As America’s only professor of art crime, I study the black market for looted antiquities, museum collections of human remains, controversial public monuments, art made by detainees at Guantánamo Bay, and a variety of other overlaps between art and crime. My book on fraud and forgery on the market for ancient treasures, The Styrofoam Mummy, will be out soon from Norton. I am also a member of the Advisory Committee for the Nepal Heritage Recovery Campaign and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Follow me on Bluesky @artcrimeprof.bsky.social or email me at ethompson@jjay.cuny.edu.

Some links if you’re interested in getting an overview of my current views on repatriation; my career path; and my goals and strategies for writing history.