On August 30, the United States and Yemen signed an agreement to safeguard Yemeni heritage by ending the illegal sale of Yemeni artifacts in U.S. auction houses. This builds upon the February 2020 Emergency Import Restrictions, which banned the import of Yemeni cultural property and antiquities to the United States. In light of this agreement, it is worth reviewing several reports that have detailed the looting, destruction, and smuggling of Yemeni antiquities overseas.
The Long History of Smuggling
For centuries, Yemeni antiquities have been illegally transported outside the country’s borders. In the past, this illicit trade was dominated by orientalist campaigns; today, antiquities gangs flourish amidst deteriorating security conditions. During the nine-year-long civil war, Yemeni artifacts—including Sabaean statues, Himyarite animal heads, and stone plaques written in Musnad, a cuneiform script—have appeared at international auction houses.
A recent report by the al-Hudhud Center for Archaeological Studies reveals a significant increase in the number of smuggled Yemeni antiquities at international auctions. Between 1991 and 2022, over 4,265 Yemeni artifacts were sold in six Western countries, through 16 American and European auctions. This includes 2,610 pieces that were smuggled and sold during the war period alone—the vast majority of which ended up in the United States, at a value of more than $12 million. The report further revealed that 1,384 stolen and smuggled Yemeni artifacts are held in seven international museums.
Who is Responsible?
Many Yemeni journalists and researchers have argued that the conflicting powers in Yemen, whether Yemeni or regional, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, are to blame for the ongoing theft of Yemeni cultural heritage. However, the various powers themselves deny these allegations, and instead point fingers at one another. Some have even recruited civil society organizations in the areas under their control to broadcast television reports on local, regional, and Western television channels—including France 2, Qatar’s Al-Jazeera, the Saudi Al-Arabiya network, the Emirati Sky News channel, and Germany’s DW—to distort the facts.
On the other hand, reputable news outlets specializing in antiquities and science, such as the American website Live Science, have published hundreds of stories about Yemeni artifacts sold in international auctions. Now Yemenis themselves, along with others interested in Yemeni civilization and history, have begun to question the failure of the Yemeni government and concerned international organizations to protect Yemeni antiquities and punish smugglers. Those who rob Yemen of its history, they believe, also destroy Yemen’s present and future prospects.
Popular Demands to Protect Cultural Heritage
Yemeni activists and researchers tend to blame the Yemeni government for ongoing smuggling. One of the most prominent among them is the Yemeni archaeological researcher Abdullah Mohsen, whose social media pages are filled with news of the sale of Yemeni antiquities in international auctions. Another is the journalist Ahmed Ashour, who published an investigative report documenting the theft of precious Yemeni artifacts that were sold through antiquities marketing sites in Europe.
Throughout the war, the Yemeni government has been entirely absent from the issue of antiquities smuggling, either due to a lack of will or the intervention of external forces. However, the popular demand to save Yemen's history has forced the government to take aggressive measures to combat the illicit trade and impose severe penalties on smugglers. The government has called on European countries to stop the illegal sale of Yemeni antiquities, and announced the recovery of 77 artifacts and Quranic manuscripts that were smuggled to America just before signing the aforementioned agreement. Yemenis hope that these measures, along with others soon to be implemented, will ensure that the majority of smuggled Yemeni artifacts and antiquities are rightfully repatriated.
Muhammad Ali Thamer is a writer, researcher, and journalist from Yemen. He authored the Yemeni Archaeological Atlas, the first of its kind in Yemen, and writes for Arab and international newspapers. He is also the former director of Al-Thaqafa and Al-Yamaniya magazines.
