Impact case study database

By 2013, cultural heritage in southern Iraq had sustained direct damage through extensive looting and unregulated construction and agriculture. At the same time archaeological infrastructure had become increasingly damaged and unable to respond to these threats. Skilled professionals and academics had left the country since the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, taking with them the expertise to train new staff. It was with these challenges that the research aimed to engage when it began in 2013. This context was amplified by the direct attacks by Daesh on cultural heritage in Iraq from March 2015, events that happened when the team was probably the only foreign archaeological team present in non-Kurdish Iraq. While the sites under direct attack were in northern Iraq, this event was felt profoundly both within Iraq and by the wider international community. This context not only gave additional urgency to the research, but also provided greater potential to influence public narrative and policy both in Iraq and abroad.

The research at the sites of Tell Khaiber [1-3] and Charax Spasinou [4] not only addressed cultural heritage preservation at the sites themselves but was the enabling factor through which other outcomes, related to cultural heritage and the re-engagement of the international and Iraqi communities, were achieved. The team’s official partner in Iraq was SBAH. Researchers operated under their permit and project aims were carefully coordinated with SBAH colleagues.

The impact of the research has come through several inter-connected routes:

1. Professional training and capacity building through collaboration

Researchers provided long-term professional training to 13 individuals employed by SBAH and selected by them as future leaders, across successive seasons in 24 training blocks between 2013 and 2019. Working in 2-3 month placements allowed in-depth engagement, and working with individuals across different seasons allowed the team to extend this to longer-term mentoring [A, B]. Feedback was very positive: “it is amazing to have these skills” [A]; the project was viewed as “ a major contribution to the capabilities of SBAH in Basra province” [C]. This impact assisted in the recent rapid promotion of two trainees to the directorship of the Basra Museum and directorship of SBAH (Basra province) [D]. Funding for Charax Spasinou provided GBP35,000 of geophysics and surveying equipment to SBAH in Basra at the end of the project in January 2020. This provided the foundation for the creation of the first geophysics unit within SBAH, together with four experienced members of staff [C]. This technology provides an important new tool for evaluating threats to cultural assets and enabled a more effective management of economic development through rapid assessment of the presence of preserved architecture without excavation.

Training provided at Tell Khaiber to workmen from Nasariyah helped to reskill local labour and led to year-round employment as foremen working on archaeological excavations across southern Iraq [B]. The team also regularly visited Dhi Qar University between 2014 and 2017 to give presentations, address students and advise in the formation of a new archaeology faculty [B, E]; the first students of this programme graduated in 2018 and have entered employment with SBAH. Subsequently, UoM was a partner in the Nahrein Network ( https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/), part of the Global Challenges Research Fund, supporting ancient history research for education and sustainable development in Iraq.

Based on his research-led expertise, Campbell served as a member of the core group that founded the International Association for Archaeological Research in Western & Central Asia, a new professional organisation which supports the training and development of heritage professionals, and was elected to its executive board in June 2020 [F]. There are currently 457 members from 47 countries. This will become a further channel for integrating Iraqi archaeologists within the international profession, providing a platform through which to disseminate good practice in heritage protection and advocacy, and create the ARWA Online Academy to provide open access course material to support teaching [F].

2. Cultural heritage protection

Cultural heritage preservation was enhanced by the research team’s production of a site protection plan for Charax Spasinou in January 2020, with implementation agreed by SBAH and with local communities as stakeholders [A, C]. The plan influences and benefits the process of generating planning decisions on land use through SBAH, provincial administration and the local council. Through prolonged fieldwork, the research has created new dialogues between archaeologists and the local community. These dialogues have changed community perceptions, including the view on long-term tourist potential [G] and protecting the landscape from systematic soil removal. The identification and recognition of the significance of material remains from the Iran-Iraq War as important cultural heritage is a further outcome [C, D].

Working with significant numbers of the police, initially as part of the team’s security, led to considerable progress in promoting protection of sites from looting. The impact of this can be seen in the decline of looting not just at Charax Spasinou, but also other major sites in the north east of Basra province, such as Forat, the successor city to Charax Spasinou [A, C]. A survey of policemen who worked with the team at Charax Spasinou in 2018 showed an average increase of more than 5 points (on a 10-point scale) in understanding of cultural heritage issues [A].

3. Heritage and community engagement

The research produced new approaches to archaeological heritage, leading to greatly increased recognition of this heritage within Iraq at both local and national level. It involved a variety of forms of community outreach, including regular site tours at Tell Khaiber for local teachers (in particular with a group from al-Batta who visited annually from 2013), visits to schools, and formal and informal discussion with local community leaders. In Nasariyah [B, E], these were coordinated through the local Writer’s Union. This engagement supported and facilitated better awareness of cultural heritage in the community, assisting site protection and provincial investment. It set a pattern for additional archaeological research, with the number of international teams working in Dhi Qar province, for example, rising from 2 in 2013 to 8 in 2019, which extends the impact of this research [B]. In the longer term, strengthening cultural heritage in education promotes generational change.

Charax Spasinou is one of the few sites in Basra province with potential iconic status, which maps onto the context for renewed focus on local and international tourism in the future. The site is now on the itinerary of Hinterland Tours, for example, directly attracted by the new awareness of the importance of the site through the research [G]. The first visits by tour groups took place in 2018. Charax Spasinou is also highlighted in the new displays in the Basra Museum, enhancing cultural heritage interpretation, and being seen by large number of school visitors [C, D] as well as contributing to future tourist provision.

4. Cultural heritage advocacy

Researchers have challenged the entrenched negative images of Iraq internationally, through large numbers of media appearances to global audiences. In the UK they included BBC Radio 4 and BBC Newsround [H]. This has helped to create a new narrative around Iraqi cultural heritage and the opportunities to engage positively with it [B, H]. As a reaction to the targeting of cultural heritage by Daesh in 2015, SBAH invited UoM researchers to create a pop-up exhibition on the Tell Khaiber excavations in the Iraq Museum in 2015, opened in a televised address by the Minister of Culture [B]. At the same time researchers participated in numerous university-led events and public meetings/protests in southern Iraq, including Qadissiyah and Nasiriyah, directly challenging the attacks on culture heritage and providing an almost unique focus for local expression of otherwise remote international condemnation [B, E]. This research-based public engagement led to Campbell’s appointment as the founding vice-president of Rashid International in 2015 to promote the safeguarding of Iraqi heritage.

Researchers provided regular briefings to provincial officials and worked closely with senior police officials in both Dhi Qar and Basra provinces, significantly enhancing prioritisation of the protection of cultural heritage. This led, for example, to the ending of looting at the important site of Forat in Basra province [C] and control over the extensive stripping of topsoil south of Charax Spasinou [A].

Briefings to the British Embassy, particularly in 2015 and 2016 in the aftermath of the destruction of sites by Daesh, led to direct sponsorship of the Ur Region Archaeology Project from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office through the British Embassy in Baghdad. Funding was provided under the programme ‘Countering Daesh Narrative Through Promoting Iraqi Heritage and Fostering National Identity’ in 2016. [text removed for publication] The Charax Spasinou research has continued to influence CPF development [J]. In a testimonial, the CPF Senior Programme Manager notes that the Charax Spasinou project “ has been pivotal to the development of the [CPF] programme” [J]. The research and data from the successfully completed project are “continuing to be of use in the fund’s current programme evaluation” which will in turn contribute to the development of “ a larger, more strategically focussed version of the Cultural Protection Fund as well as wider heritage initiatives at the British Council. It also informs the cultural protection work of our UK government partner, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.” [J]

Neglect of ethical considerations in the exchange, handling and publication of papyri poses a threat to heritage preservation and feeds the cycle of looting and trafficking of antiquities from Egypt. Drawing on the due diligence principles developed through her research [5], Mazza has promoted the transformation of policy and practice across key stakeholder communities, resulting in the application of higher ethical standards. Impact of significance and reach has been achieved via regular dialogue with key stakeholders (collectors, publishers, professional bodies, police officers, teachers and education providers) and through consistent dissemination of the findings beyond academia. Mazza’s Faces&Voices blog [A] and other online publications and media coverage [B] have been important platforms for sharing the research with papyrologists, collectors and curators. International media coverage of the research (e.g. The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian) [B] has also reached a large general readership and helped to expose some of the illegal practices associated with the antiquities black market that the research challenges.

Stakeholders in the Antiquities Market

Collectors

Important institutional and private collectors have responded to the research by adopting more ethical practices and policies. The most prominent institutional collector to do so is the MOTB, the largest museum of biblical artefacts in the US (approximately 1,000,000 visitors per year). Mazza has engaged extensively with staff at MOTB since 2014, drawing their attention to the research findings, for example the illegal source of the largest part of the MOTB papyri collection [1], and recommended the adoption of more ethical approaches. As a result, the MOTB stopped exhibiting the papyri bought through the Turkish seller and opened a conversation with the Egyptian government about repatriation, which was agreed and publicly announced in March 2020 for a total of 5,000 items [B.vi, C.i]. It also stopped the practice of dismounting cartonnage and dropped a plan to include live demonstrations at MOTB, with the result that substantial damage to heritage objects has been prevented [C.i]. Mazza’s research contributed to the shaping and issuing of MOTB’s first acquisition policy in 2017 (now expanded into a Collection Management Policy), which follows international museum standards. [C.ii]. The adoption of an acquisition policy represents a significant practice change for MOTB, which between 2009 and 2015 operated on the antiquities market without one and had been found guilty of breaking the law. The policy sets legal and ethical standards that must be followed in future acquisitions to prevent the perpetuation of unethical and illegal actions. For instance, approximately 5,000 papyrus fragments were acquired between 2009 and 2014, but not a single one after 2017. The research also had an impact on the Museum’s online display of papyri and other artefacts, where labels now include information on provenance [C.i, C.ii]. [text removed for publication]

Mazza’s scrutiny of the GC and MOTB generated substantial media coverage [B], which in turn raised awareness of the research findings among other institutional collectors, including university libraries and museums, many of which now refer to this research as a key source of information about the importance of researching documented provenance before acquiring papyri offered on the market. For instance, the research convinced the University Library of Notre Dame (US) to turn down the opportunity to purchase a collection. Here, the rare collections and manuscripts curator referred to the importance of Mazza’s body of work, writing, “When I had to explain my decision not to purchase the papyri to several of my colleagues – many of whom are not aware of the issues surrounding most papyri – I was better equipped to do so. Publically accessible tools such as your research on the ethics of papyri do a great service to the library world” [D.i]. The International Council of Museums (Italy) prevented the sale and dispersion of a private collection held in the Papyrus Museum of Siracusa in response to Mazza’s research [A, B.vii] .

The impact extends to private collectors. While renowned dealers such as Christie’s and Sotheby’s were seen as a guarantee of reliability, cases brought to light through the research and outreaching publications [A, B] demonstrated that due diligence in checking all documents provided by any type of seller must be submitted to close scrutiny. These findings have changed the approach and practices of important private collectors of ancient manuscripts. [text removed for publication]

Leading publisher: Brill

The research [1] argued that academic publication plays an important role in lending increased legitimacy to manuscripts with poorly documented or undocumented provenance. Ensuring that publishers operate to high ethical standards is therefore crucial. Mazza guided a group of specialists to write an open letter to Brill [E.i], a prominent press in text-oriented disciplines, publishing over 1,300 titles and 332 journals each year in Classics, Biblical Studies, Egyptology, and related disciplines. The letter gained the support of more than 150 researchers and curators globally. The initiative brought about a close collaboration between Mazza and Brill’s Publishing Director and staff, which led to the issuing of a revised Publication Ethics document that now includes a new paragraph concerning unprovenanced artefacts [E.ii, p.4]. Brill used the research findings to highlight instances of poor practice in relation to the documentation of provenance and authenticity issues. For the first time, a document binds all Brill authors and collaborators to follow the ethical guidelines of the relevant academic professional bodies in matters of provenance and authenticity. This has never before been the case, not only at Brill but also at any other similar academic presses. The Brill Publishing Director states in a testimonial that Mazza’s research was “instrumental” [E.iii] to the establishment of these guidelines. In view of her research expertise, Mazza joined the board of Brill’s Ethics Committee in May 2020 [E.iii].

Professional Bodies

Drawing on the research, Mazza called upon papyrologists and collectors to recognise fully their ethical responsibilities in the circulation of illicit manuscripts and to adopt higher and stricter ethical standards for professional practice. Although some academic association guidelines on the handling of unprovenanced manuscripts existed, the research [5] demonstrated that they were insufficiently clear and too often ignored by both collectors and academics. The due diligence principles [5] are at the centre of the redrafting of guidelines by all the professional bodies in this field. The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the Society of Classical Studies (SCS) have already revised their policies, while the International Association of Papyrologists (AIP) and the American Society of Papyrologists (ASP) are in the process of improving their policies in line with Mazza’s recommendations [F.i-F.iii]. These revised policies are essential as members of these professional bodies (over 10,000 members overall) are required to respect their guidelines in order to maintain their affiliation. They are also the official documents of professional standards constantly referred to in practical cases, not only by papyrologists and other scholars, but also by institutional and private collectors. A member of the Governing Council of the SBL notes the “integral” role Mazza played in the development of its 2016 policy on the use of unprovenanced ancient materials [F.iii], also citing [4] as research that influenced SBL in this area. They state that “Mazza’s emphasis on due diligence before publication and transparency on provenance was extremely valuable” [F.iii]. Mazza’s research was used in the redrafting of the SCS policy (2019), specifically the paragraphs on due diligence in documenting the collection history of ancient objects, including manuscripts [F.i]. Mazza is a member of the committee entrusted with the new shared AIP/ASP policy regarding the commerce in papyri [F.ii]. The president of ASP states that Mazza “made key contributions to [the] committee […] her concept of due diligence is the foundation upon which the entire document is structured” [F.ii].

London Metropolitan Police

The contribution of this research in charting and exposing illegal practice led to direct engagement with the police [see B.iv]. The London Metropolitan Police (LMP) has a dedicated unit which deals with a wide array of crimes related to art and antiquities, including smuggling, theft, forgery, and the repatriation of objects illegally obtained. The LMP Unit operates nationally and the UK has the second largest antiquities market (including manuscripts) in the world. The LMP Unit comprises three officers with a substantial workload, and Mazza has been working with the Unit to use her research to provide much-needed expertise since 2016. Mazza provides expertise in cases where objects appear at auctions or on sale and are reported to the Unit by potential buyers, dealers or the Egyptian government. [text removed for publication] She has also provided other expertise varying from ascertaining via email if a papyrus is a forgery, to answering specific technical questions on objects that the police have insufficient time or knowledge to address [B.i].

Education

The research demonstrated that a lack of awareness about the nature of manuscripts as archaeological objects is at the root of unethical and illegal practices, and as a consequence Mazza has called for a change in the way text-oriented disciplines are taught [5]. Through the dissemination of material and case studies via open access publications and the blog [A; see also B.iii], Mazza has provided teaching case studies and tools, and has facilitated the embedding of ethical research practices and handling of manuscripts in curricula in 6 university programmes. As attested for instance by a Professor at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo, Mazza’s blog material is used successfully for teaching HIS9021, a course unit running every year as part of the methods, theory and ethics focus of their PhD programme [G.i]. The same is attested for other text-oriented course units at both graduate and undergraduate level in subjects ranging from Classics (e.g. at the University of Toronto; Macquarie University; University of Chicago), to Jewish and Biblical Studies (e.g. University of Agder, Norway) and Egyptology (e.g. Arab Academy for Science, Technology & Maritime Transport, Egypt).

Mazza’s research is also used in professional programmes organised by the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA) in Amelia, Italy. ARCA runs an annual postgraduate Master’s degree in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection (between 20 and 30 students per year) and various shorter CPD courses taken not only by university students but also by professionals such as curators, police officers and dealers. For example, the research is being used as an important case study in a specialised training programme ARCA is developing for SMEs working on heritage crime in the Middle East and eastern North Africa [G.ii]. The CEO of ARCA explains that through its use in such training programmes, Mazza’s work “exemplifies how applied academic research […] can support law enforcement investigations into multinational illicit trafficking networks” [G.ii]