By IPS Correspondents
BEIRUT, Mar 30 1999 (IPS)

The 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon provided great business openings for opportunistsnot always legal. One of the most prestigious was the extensive looting of the historical sites scattered all over the Levant.

Now the Lebanese government finally is cracking down on the lucrative trade in stolen antiquities.

During March, Lebanon was reacquainted with some of its lost treasures as criminal investigation officers searched archaeological sites and private properties. However, it still is not certain how much of what has been recovered is truly of historical value or of substantial importance.

“Not much of what I have seen looks of great value; a column here and there, a few small statues. There are also a lot of replicas,” said German professor Helga Seeden, who has taught archaeology at the American University of Beirut since 1970.

“But I know for a fact that antique dealers are in illegal possession of very valuable pieces and some of those have already been found. Undoubtedly, many more will be found as the raids continue,” she added.

Many historians believe that once the word spread that the Public Prosecutor for Financial Fraud Khaled Hammoud was ordering raids to find stolen antiquities, antique dealers and private collectors rushed to hide their possessions.

“Professional dealers are more difficult to catch because they are well connected in Lebanon and abroad, it’s like drug dealing. But if the efforts are sustained over a long period of time we can regain a lot,” Seeden said.

She added one important aspect of the government’s campaign was that it installed fear in people illegally dealing with antiques which,hopefully, will prevent future illegal sales.

The hemorrhage of archaeological pieces from Lebanon is estimated to have cost the country about 400 million dollars.

In 1988, exporting antiquities was forbidden and, in 1990, all licenses for the sale and export of antiquities were frozen to protect archaeological pieces still in Lebanon and prevent any more from leaving the country.

The law regulating the antiquities field was written in 1933 and is still valid today, as it is considered very complete. Anyone who unearths archaeological pieces on his property must report them to the Directorate General for Antiquities (DGA), who then has three months to acquire the pieces or leave them to the person who unearthed them on his property.

In the village of Baalbek, archaeological findings are almost daily.

Lebanon’s archaeological past dates back to Phoenician times, 3,000 years BC, and the following era of Romans, Greeks, Byzantine and Crusaders. In the Bekaa valley alone, 600 sites of varied importance have been recorded and it is thought that another 700 may be discovered in a new coastal survey.

The south of Lebanon, rich with many sites such as the Phoenician temples of Eshmoun and the arch of Alexander the Great, saw its treasures plundered during Israeli invasions of 1978 and 1982.

In 1983, the ancient city of Tyre was put on the UN’s list of protected world heritage sites and later so were Byblos, Anjar, and Baalbek, with its impressive Roman temples, dedicated to Bacchus, Venus and Jupiter. In 1998, the Kadisha valley in North Lebanon was added to a new category of world sites, called cultural landscapes which are a combination of nature and man-made splendor.

The end of the Lebanese civil war did not mean an end to the plight of archaeological monuments.

In the little village of Beit Meri, overlooking Beirut, Syrian soldiers who came in 1990 during their last invasion of Lebanon that put an end to the war, have set up their military tents inside Roman temples and for the past 8 years they do their daily physical training on top of invaluable Roman mosaics.

Villagers all over the country still continue to happily help themselves to stones and columns from ancient sites to use for construction purposes. The most sorry example of such ignorance are a pair of sarcophagi cut up to make benches for a beach house garden, north of Beirut.

Although a lot of blame is cast on the directorate general for antiquities for the desolate state of Lebanon’s heritage, the DGA has a reasonable excuse for failure – only 20 senior employees and a budget of some 5 million dollars.

“Archeological heritage for us is the same as oil for other Arab countries. We have the highest concentration of ruins in the world, so why not invest in it and make huge profits out of it?” asked Hareth Boustani, a member of the National Institute for Heritage and a teacher of archaeology.

The Lebanese government appointed four months ago, is scheduled to announce its 1999 budget within a week or two. With a public debt of 18 billion dollars and a budget deficit of almost 50 per cent, it is doubtful that the new budget will allot more money than before to the preservation of Lebanon’s heritage.

“Even now, with the way the sites are poorly presented, tourists are impressed by their beauty. What other site can compare to Baalbek for example?”, Seeden said.

“Imagine what it would be like if Lebanon started taking better care of these sites.”

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