Featured SUGGESTIONS PLEASE FOR REPATRIATING SURFACE FINDS FROM OQUIR, SAUDI ARABIA.

Whilst settling an estate for a friend, I ended up holding the dubious bag of ancient surface finds collected in 1954 through 1960 by her uncle, an American petroleum engineer working near ancient camel route settlements near Oquir, and Qwatif, or Qatif, S.A. On one collection date he was accompanied by St. John Philby https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Philby. Some are said to be 4000 years old, another group c. 1550 AD, from a trading town of Chinese and Portugese.
I contacted the National Museum of S.A. on Nov. 5 but no answer. Does anyone on the list have an inside contact with an appropriate agency in S.A., to get this repatriation fulfilled? I am paying postage! Thank you!

 

u wish to help the Saudi's .... with bits and pieces.....and you'll pay for shipping....

I doubt they'd even be interested...

 

Apparently, yours is not an uncommon problem. This (fairly) recent article states the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) is involved in repatriations.

https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/saudi/saudi-historical-artifacts-repatriated-from-us-1.1554365351470

You might have better luck contacting them. SCTH is, apparently, part of the Ministry of Tourism. Here's a link to the Contact page on their web site.

https://mt.gov.sa/en/AboutSCTA/Pages/ContactUs.aspx

And I applauded you for doing the right thing. It may be time consuming and costly but something you'll never regret.

Debora

 

Thank you, Deborah. I just contacted them. As an avocational archeologist and a retired museum curator, I find it abhorrent when people surface collect, unless it is a prescribed part of a permitted dig plan. In any case the context, and in this situation the exact location has been lost. But I know better than to second guess any field professional's assessment of how valuable they will find these to be. So, back they go, if I can get a proper reply. I will keep you posted.

 

Thank you.

Debora

 

SO, I emailed them on Nov. 16th. No reply. I am considering just mailing them off, with the original notes. What do you think?

 

Frustrating, I know but... I would be hesitant to do that as you wouldn't be certain that they ended up where they should be. Why don't you contact one of the Saudi regional consulates here in the U.S. and see if they can be of assistance?

https://www.saudiembassy.net/saudi-offices

Debora

 

Thanks. I will try that. This is entirely out of my realm of experience. It borders on politics... ick.

 

You can always hold your head up high; you're doing the right thing. And the right thing is often time consuming and inconvenient.

Debora

 

Thank you! Its exhausting being perfect.

 

Know the feeling.

Debora

 

Even electronically? That sounds ridiculously inconvenient.

 

Bureaucracies work slowly and even more so in "developing" countries.

Debora