The Medici Conspiracy: The Illicit Journey of Looted Antiquities — From Italy's Tomb Raiders to the World's Greatest Museums, Peter Watson, Cecelia Todeschini

The dis-oriented author wanted to be an archaeologist when he was young. Of course I also wanted to be an architect, oceanographer,  astronaut and pilot. When I saw Peter Watson's The Medici Conspiracy on the library shelf I knew that I had to read it.

The Medici in this book is not the famous Medici family of the Renaissance but an Italian dealer in antiquities named Giacomo Medici. In short this book describes how many of the antiquities that are on display in museums and private collections worldwide are either stolen, looted or just plain fake.

I will never look at a museum the same way again.

The Medici Conspiracy follow the traffic in un-provenanced antiquities from the Italian tomb raiders who loot the sites, to the dealers in Geneva who buy the goods, to the auction houses who look the other way, to the museum curators who pretend they are innocent victims.

Now one may ask, why should we care how they got there as long as these antiquities get to reputable museums where they can be preserved, enjoyed and studied for generations to come? There are actually several reasons we should care.

In archaeological circles provenance is the history of an artifact starting from its discovery and and excavation to the present. Provenance includes drawings, descriptions and photographs of the artifact in situ. Items with provenance can be studied scientifically items without are simply pretty things — they are of no scientific value.

In addition to the historical/scientific value, the looted items belong to the nations (in this case Italy) where they are found. The treasures of nations like Italy, China, Peru, Mexico and others are being systematically looted and carried off for profit.

This book gives all the details including the involvement of curators of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Getty Museum in California. Many of the incidents in the book have resulted in prosecution in a variety of venues and as of 2006, many of these cases are still in progress.

This book is a call to action.

The Puzzle Palace gets 4 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

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