From cho at savingantiquities.org Fri Feb 24 15:59:29 2006 From: cho at savingantiquities.org (Cindy Ho) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:59:29 -0500 Subject: [CPProt.net] SAFE event in New York Message-ID: Presentation and book signing featuring Matthew Bogdanos, author of Thieves of Baghdad, who headed the investigation into the looting of the Iraq Museum. Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 6:30pm at Cooper Union's Wollman Auditorium, 51 Astor Place, 8th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. Free to the public. For more information: http://www.savingantiquities.org/MBogdanos.htm From lbatt at sas.upenn.edu Fri Feb 24 16:28:43 2006 From: lbatt at sas.upenn.edu (Lisa Batt) Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 10:28:43 -0500 Subject: [CPProt.net] Matthew Bogdanos at Penn Museum Message-ID: <6.2.3.4.2.20060224101938.01dda320@pop.sas.upenn.edu> http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/news/fullrelease.php?which=209 U.S. MARINE COLONEL MATTHEW BOGDANOS TELLS STORY BEHIND 2003 THEFT, LOOTING?AND PARTIAL RECOVERY? OF IRAQ MUSEUM ARTIFACTS AT PENN MUSEUM TALK SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2 P.M. Program Followed by Book Signing of Thieves of Baghdad 02/06/2006 FEBRUARY 2006?U.S. Marine Colonel and New York assistant district attorney Matthew Bogdanos visits the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology Saturday, March 4, at 2 p.m., when he offers a special talk, ?Thieves of Baghdad,? detailing the investigation into the 2003 theft and looting of the Iraq Museum. A book signing of Thieves of Baghdad, written by Colonel Bogdanos with William Patrick, follows his presentation. Royalties from the book sales go to the Iraq Museum. The program, co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Ancient Studies, is $10 and includes Museum admission donation (free for Penn Museum members). Reservations are recommended: 215/898-4890. In April 2003, people around the world watched in shock and sadness at televised footage taken after the pillaging of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The list of missing objects read like a who?s who of archaeology: the Sacred Vase of Warka, the world?s oldest known carved stone ritual vessel; the Mask of Warka; the treasure of Nimrud, a collection of more than 1,000 pieces of gold jewelry from the eight and ninth centuries B.C.E. In the wake of the looting, the United States dispatched a highly specialized multi-agency task force to determine what had happened at the museum and to recover as many antiquities as possible. Marine Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, who holds a master?s degree in Classics from Columbia University, volunteered to lead the investigation. At the Penn Museum program, Colonel Bogdanos tells the story of the creation of the U.S. government's multi-agency task force, the first ever deployed to a war zone (in the frozen hills of Afghanistan), and that team?s recovery more than one year later of over 5,000 of history?s most priceless antiquities. The investigation also exposed the presence of a flourishing international black market in stolen Iraqi antiquities, and Colonel Bogdanos addresses the future of national and international efforts to stop the smugglers. Matthew Bogdanos has been an assistant district attorney in Manhattan since 1988. A colonel in the Marine Reserves, middleweight boxer, and native New Yorker, he holds a degree in classics from Bucknell University, a law degree and a master?s degree in Classical Studies from Columbia University, and a master?s degree in Strategic Studies from the Army War College. Recalled to active duty after September 11, 2001, he received a Bronze Star for counterterrorist operations in Afghanistan, and then served two tours in Iraq. Released back into the reserves in October 2005, he returned to the DA?s Office and continues the hunt for stolen antiquities. The book Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine?s Passion for Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Recover the World?s Greatest Stolen Treasures (Bloomsbury USA; October 26, 2005, $25.95 hardback), by Matthew Bogdanos with William Patrick (author of Blood Winter) will be on sale in the Museum Shop before and after the program. The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 400 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street (across from Franklin Field), Philadelphia, PA 19104. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. Closed Mondays, holidays, and summer Sundays from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Admission donation is $8 for adults; $5 for senior citizens and students with ID; free to members, PENNcard holders, and children 6 and under; free Sunday afternoons through May 21, 2006. The Museum can be found on the web at www.museum.upenn.edu. For general information call 215/898-4000.