Yemen’s cultural heritage threatened by smugglers

With its long history and rich culture, Yemen is a virtual treasure trove of priceless archeological artifacts. It is perhaps unsurprising then that Yemen is a prime target for artifact smugglers. Owing to lax security at historical sites and weak laws governing the protection of ancient artifacts, Yemen is seeing increasing incidences of archeological theft. Three smugglers have been captured this year alone at Sana’a airport carrying large numbers of artifacts for sale to collectors overseas.  

The lack of effective punishments against these crimes has ensured and resulted in the release of accused smugglers and has prompted increase in the number smuggling cases. Currently, a Jordanian smuggler with multiple accusations has seen his case thrown out and waits under house arrest for possible legal proceedings.  

The Yemen Observer believes that this farce must come to an end. These artifacts are a priceless part of Yemen’s cultural heritage, and as such belong to the entire country. No one person, Yemeni or otherwise has the right to sell these artifacts or take them out of the country. Serious measures need to be taken immediately by the government to ensure their protection.  

Primary and secondary school curriculums must include teaching about archeology to stress to students the importance of these sites and artifacts. As part of the expansion of education about archeology, schools should organize trips for students to see first-hand what their country has to offer. In addition, college and university programs concerning archeology must be expanded to train more professionals to preserve and document these sites. Perhaps more importantly, they need to recruit students from area’s such as al-Jawf and Mareb which are rich in archeological sites. These newly trained individuals could help educate local citizens about the importance of these sights, and stress to them that the artifacts they find are not their personal property to be sold, but rather belong to the country as a whole.  

At the same time, physical security at these sites needs to be stepped up to forcibly stop thieves, and any government official participating in these thefts should be punished severely.  

Finally, we believe that the Yemeni government needs to repatriate artifacts from overseas collectors, and provide an incentive for Yemeni’s to defend these sites. If archeological sites are properly maintained, Yemen would be a virtual open-air museum with the entire country offering something to see rather than just a few select areas. Yemen needs to open it’s eyes to these problems, otherwise one day it may wake up to find it’s entire cultural heritage has been stolen from under it.

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