On January 4th, 2020, U.S. President Trump declared on Twitter that if Iran threatens to retaliate after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, he has already selected 52 Iranian cultural heritage sites for military targeting. This threat is illegal under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property during Armed Conflict, as well as the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention for the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage.  Defense Department Secretary Mark Esper has since clarified that no cultural heritage sites in Iran will be targeted and reiterated that the militar ..read more

Our first two installments of the Climate Changing Heritage series surrounded the negative impact(s) of hurricanes on heritage. This increasingly severe hurricane threat is one of several heritage threats attributable to changing ocean environments (like water temperature rise) from ongoing changes in global climate. These temperatures are one of several drastic changes being seen now and in predicted climate trends; other impacts due to ongoing changes in climate include sea level ascension and changes to ocean salinity/acidity. Fortunately, however, unlike the lack of research surrounding hu ..read more

Source: https://www.cyprushighlights.com/en/cyprus-maps/ Cyprus is an island nation in the Mediterranean that few people could identify on a map let alone be familiar with its recent history and ongoing conflict.  The nation’s major characteristic is that it is a divided nation with the south being the recognized Republic of Cyprus and the north being the unrecognized, with the exception of Turkey, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).  This divide has been in place since 1974 following a cease-fire declared between Turkish and Greek-Cypriot forces after the former’s invasion of th ..read more

Climate Changing Heritage: What Happened to Hog Island? SAFE discussed the increasing threat of hurricanes to coastal areas of the US recently, but for many: seeing is believing. The case of Hog Island – seen on the left in three pre-1921 historical maps) was chosen to demonstrate the serious (often sudden) impact(s) hurricanes (and similar storms) have on areas housing irreplaceable local cultural heritage and its public accessibility. This unique case study is presented here to promote public awareness of these threats as future severe storms are predicted to increase exponentially due to ..read more

Taking place this last weekend was the 10th annual conference for the Association for Research into Crimes against Art, or ARCA, in Amelia, Italy.  This conference gives professionals from a variety of multidisciplinary fields the opportunity to discuss their previous research and work in the field of art crime to other professionals, academics, and students from around the world.  This year roughly 120 people attended the conference which facilitated 19 presentations over eight panels on a variety of topics from law enforcement to journalistic responsibility in the art world. One of the more ..read more

From intensifying tornadoes and superstorms to extreme wildfires and oceanic changes (like sea level, temperature, salinity, etc.), the perilous future of changing climate trends has become visible now more than ever. In the process, ongoing changes in global climate are creating an unprecedented number of negative impacts on cultural heritage around the world. Fortunately, contemporary awareness of climate-related disasters has simultaneously fostered interest in the ongoing and future threat(s) endangering coastal heritage sites. Though SAFE briefly discussed the impacts of natural disasters ..read more

From intensifying tornadoes and superstorms to extreme wildfires and oceanic changes (like sea level, temperature, salinity, etc.), the perilous future of changing climate trends has become visible now more than ever. In the process, ongoing changes in global climate are creating an unprecedented number of negative impacts on cultural heritage around the world. Fortunately, contemporary awareness of climate-related disasters has simultaneously fostered interest in the ongoing and future threat(s) endangering coastal heritage sites. Though SAFE briefly discussed the impacts of natural disasters ..read more

ARH 171: Art Crime, that was the first course I enrolled in within the Art History Department.  It was my first semester of college and I was only taking the course to fulfill a core requirement.  By the end of the first month of classes, though I knew that my future would be in the field of cultural heritage and not biology as I so long believed it would be. Up to that point in my life, I had always been interested in art and culture both at home in the United States and around the world.  By the age of 18, I had already traveled to all 50 states and 10 different countries on three separate c ..read more

Recent encounters during a visit to Lahore, Pakistan have highlighted growing impacts the marketable aesthetics of antiquity have on both the historical record and antiquity markets worldwide. This blog explores the attractive nature of key aesthetic qualities, and examples both the realities of these impacts and how such encounters in Pakistan are blatant symptoms of a worldwide concern. How do the aesthetics of antiquity contribute to the pervasiveness of the related market while endangering the historical record? Encounters in Pakistan The first encounter occurred when I went to dinner at a ..read more