SARAT's Features

A salvage operation that inspired the world: Abu Simbel and the World Heritage
A salvage operation that inspired the world: Abu Simbel and the World Heritage

Our story begins in 1954 when the Egyptian government decided to build a dam across the river Nile. If nothing was done, all of this would be drowned and lost forever.

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How did the Perge Hercules Sarcophagus find its way back to Turkey?
How did the Perge Hercules Sarcophagus find its way back to Turkey?

Many of the details of the story of the restitution of this ancient Roman-period antiquity, which depicts the twelve labours of Hercules and was almost certainly carved in the 2nd century, would put a cloak-and-dagger thriller to shame.

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UN Security Council’s first cultural heritage resolution: 'War crimes are being committed in Iraq and Syria'
UN Security Council’s first cultural heritage resolution: 'War crimes are being committed in Iraq and Syria'

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage taking place in Turkey’s two southeastern neighbours Iraq and Syria has prompted international organizations to take unprecedented action.

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ICOM Red Lists: What are they and what are they good for?
ICOM Red Lists: What are they and what are they good for?

One of the outcomes of international efforts to protect cultural properties and to combat the illegal trade in them is the series of “ICOM Red Lists”.

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Fifteen years after the Baghdad museum was ransacked, artefacts of Iraqi origin are still being sold openly on the internet
Fifteen years after the Baghdad museum was ransacked, artefacts of Iraqi origin are still being sold openly on the internet

In April 2018 we also marked the fifteenth anniversary of the “live-from-Baghdad” broadcast of the looting of the National Museum of Iraq while the whole world watched.

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Seeing the Louvre Abu Dhabi in another light: Is it exhibiting loot from Iraq?
Seeing the Louvre Abu Dhabi in another light: Is it exhibiting loot from Iraq?

Just how culpable the Louvre Abu Dhabi really is in all of this is still unclear but the fact that the museum’s impressively big-budget opening should be tainted by such a controversy is ought to be rather thought-provoking.

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File: Threats to cultural properties
File: Threats to cultural properties

Occurrences like earthquakes, floods, and fires have left an indelible impact not just on human lives but on human history as well.

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Aylin Orbaşlı explains: The fight against climate-related risks in Petra, Jordan
Aylin Orbaşlı explains: The fight against climate-related risks in Petra, Jordan

There is a burning issue whose repercussions are felt more and more across the world: the climate crisis.

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Licensed treasure-hunting in Turkey: Where? How? Why?
Licensed treasure-hunting in Turkey: Where? How? Why?

Treasure-related narratives may provide entertaining plots for thriller-mysteries, dynastic melodramas, the fact is that real-world treasure-hunting poses serious problems for those involved in the preservation of cultural and historical heritage.

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The Relationship Between Archaeology and the Media: Özgen Acar's Portrait as a Journalist
The Relationship Between Archaeology and the Media: Özgen Acar's Portrait as a Journalist

The portrait of an investigative journalist: Özgen Acar's life and times, news reports and the archaeological smuggling stories that he unveiled.

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