Illicit Traffick in Cultural Property in Lebanon: A Diachronic Study

Trafficking of cultural properties was and still is a psycho-social related dynamic steered and pushed by the collectors addictive behavior (Belk, R. W., 1994: pp.317-326). It is intimately related to the social status of the different players in the “chaîne opératoire” from extraction to exhibition. It is fed, in the lower social strata, by popular myth and the need for money. Popular myth of treasure hunting and tons of gold that will transform one’s life in a blink of an eye. As for the upper strata seeking to enlarge their antiquities collections, addiction is the major drive behind spending huge money in order to possess fossilized pieces of the past (Subkowski, P., 2006: pp.383-401).The vicious mercantile players are the middle men or the dealers, who profit from the above mentioned dynamics and their “hostages” in order to make money – more money. They continuously push the excavators who normally are from poor backgrounds to hunt for more “treasures”, then they display their goods in front of the collectors to stimulate their Pavlov syndrome more and more each time. To these three players the smugglers must be added. They are usually related to the diggers, their job is to transport the excavated objects through the borders and get them to the local dealers.Lebanon as many other countries, rich with archeological uncovered sites, was at a time and still is in many ways a playground for the looters and the collectors with all the middle men through whom the dynamic goes.