So, you want to buy an ancient Egyptian mummy?
By Sarah-Elke Kraal
We’ve all been there. It’s 11pm on a Tuesday, and you can’t get to sleep. You pick up your phone (as if that’s ever helped anyone sleep), double-tap a few pics on Insta; and after a few minutes of mindless scrolling, you’ve somehow managed to thumb-surf your way onto an Amazon listing for something very, very cool…
Maybe it’s a salvaged pocket-watch from the Titanic; or a small, carved idol like the one at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark (and from somewhere along the actual Amazon). Or maybe it’s an ancient Egyptian mummy — with a totally legit certificate of authenticity* and everything.
As you hover your index finger over the “add to cart” button, a couple of things may cross your mind:
1. How have I gone this long without a salvaged pocket-watch/idol/Egyptian mummy?
2. Hang on, is this legal?
Curse of the mummy’s trustee: An unlikely Indiana Jones crossover
Back in the ’30s, graverobbers used to sell mummies as tourist souvenirs — and yes, even as firewood — on the streets of Cairo**. Pretty grim, considering you’d be toasting your marshmallows over a totally real person (doesn’t anyone respect their elders anymore?).
Lucky for King Tut, that sort of thing is now frowned upon. In fact, the sale of anything really, really old (antiquities) and/or really, really important (cultural heritage) is thoroughly regulated by its own body of law. The UN thought it was all getting a bit nutty having these irreplaceable treasures sitting on people’s mantles (next to their amateur tennis trophies), so they made some rules about how — and even if — you can buy or sell it.
So, whilst you may think that anything available on the open market is legal to buy — the reality is quite different.
The moral of the story is: get expert legal advice before hitting that “checkout” button. It may save you from the mummy’s curse (and also a trip to the International Crime Court).
Under the sea, under the sea…
If the movie Titanic is anything to go by, there is totally a huge blue diamond just waiting to be found amidst the rusted remains of the (un)sinkable ship.
The good news? That diamond might be fiction; but the ocean has been pulling very real treasure into its inky depths for thousands of years. Think about it: colonial-era ships filled with piles of Spanish gold; ancient sunken cities that crumbled into the sea… also, the baseball cap that flew off your head the first time you went on a speedboat.
The bad news? You can’t just hire yourself a metal detector and some scuba gear and scoop it all up for some Scrooge McDuck-style vault diving (sorry).
Why? Well, anything very old and/or very important found underwater is no longer something you can just rescue or “salvage”. It is guarded by its very own intricate set of rules like anything found on dry land; except the rules for underwater treasure aim to protect much more than treasure. Because when you think about it, most underwater treasure deposits are actually mass gravesites too; so, they bear protecting in more ways than one.
Is it ever ok to buy something very culturally important?
Sometimes, yes — but only if it’s done properly, and through the correct legal channels. The only way to know if you’re legally allowed to buy something that’s potentially culturally significant — or if you’re doing it “properly” — is to talk to your friendly neighborhood cultural heritage law expert.
Lawyers: the unsung heroes of late-night internet purchases.
*yeah, I’m pretty sure they don’t give those out for ancient mummies.
**don’t ask me how I know this — I read a lot of obscure books on Egypt history as a kid (as any self-respecting 12yo Egyptologist does).
