Yemen War Exposes Heritage to Foreign Antiquities Trade

About 477 of Yemen’s 2,318 documented archaeological sites have suffered total or partial destruction during the war. Weakened institutions and fragmented authority have also left antiquities exposed to theft and trafficking. The impact of the latest Houthi offensive on sites and museum collections hasn’t yet been established.

Sites damaged, collections looted

Mohammed Ali Thamer, director general of cultural statistics at the Sanaa-based Ministry of Culture, documented 775 destructive operations affecting cultural sites between 2014, when the civil war began, and 2025. His research for the independent Yemeni think tank the Sanaa Center drew on ministry records, statistical data and the Yemen Data Project. Yemen’s Old City of Sanaa, known for its historic tower houses and intricate architecture, faces growing risks from conflict.

Comprehensive national statistics on stolen artifacts aren’t available. Authorities therefore can’t establish precisely how many objects have disappeared, where they came from or who profited. Yemen’s antiquities have attracted foreign collectors for centuries, a history intertwined with the country’s colonial past. Research cited estimates that 10,000 to 14,000 Yemeni artifacts are held abroad; Yemen’s antiquities authorities listed 8,000 objects they said were smuggled out during the war.

The research describes a new wave of looting during the current war, particularly in Marib, Al-Jawf and Shabwa, where people seeking gold and saleable artifacts have targeted ancient tombs and archaeological sites. Saleh Al-Baydani, president of the Anaween Center for Research and Transformation Studies in Aden, said weakened institutions had enabled trafficking.

“The war has weakened state institutions, fragmented authority, reduced the protection of archaeological sites and museums, and created conditions in which looting and trafficking can flourish,” Al-Baydani told Arab News. He said illicit trade “rarely involves a single individual or organization” and commonly begins with illegal excavation or theft from sites, museums or storage facilities. Objects then move through local intermediaries and cross-border networks to dealers, auction houses, private collectors or other buyers abroad. “Such networks may also benefit from corruption, political influence or the protection of armed actors operating within the wider war economy.”

Houthi-controlled sites and wartime risks

The Houthis control several important archaeological and historic sites, including the Old City of Sanaa, the historic town of Zabid and sites associated with the ancient Kingdom of Saba in Marib. The walled city of Shibam, in Hadramawt, is another internationally recognized heritage landmark.

“I am seriously concerned,” Al-Baydani said of renewed fighting. “Yemen has already lost a great deal of its archaeological heritage during the war, and renewed fighting could expose more historical sites to destruction, looting and smuggling.”

Thamer’s research documented Houthi military use of archaeological locations, including the ancient city of Baraqish, which the militia seized in August 2014. Houthi forces reportedly planted landmines around its outskirts before withdrawing in early April 2016.

In September, Mohammed Jumeh, Yemen’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, said the country’s heritage properties were “endangered due to the impact of war, which has caused extensive damage to cultural and historical landmarks across the country.” He also highlighted threats to hundreds of other archaeological and heritage sites, particularly from looting.

Al-Baydani cited a 2024 report by a UN panel of experts describing an investigation into information about an organized smuggling network allegedly backed by the Houthis, through which artifacts were being sold abroad. “So the concern isn’t only about what might happen in the future,” he said. “I believe further fighting could lead to more Yemeni antiquities appearing in international markets, although some may remain hidden for years before reaching auction houses or private collections.”

Museums, auctions and recovery

Thamer identified 12 of Yemen’s 22 museums as looted or damaged. The Regional Museum in Dhamar, which held about 12,500 objects, was destroyed. Fighting and looting affected museums in Aden, Taiz, Al-Mukalla and Ataq, while looters almost completely stripped museums in Ibb Governorate, including those at Al-Oud, Al-Mashneh, Dhafar and Jibla. Authorities confiscated much of the collection of the Military Museum in Sanaa.

In 2023, the US State Department and Yemen’s embassy asked the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington to care for 77 ancient Yemeni artifacts seized in the United States. The objects were formally repatriated to the Yemeni government but remain with the museum under an arrangement allowing them to be preserved and, in some cases, displayed. The collection includes 65 funerary stelae from northwestern Yemen, dating to the second half of the first millennium B.C., and 11 pages from a ninth-century copy of the Qur’an. Authorities intercepted the pages after they were sent from Yemen to an address in the United States; they’re believed to have originated in documents taken from the Great Mosque of Sanaa.

In July, Yemen’s General Organization of Antiquities and Museums raised concerns about objects offered at London auctions by Bonhams and Apollo Art Auctions. Bonhams offered a South Arabian alabaster head of a woman, dated to about 2,000 years ago, and a large South Arabian male head. Neither found a buyer. Bonhams said the male head came from a private collection formed in Aden and exported before November 1967, when the British withdrew from the territory. It said it had reviewed provenance and was satisfied the lots had been lawfully placed on the market. Apollo Art Auctions rejected the allegation that it knowingly offered unlawfully obtained or looted antiquities, citing due-diligence procedures and screening against the Art Loss Register. The allegations didn’t establish that the objects were stolen.

Al-Baydani said buyers and dealers should show credible ownership histories and produce relevant export records. He called on the British Museum and auction houses to publish provenance records for objects identified by Yemeni authorities and cooperate with independent reviews. Objects shown to have been removed from Yemen unlawfully, he said, should be withdrawn from sale and returned.

Archaeological surveys in Yemen have stopped. Foreign missions have departed, and the country lacks a coordinated system to protect sites and track missing objects. Thamer said Yemen needed a comprehensive register of destroyed sites and antiquities smuggled and sold overseas to help investigators trace objects, support restitution claims and establish the scale of losses.