Fighting Against Illicit Traffic and Forgeries of Metal Objects: The Situation in Turkey

Abstract

Protection of collection items belonging to museum or private collectors against fakes, forgeries and illicit traffic of cultural heritage is mostly done by archaeologists using visual inspection. Because of advanced technologies used in imitations of 20- 21st century made the task of archaeologists more difficult resulting in increased need for the employment of scientific techniques. In this respect, we need archaeometry laboratories that are fully armed with sophisticated archaeometric tools and technical knowledge. Moreover, there is also an obvious need for detailed legislation and relevant laws to be amended for fight against forgery and illicit traffic of the cultural objects at national and international level. Turkey is rich in historical monuments, antiques and ruins resulting in abundant museums and ancient objects. Being a geographical bridge between the western and the eastern world, she is also a bridge for international illicit, cultural heritage traffic and forgers. On the other hand, it is not able to build enough necessary archaeometrical infrastructures to support archaeological ones for determining authenticity and preventing misconduct regarding cultural heritage objects for museums, customs houses and so on. This study will discuss novel archaeometric techniques on authenticity determination of metal artefacts and preventing replacement of them with fake objects. Beside this, usage of non-destructive archaeometric techniques will be discussed for fighting with illicit traffic of cultural heritage, proving ownership and returning of objects. Moreover the application of methodology is explained on an international illicit traffic and forgery example of Golden Winged Sea Horse that was solved by the author.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2s1p340