Since the January 2011 Revolution, Egypt has fallen victim to the scourge of cultural racketeering, the systematic looting and trafficking of art and antiquities by organized crime. In the weeks after the uprising, reports of plunder quickly lit up the archaeological hotlines, as thieves targeted ancient sites, storerooms, and places of worship. However, for those of us wanting to better quantify and qualify this destruction, it was hard to move from anecdotal evidence to empirical data.
To better understand the crisis, the International Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities — an Antiquities Coalition initiative — commissioned research from Dr. Sarah Parcak, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. Satellite analysis by Dr. Parcak, confirmed by on-the-ground surveys at select sites, found that illicit digging at previously known archaeological sites increased by 500-1000% since the revolution. She also estimated that cultural racketeering has cost Egypt $1 billion each year in stolen cultural goods since the revolution.
Despite this valuation, these goods are priceless to archaeologists, and most importantly to the Egyptian people.
Dr. Parack’s research is currently being prepared for publication and will be posted in full as soon as it is available.