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Operation Antiquity
Operation Antiquity is one of a series of operations by U.S. federal law enforcement agencies to investigate the smuggling of ancient artifacts from Thailand to the United States since 2002. After several years of secrecy, the case was uncovered on January 24, 2008 by federal law enforcement officers who raided multiple museums, shops, warehouses, and the homes of private art collectors and made headlines in several international media at the time. news. The case involved a criminal group that smuggled ancient relics from Thailand to the United States, as well as a scandal in which several museums in California accepted donations even though they knew about the smuggling. More than 10,000 looted cultural relics were seized in this case, many of them from the Ban Chiang archaeological site. It later facilitated the repatriation of large numbers of artifacts to Thailand and set higher standards of accountability for museum officials who deal with cultural property. Background The m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bordered to the north by Myanmar and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and the extremity of Myanmar. Thailand also shares maritime borders with Vietnam to the southeast, and Indonesia and India to the southwest. Bangkok is the nation's capital and largest city. Tai peoples migrated from southwestern China to mainland Southeast Asia from the 11th century. Indianised kingdoms such as the Mon, Khmer Empire and Malay states ruled the region, competing with Thai states such as the Kingdoms of Ngoenyang, Sukhothai, Lan Na and Ayutthaya, which also rivalled each other. European contact began in 1511 with a Portuguese diplomatic mission to Ayuttha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expert Witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as an expert. The judge may consider the witness's specialized (scientific, technical or other) opinion about evidence or about facts before the court within the expert's area of expertise, to be referred to as an "expert opinion". Expert witnesses may also deliver "expert evidence" within the area of their expertise. Their testimony may be rebutted by testimony from other experts or by other evidence or facts. History The forensic expert practice is an ancient profession. For example, in ancient Babylonia, midwives were used as experts in determining pregnancy, virginity and female fertility. Similarly, the Roman Empire recognized midwives, handwriting experts and land surveyors as legal experts. The codified use of expert witnesses ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art And Cultural Repatriation
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of what constitutes art, and its interpretation has varied greatly throughout history and across cultures. In the Western tradition, the three classical branches of visual art are painting, sculpture, and architecture. Theatre, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, music, film and other media such as interactive media, are included in a broader definition of the arts. Until the 17th century, ''art'' referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences. In modern usage after the 17th century, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, the fine arts are separated and distinguished from acquired skills in general, such as the decorative or applied arts. The nature of art and related concepts, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thailand–United States Relations
Bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Thailand and the United States of America date back to 1818. Thailand and the United States have long been close allies and diplomatic partners. According to a 2012 Gallup public opinion poll, 60% of Thais approved of U.S. leadership under the Obama Administration, with 14% disapproving and 26% uncertain. As of 2013, there were 7314 international students of Thai origin studying in the United States, representing 0.9 percent of all foreigners pursuing higher education in America. According to a 2014 Global Opinion Poll, 73% of Thais have a favorable view of the U.S, compared to 15% unfavorable. History 19th century The first recorded contact between Thailand (then known as Siam) and the United States came in 1818, when an American ship captain visited the country, bearing a letter from U.S. President James Monroe. Chang and Eng Bunker immigrated in the early 1830s. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson sent his envoy Edmund Roberts in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
January 2008 Crimes In The United States
January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the first of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the Northern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of winter) and the warmest month of the year within most of the Southern Hemisphere (where it is the second month of summer). In the Southern hemisphere, January is the seasonal equivalent of July in the Northern hemisphere and vice versa. Ancient Roman observances during this month include Cervula and Juvenalia, celebrated January 1, as well as one of three Agonalia, celebrated January 9, and Carmentalia, celebrated January 11. These dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. History January (in Latin, '' Ianuarius'') is named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology. Traditionally, the original Roman calendar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Archaeological Resources Protection Act Of 1979
The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 ( as amended, , codified at ), also referred to as ARPA, is a federal law of the United States passed in 1979 and amended in 1988. It governs the excavation of archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...s on federal and Native American lands in the United States, and the removal and disposition of archaeological collections from those sites. ARPA was launched in the 1970s after applications of the Antiquities Act of 1906 were declared “unconstitutionally vague”. The Antiquities Act was unable to protect historical sites from criminal looting. Several attempts by the federal land-managing agencies and prosecutors to use this act resulted in judges saying that provisions regarding criminal prosecution w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Stolen Property Act
The National Stolen Property Act is a United States Act of Congress that prohibits the transportation, sale, and receipt of certain illegally obtained property in interstate or international commerce, including stolen goods and forged securities. The definitions for the terms used in the Act are codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2311; the offenses are codified at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314–2315. Congress first passed the Act in 1934 to respond to thieves and fences who increasingly exploited channels of interstate commerce to avoid state law enforcement; since then, the Act has been amended multiple times and found applications in many other contexts, including the looting and smuggling of unprovenanced artifacts. Provisions Definitions Section 2311 of Title 18 provides the definitions for certain words and phrases used in the Act. For example, "money" is defined to include not just the legal tender of the U.S. or any foreign country, but also any counterfeit; "security" receives an expans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roxanna Brown
Roxanna Maude Brown (May 2, 1946 – May 14, 2008) was a prominent authority on Southeast Asian ceramics and director of the Bangkok University's Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum. Her research of Ming Dynasty ceramics greatly improved knowledge of trade in China and surrounding areas. She also often assisted the US government in investigating art smuggling, but she herself was implicated in art fraud in 2008. She was arrested for wire fraud and died in prison several days later. After facing a medical malpractice suit, the Federal Bureau of Prisons settled with her family in 2009. Biography Brown was born on a farm in Illinois, United States, and received a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1968. She then became a journalist in South Vietnam, where her brother was serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Interested in Asian art, she earned a master's degree from University of Singapore in 1973. She married and made her home in Bangkok, but she was run over and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce White
Joyce C. White is an American archaeologist, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, and executive director of the new Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology. Her research primarily concerns decades-long multidisciplinary archaeological investigations in Thailand and Laos covering the prehistoric human occupation of the middle reaches of the Mekong River Basin. She is considered the world's leading expert on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ban Chiang, Thailand, and directs an archaeological fieldwork program in the Luang Prabang Province of Laos. She has become a strong advocate of cultural heritage preservation and has served as an expert witness in an antiquities trafficking case for the U.S. Department of Justice. Early life Joyce White initially settled on a career in archaeology when she observed an excavation at a medieval church and cemetery in England at the age of 15. While this initial incident inclined her towards a focus on Europe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine United States Minor Outlying Islands, Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in Compact of Free Association, free association with three Oceania, Pacific Island Sovereign state, sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Palau, Republic of Palau. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders Canada–United States border, with Canada to its north and Mexico–United States border, with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the List of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkeley Art Museum And Pacific Film Archive
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from 2008, succeeded by Julie Rodrigues Widholm in August, 2020. The museum is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museums program. Collection Art The University of California art collection began with ''Flight into Egypt'', a 16th-century oil on wood panel by the School of Joachim Patinir gifted to the university by San Francisco banker and financier François Louis Alfred Pioche in 1870. The museum was founded in 1963 after a donation was made to the university from artist and teacher Hans Hofmann of 45 paintings plus $250,000. A competition to design a building was announced in 1964, and the museum, designed by Mario Ciampi, opened in 1970. Founding Director Peter Selz, formerly of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, serve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bowers Museum
The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of Asia, Africa, and Oceania, and California plein-air painting. The Bowers organizes and hosts special exhibitions from institutions throughout the world, and travels exhibitions nationally and internationally. The museum has a second campus two blocks south of the main site, Kidseum, a children's museum with a focus on art and archaeology. The Bowers Museum and Kidseum are located in Santa Ana 6.4 km (four miles) south of Disneyland. History Ada Elvira Bowers and her husband, Charles W. Bowers, a late 19th-century Orange County citrus grower and land developer, donated the land on which the museum stands to the city of Santa Ana as well as $100,000 to build the museum. The building was completed in 1932 but was not fully operati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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