquities Act of 2003)). 3. See Glenna J. Sheveland, Note, Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Cultural Resource Laws in Criminal Prosecution for Theft of Archaeological and Cultural Resources from Federal Lands, 28 N.E. J. CRIM & CIV. CON. 27, 29 (2002) (noting that in the United States, by the late 1700s and early 1800s, there was a dramatic shift from attempts to provide scientific understanding of archaeological sites to the outright looting and vandalizing of these sites solely for commercial gain) (footnote omitted); Stephanie A. Ades, Comment, The Archaeological Resources Protection Act: A New Application in the Private Property Context, 44 CATH. U. L. REV. 599 (1995) (Archaeological looting and trafficking is a lucra- tive and thriving business in the United States with a growing international market for Native American artifacts.) (footnotes omitted). 4. See Sheveland, supra note 3, at 54. The two million figure may be conservative; some archaeologists estimate the number of sites on Indian and federal lands at six to 221

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