Aldarir Sentenced for Multiple Counts of Smuggling

 

Ancient Egyptian artifact stolen and sold by Eldarir in 2019.

BROOKLYN, NY: A federal judge sentenced Egyptian doctor Ashraf Omar Eldarir to six months in prison for smuggling nearly 600 Egyptian antiquities through JFK. He used fake provenance to funnel gold funerary amulets, wooden tomb models, an ancient Egyptian polychrome relief, an ancient Roman limestone stele, and an ancient Roman limestone head.

The false provenances included “multiple documents, including what appeared to be decades-old Egyptian blank pages with watermarks, decades-old Egyptian loose stamps, and multiple black-and-white old-looking photographs purporting to depict an ancestor of the defendant displaying several of the artifacts in his office from long ago,” stated court documents, which noted forensic examiners determined the documents were forgeries and the photographs had been photoshopped and aged.

Robbers sent Eldarir videos of the objects from the grave sites "as if it were K-Mart and here’s your pick to choose from," William Campos, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in court.

Read more here: Man packed luggage with hundreds of looted ancient artifacts, feds say

Artifacts Confiscated from New York Met

 

This Hellenistic bust of a veiled woman, dating to 350 B.C. was looted from a temple decades ago, and confiscated from the Met in February 2022. It was returned to Libya.

Five Egyptian antiques collectively valued at more than $3 million, have been seized from the Metropolitan Museum by the New York District Attorney’s Office. The confiscation is part of an extensive investigation into the international trafficking of Egyptian antiquities that led to the indictment of former president and director of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez.

Four of the pieces came from the collection of Roben Dib, a dealer suspected by U.S. and French authorities of selling looted objects to art institutions. Dib is currently detained in Paris, where he is awaiting trial on charges of gang fraud and money laundering. The Met has been contending with its connections to Dib for several years.

Among the artifacts seized were a resplendent Fayum portrait, a painted panel commonly placed over the face of mummies in Roman Egypt. That work depicts a woman in a blue dress and dates to around 60 BC.

The other seized work is composed of five fragments of a wall hanging from the 4th or 5th century AD. They are considered one of the oldest representations of the Book of Exodus.

Read more here. 

Related reading: New York Met Returns Ancient Stolen Egyptian Coffin; Ancient Vase Seized from Met on Suspicion it was Looted; New York Met Returns Looted Bust to Libya; Antiquities Thieves Arrested in Israel

Steinhardt Ordered to Return Looted Antiquities

 

Michael Steinhardt, hedge funder and antiquities collector

Michael Steinhardt is ordered to return 180 looted artifacts and he will not be charged if he abides by all terms of the agreement that requires that the objects be “returned expeditiously to their rightful owners,” rather than held as evidence. The resolution will also help prosecutors “shield the identity of the many witnesses here and abroad whose names would be released at any trial.”

The 180 stolen antiquities worth $70 million are to be returned to their rightful homelands and Steinhardt is barred for life from acquiring any objects created before 1500 AD.

In a statement, Steinhardt’s lawyer, Andrew J. Levander, said: “Mr. Steinhardt is pleased that the District Attorney’s yearslong investigation has concluded without any charges, and that items wrongfully taken by others will be returned to their native countries. Many of the dealers from whom Mr. Steinhardt bought these items made specific representations as to the dealers’ lawful title to the items, and to their alleged provenance. To the extent these representations were false, Mr. Steinhardt has reserved his rights to seek recompense from the dealers involved.”

The investigation into Steinhardt began in February 2017, after prosecutors determined that he had purchased a statue looted from Lebanon during the country’s Civil War, and subsequently loaned it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An inquiry into his record of acquisitions only heightened suspicions of further criminal misconduct and led to the formation of a joint investigation with investigators in 11 countries—Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria, and Turkey.

“For decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe,” District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement. “His pursuit of ‘new’ additions to showcase and sell knew no geographic or moral boundaries, as reflected in the sprawling underworld of antiquities traffickers, crime bosses, money launderers, and tomb raiders he relied upon to expand his collection.”

Read more here: Michael Steinhardt, Billionaire Antiquities Collector Surrenders 180 Looted Objects

Related reading: Preserving Antiquities; Taliban Destroys Priceless Bamyan Buddhas; Four Arrested for Smuggling Egyptian Antiquities; Hamas Seizes Smuggled Antiquities; Robbery of Ancient Graves; Four Antiquities Thieves Arrested in Israel; Destruction and Looting of Antiquities in Yemen

The Return of Stolen Antiquities

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed receives the 18th-century crown from the Dutch.

Antiquities are being returned to their place of origin more regularly than recognized. Many Western governments have pledged to return stolen artifacts that were taken during colonization.

In February 2020, The Dutch government returned a stolen 18th-century ceremonial crown to Ethiopia. The crown has great religious significance, and was kept safe for 21 years by Sirak Asfaw, a Dutch national of Ethiopian heritage.

Asfaw, who emigrated to the Netherlands in the late 1970s, said in a video recording that the crown "came into his hands" in 1998.

In November 2019, France returned a sword to Senegal as part of its commitment to return artifacts stolen during colonial times. The sword belonged to Omar Saidou Tall, a west African ruler and Islamic scholar who led an anti-colonial struggle against the French in the 1850s.

He eventually signed a peace treaty with France in 1860. According to French historian, Jean Suret-Canele, Omar Saidou Tall died from a gunpowder explosion in 1864. After his death, his sword and books from his library were seized by the French.

In October 2019, US authorities returned a stolen coffin to Egypt, two years after it was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $4m (£3.2m) from a Parisian art dealer.

The 2,100-year-old coffin was that of a priest called Nedjemankh who served Horus as a Ram (Heryshef). The decorated surface includes scenes and prayers in gesso relief meant to protect and guide Nedjemankh on his journey to immortality.

The coffin was looted and smuggled out of Egypt in 2011 and was sold to the Met by a global art trafficking network, which used fraudulent documents.

Related reading: Ethiopian Crown Returned; Metropolitan Museum Returns Stolen Egyptian Coffin

Destruction and Looting of Antiquities in Yemen

Yemen is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites and national museums that house priceless artifacts.

Bombs dropped by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen resulted in the complete destruction of the museum of Dhamar in the southwest, which contained thousands of artifacts from the Himyarite Kingdom.

Mohanad Ahmad al-Sayani, chair of Yemen’s General Organization of Antiquities and Museums in Sana’a, has lamented "Our immortal history has been wasted by wars."

The Yemeni cultural losses are noted by archaeologists. Although the country has been far less studied than Mesopotamia, it played a critical role in the rise of empires and economies in the region starting around 1000 B.C.

According to archaeologist Sarah Japp of Berlin’s German Archaeological Institute, "The destruction seems deliberate." She stated that, “The Saudis were given information on important cultural heritage sites, including exact coordinates"by UNESCO.

Japp was based in Sana’a before the war. UNESCO intended to protect the sites, but she fears that the data may instead have been used for targeting. “There is no reason to say all of these [bombings] are just accidents.”

There is evidence of al-Qaida raids on museums in Yemen and evidence in Europe of dealers who have been selling these antiquities. A special forces raid of one of the complexes of the chief financial officer of ISIS, receipts of about $5 million worth of antiquities sold over the course of a year were found.

At least 100 artifacts from Yemen have been successfully sold at auction for an estimated $1 million in the U.S., Europe and the United Arab Emirates since 2011, according to a Live Science investigation into the country's so-called "blood antiquities."

Read more here and here.

Reading reading: The Librarian Who Saved Timbuktu's Cultural Treasures From al Qaeda; Iconoclasm Means the Destruction of Heritage

Funding ISIS by Looting Antiquities

This marble bas-relief, likely looted by Islamic State, was seized at Paris’s Roissy airport in March 2016 after arriving from North Lebanon. PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Plundered antiquities from Syria were sold to ISIS and used by that terrorist organization to fund their fighting. The group looted ancient sites and also purchased ancient statues, jewelry and other precious artifacts stolen in Syria and Iraq. Experts say it may take decades for the stolen artifacts to surface.

“Once looted in Syria and Iraq, objects enter a gray market shrouded in secrecy,” said Michael Danti, an archaeologist who directs the Boston-based Cultural Heritage Initiatives and advises the U.S. State Department on the looting of antiquities in Syria. “It’s a problem that will stay with us for years to come.”

Read more here.

Related reading: Curbing the Spoils of War; Broken System Allows ISIS to Profit from Looted Antiquities; The Librarian Who Saved Timbuktu's Cultural Treasures from al Qaeda

Iconoclasm Means the Destruction of Heritage

The Sun overshadows the golden bull calf as a sign of divine appointment. 

This is a Messianic image that iconoclasts attempted to obliterate.

Alice C. Linsley

A great threat to the preservation of antiquities comes from groups seeking to destroy images of which they disapprove. This is called "iconoclasm" from the Greek Eikonoklasmos meaning "image-breaking."

Today we read about statues of Confederate soldiers being damaged or removed because some find them offensive. In most cases, the statues are safely stored or placed in a less public place. The historical value of these statues and monuments is recognized by more resilient minds.

Smashing images or destroying places of historical value does not erase the tragic events of the past. It almost insures that similar events will happen again. It is better that Auschwitz be preserved as a reminder of Nazi hatred and genocidal actions.

Iconoclasm and the destruction of monuments and antiquities is prompted by prejudice, hatred, and ideological fervor. Religious extremism also leads to smashing images in an attempt to destroy the religious tradition of others. The destruction of artifacts of historical and anthropological value leads to the destruction of a people's social and religious heritage. It is difficult for a people to recover from the loss and it may take many generations to recover.

In the sixteenth century, the Puritans stripped the churches in England of crosses, statues, icons, and stained glass windows. Under Oliver Cromwell, thousands of sacred objects were destroyed. Items of value such as precious metals and gems were re-purposed and sold to fund Cromwell's wars in Scotland and Ireland.

Iconoclasm is endorsed by the Deuteronomist in the Bible.

"...  ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire." (Deuteronomy 7:5)

The main targets to be smashed were the bamot (high or exalted places). These "high places" were originally royal places of worship. Under the guise of opposing "idolatry" the places of worship that competed with the high place of Jerusalem were to be destroyed.

King Josiah destroyed the solar horses that had been a sacred symbol among the ancient Hebrew for many generations (II Kings 23:11). Iconoclasts attempted to remove the Messianic image of the Golden Calf which was fabricated by the ruler-priest Aaron and which were found at the high places of Israelite worship at Bethel and Dan.

In 2001, Islamic fundamentalists destroyed images regarded as world treasures in Afghanistan. Extremists smashed three hundred of the 2,500 objects that had been painstakingly reassembled at the Kabul Museum and looted thousands of artifacts.

Recently, ardent opposition to the controversial Amazon Synod led some Roman Catholics to toss indigenous Pachamama figurines into the Tiber River. Though the figurines are not appropriate in the context of a Christian church, they should not have been destroyed. They have historical, religious, and anthropological value.


Related reading: Graven Images and Idols; Fundamentalism and Syncretism in Hebrew History; Looting and Burning of Churches and Images in Chile

Four Antiquities Thieves Arrested in Israel

Suspected burglars spotted by the Civil Administration's Archaeology Unit and Nature Authority near the Jordan Valley archaeological site of Tana a-Tahta. (COGAT Spokesperson's Office)


Two crews of antiquities thieves were arrested at sites in eastern Samaria in the West Bank in two unrelated incidents in the past two weeks.

According to the Ministry of Defense release, when the four suspects were arrested by Israel Police they had in their possession excavation tools, metal detectors, as well as a Jeep Defender, which were all confiscated. Following a court hearing, two were released after serving 10 days in jail and fined NIS 2,000 ($550). The other two burglars are still serving their 35-day sentence and will be fined NIS 4,000. An additional NIS 8,000 fine was levied on the burglars for the confiscated vehicle.

In a statement released by the Ministry of Defense, Head of the Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit Hananya Hizmi said, “The phenomenon of the theft and destruction of antiquities causes both historical and cultural damage to all of the residents of the region.

The suspects were stopped at the northern Jordan Valley Hasmonean site of Alexandrium, which was built by Alexander Yannai (104-77 BCE) and rebuilt by Herod (74-4 BCE) as a fortress. It was razed in the Great Revolt against the Romans, circa 72 CE.

The site of Alexandrium is also known as Sartaba in the Babylonian Talmud, which identifies it as a “signal mountain.” It is the second in a chain of stations in which fires were lit to proclaim the new moon, which began the new Hebrew month.

Source:  The Times of Israel

Mosque Door Ornament Recovered

The copper decoration of the Al-Kady Abdel Baset mosque now restored.

Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities has restored a copper ornament that once decorated the main door of the Al-Kady Abdel-Baset mosque in Old Cairo. The Al-Kady Abdel-Baset mosque was built in 1420 AD.

The copper ornament was stolen from the outer door of the mosque in 2014.

Gamal Mustafa, head of the Islamic, Coptic and Jewish Antiquities Department explained that the police had identified the thief by reviewing surveillance cameras in the area.

The suspect was found in possession of several stolen items from mosques in Cairo, including a wooden decorative motif from the Gany Bek Mosque, and a decorative handwritten relief from the Ahmed Al-Mehmendar Mosque in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar.

Source: Archaeology

Related reading: Stolen Coffin Returned to Egypt; Preserving Antiquities, Taliban Destroys Priceless Bamyan Buddhas; Four Arrested for Smuggling Egyptian Antiquities; Hamas Seizes Smuggled Antiquities; Robbery of Ancient Graves

Stolen Coffin Returned to Egypt

US authorities have returned a stolen coffin to Egypt, two years after it was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for $4m (£3.2m) from a Parisian art dealer.

The 2,100-year-old coffin was that of a priest called Nedjemankh who served Horus as a Ram (Heryshef). The decorated surface includes scenes and prayers in gesso relief meant to protect and guide Nedjemankh on his journey to immortality.

The coffin was looted and smuggled out of Egypt in 2011 and was sold to the Met by a global art trafficking network, which used fraudulent documents.

"Thus far our investigation has determined that this coffin is just one of hundreds of antiquities stolen by the same multinational trafficking ring," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said.

Read more here.

Related reading: Preserving Antiquities; Four Arrested for Smuggling Egyptian Antiquities

Preserving Antiquities

The October discussion topic at Ethics Forum is the preservation of antiquities and the problem of iconoclasm. Stolen or destroyed artifacts and images represent a serious loss to scientific investigation.

The National Museum of Iraq was like a university containing thousands of artifacts and books. Researchers from many universities came to the museum to study the priceless volumes and artifacts. In 2003, the museum was looted. Books, research papers, and dictionaries of the oldest languages were burned. The objects of gold were stolen. Many artifacts of great historical value were destroyed or sold on the black market.

Most archaeological sites in Iraq were left unprotected by coalition forces between the summer of 2003 through the end of 2007. The first break-in at the museum occurred on 10 April 2003. While fighting continued outside, thieves had the run of the museum until returning museum staff chased them off on 12 April. Museum staff put up a large sign announcing that the museum was under the protection of the US military, though the first US tanks did not arrive until 16 April.

This 2550 BC gold dagger was stolen from the National Museum of Iraq and never recovered.

At least 3,138 objects were stolen from restoration and above-ground storage rooms. By January 2004, 3,037 had been recovered,1,924 via the amnesty program, and 1,113 through seizures.

The thieves knew in advance the location of the museum’s store of small, valuable, and portable items. They had keys to open the storage lockers, though in the darkness and confusion they dropped the keys and the lockers remained secure. Nevertheless, the thieves did steal 10,686 items that had been stored in boxes, including 5,144 cylinder seals. By January 2005, 2,307 of these pieces had been recovered.

Related reading: Taliban Destroys Priceless Bamyan Buddhas; Four Arrested for Smuggling Egyptian Antiquities; Hamas Seizes Smuggled Antiquities; Robbery of Ancient Graves; Four Antiquities Thieves Arrested in Israel

Paintings Stolen in Rotterdam

Seven paintings, including several by modern masters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet were stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum early Tuesday around 3 a.m. local time (9 p.m. Monday ET).

Also stolen were works by Lucian Freud, Paul Gauguin, and Meyer de Haan.

The heist, one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, occurred while the private Triton Foundation collection was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time. The collection was on display as part of celebrations surrounding the Kunsthal's 20th anniversary celebrations.

Neither the police nor the Kunsthal were immediately able to put a value on the haul, but the theft is one of the art world's most dramatic in recent years and will likely be worth millions.


Related reading: Renoir bought for $7 at flea market may have been stolen from museum in 1951
Millions in stolen art recovered in LA area

Islam vs Sacred Sites

Robert Spencer

What is it about Islam that leads so many Muslims to see their cultural patrimony as something to be despised and even destroyed?

Harking back to the Taliban’s destruction of Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001, Muslims in northern Mali last week moved against their own country’s heritage. The Islamic supremacist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Religion) raised international concern when they began destroying some of the ancient shrines of Muslim saints in Timbuktu, “the city of 333 saints.” According to Ishaan Tharoor in Time magazine, “UNESCO, the UN’s cultural agency, says as many as half of the city’s shrines ‘have been destroyed in a display of fanaticism.’”

Why would a Muslim group destroy the tombs of Muslim holy men? “The destruction is a divine order,” an Ansar Dine spokesman explained; another added that they planned to destroy all the city’s ancient tombs, “without exception.”

UNESCO and the international media have portrayed Ansar Dine’s stance on this as unthinking fanaticism, contradicting Islam’s tenets: UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova declared that “the attack on Timbuktu’s cultural heritage is an attack against this history and the values it carries — values of tolerance, exchange and living together, which lie at the heart of Islam.”

Read it all here.


Related reading: Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids

Czech Grave Robbers Apprehended

The Prague Daily Monitor website reports that Czech police have arrested two men suspected of robbing more than 70 graves in northern Bohemia.

The two men -- aged 48 and 38 -- mainly targeted older tombs in the region in search of gold teeth, medals, jewelry, and other relics.

They were arrested last Saturday night at a cemetery in Usti nad Labem in the north of the country, where they were raiding tombs.

Police also took the equipment the men used, including face masks, crowbars and other tools, as well as a short folding ladder that they used to descend into the tombs.
 
 
Source:  Theology and Society

Why Great Pyramid Closed on 11/11/11

After rumors and reports that various fringe groups were planning to hold rituals at the Great Pyramid of Giza on the rare date of 11/11/11, Egyptian antiquities officials decided to close the pyramid last Friday for “necessary maintenance.”

Pyramid complex director Ali al-Asfar said that all reports of planned ceremonies were “lacking in truth” and that the closing on Friday was due to nothing more than routine maintenance. Still, there was a noticeable and increased security presence on the Giza plateau Friday morning. “Everything is normal,” said al-Asfar as 11:11 a.m. passed. “The only thing different is the closure of the [Great] pyramid.”

Read more here.

4 Arrested for Smuggling Egyptian Antiquities

Federal authorities announced on Wednesday that they had broken up an international ring that had been smuggling Egyptian antiquities into the United States. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations department said it was the first time that a cultural property smuggling network had been dismantled in the United States.

Read it all here.

St. Philip's Tomb

WASHINGTON, D.C.– Excavator gives background story of apostle Philip and site of recently discovered tomb in Turkey. During the course of excavating a Byzantine-era church in the ancient Greek city of Hierapolis (in modern southwest Turkey), Professor Francesco D’Andria and his archaeological team have discovered the tomb of St. Philip, one of the twelve apostles.

The current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) features an article by lead excavator Professor D’Andria relating the history of St. Philip, his martyrdom by upside-down crucifixion and his martyrium at Hierapolis. Most of what is known about St. Philip outside of the New Testament comes from the apocryphal fourth-century text called the Acts of Philip. In the July/August 2011 BAR article, titled “Conversion, Crucifixion and Celebration,” D’Andria traces the history of the saint and explores the textual and archaeological evidence for his life and martyrdom. The article provides a thorough context for understanding the significance of this important discovery.

Philip is believed to have been executed by the Romans in Hierapolis around 80 C.E. The tomb, which is located approximately 40 meters away from an ancient church dedicated to the saint (the Martyrium of St. Philip), has been identified as Philip’s by inscriptions located on the walls of the structure. Professor D’Andria believes that the tomb was moved to its present location in the fifth century from its original position in the Martyrium of St. Philip. D’Andria and his team have not yet opened the grave to examine the remains, but they plan to do so soon. He anticipates that this new discovery will add to the significance of Hierapolis as a Christian pilgrimage destination.

For more information, you can read D’Andria’s article online at www.bib-arch.org/bar or call the Biblical Archaeology Society at 1.202.364.3300.

The World's Oldest Known Museum

In 1925, archaeologist Leonard Woolley discovered a curious collection of artifacts while excavating a Babylonian palace. They were from many different times and places, and yet they were neatly organized and even labeled. Woolley had discovered the world's first museum.

It's easy to forget that ancient peoples also studied history - Babylonians who lived 2,500 years ago were able to look back on millennia of previous human experience. That's part of what makes the museum of Princess Ennigaldi so remarkable. Her collection contained wonders and artifacts as ancient to her as the fall of the Roman Empire is to us. But it's also a grim symbol of a dying civilization consumed by its own vast history.

Read it all here.

Robbery of Ancient Graves

The Israel Antiquities Authority


In ancient times, the deceased were usually buried together with personal goods in the belief that they would be useful during the deceased's journey to the next world. Jewish graves from Second Temple Period times yield coffins and an abundance of ancient artifacts, mainly glass, decorated oil lamps, cooking utensils and jewelry. Artifacts from this period in the Holy Land, the time of Jesus, are in great demand. Stone burial coffins, some with ornamentation or inscriptions are one of the robbers' favorite items, scattering bones in all directions and stealing the ornamented coffins. Unornamented coffins are left, shattered in the burial cave.

Finding and entering a burial cave doesn't require much physical work. Upon discovery, the circular entry stone is pushed aside; robbers burst inside and systematically collect the burial site's contents. Some of the bone boxes in Jewish burials were decorated in geometric and floral patterns, many inscribed with the deceased's name, family ancestry and livelihood. Unornamented coffins are today used as flowerpots in private homes and by collectors. The ornamented coffins are stolen and sold for a high price.

Robbery of Roman and Byzantine Graves Roman and Byzantine period graves are rich in glass objects and attractive jewelry, as well as a variety of ceramic wares. Systematic destruction of the graves of Muslim sheikhs has recently become the latest fashion by bands of robbers searching for treasure. The entire gravesite is completely dug up from below in a search for gold treasure from the Ottoman period. Graves are desecrated and bones scattered over a large area.

 
Read more here.

Looted Artifacts Found in Cairo Metro

Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawas said Tuesday April 14 that Egypt has restored four ancient artifacts that were stolen from the Egyptian Museum during the anti-government protests, state-run MENA news agency reported.

Hawas said at an international press conference that the four restored pieces, among the 37 artifacts missing from the Egyptian Museum, include a gilded wooden statue of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess, and parts of another gilded wooden statue of the king.

The four relics were found at a Cairo metro station by archaeologist Salah Mahammad Abdel-salam while he was on his way to work, said Hawas.

Looters broke into the museum near the Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo on Jan. 28, when the anti-government protests drove the police out of the square.

Hawas told reporters that he will submit to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf a comprehensive plan Thursday to protect the Egyptian antiquities, including setting up a special police force to protect the archaeological sites and museums around the country.

Hawas appealed all Egyptians to help in restoring the missing antiquities.


Source: Xinhua

Hawas has been sentenced to one year in jail for refusing to settle a land claim. He is appealing.