The problem with looted antiquities, beyond the affront to civilization, is that we cannot know for sure where they came from. They cannot be dated with any kind of credibility, and not knowing an artifact's provenance means that it's much harder to prove it is genuine. [...]
Despite the lurid video clips of ISIS fighters destroying pre-Islamic archaeological sites, their conquests spurred a tidal wave of smuggling, and precious archeological artifacts from ISIS-occupied sites flooded the Middle East. Some were smuggled through Jordan to the West Bank and thence to antiquities dealers in Jerusalem and around the world. En route, many were caught by the Israeli authorities.
The issue of provenance, and hence dubiety about the authenticity of items, explains why museums do not normally exhibit looted ancient artifacts. But Hizmi and the curators of the exhibition are convinced that all the findings are authentic, based on similarity to items that were excavated properly. [...]
“Archaeology reveals how much this country is our home,” Ben Dahan said, and added that Palestinian antiquities thieves “rob and destroy in order to disconnect us from our land.” Even though most of the artifacts on display are from non-Jewish cultures, including the lamps decorated with crosses, pagan idols and a figurine of a naked woman.
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