Import Restrictions Imposed on Archaeological Material From Jordan, 7204-7209 [2020-02552]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 7204-7209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02552]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

19 CFR Part 12

[CBP Dec. 20-02]
RIN 1515-AE51


Import Restrictions Imposed on Archaeological Material From 
Jordan

AGENCY: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland 
Security; Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection 
(CBP) regulations to reflect the imposition of import restrictions on 
certain archaeological material from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 
(Jordan). These restrictions are being imposed pursuant to an agreement 
between the United States and Jordan that has been entered into under 
the authority of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation 
Act. The final rule amends the CBP regulations by adding Jordan to the 
list of countries which have a bilateral agreement with the United 
States that imposes cultural property import restrictions. The final 
rule also contains the Designated List that describes the types of 
archaeological material to which the restrictions apply.

DATES: Effective on February 5, 2020.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For legal aspects, Lisa L. Burley, 
Chief, Cargo Security, Carriers and Restricted Merchandise Branch, 
Regulations and Rulings, Office of Trade, (202) 325-0300, [email protected]. For operational aspects, Genevieve S. 
Dozier, Management and Program Analyst, Commercial Targeting and 
Analysis Center, Trade Policy and Programs, Office of Trade, (202) 945-
2942, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, Public Law 
97-446, 19 U.S.C. 2601 et seq. (``the

[[Page 7205]]

Cultural Property Implementation Act'') implements the 1970 United 
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit 
Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 
(hereinafter, ``the Convention'' (823 U.N.T.S. 231 (1972))). Pursuant 
to the Cultural Property Implementation Act, the United States entered 
into a bilateral agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 
(Jordan) to impose import restrictions on certain Jordanian 
archaeological material. This rule announces that the United States is 
now imposing import restrictions on certain archaeological material 
from Jordan.

Determinations

    Under 19 U.S.C. 2602(a)(1), the United States must make certain 
determinations before entering into an agreement to impose import 
restrictions under 19 U.S.C. 2602(a)(2). On August 14, 2019, the 
Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, United States 
Department of State, after consultation with and recommendation by the 
Cultural Property Advisory Committee, made the determinations required 
under the statute with respect to certain archaeological material 
originating in Jordan that is described in the Designated List set 
forth below in this document.
    These determinations include the following: (1) That the cultural 
patrimony of Jordan is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological 
material representing Jordan's cultural heritage dating from 
approximately 1.5 million B.C. to A.D. 1750 (19 U.S.C. 2602(a)(1)(A)); 
(2) that the Jordanian government has taken measures consistent with 
the Convention to protect its cultural patrimony (19 U.S.C. 
2602(a)(1)(B)); (3) that import restrictions imposed by the United 
States would be of substantial benefit in deterring a serious situation 
of pillage and remedies less drastic are not available (19 U.S.C. 
2602(a)(1)(C)); and (4) that the application of import restrictions as 
set forth in this final rule is consistent with the general interests 
of the international community in the interchange of cultural property 
among nations for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes (19 
U.S.C. 2602(a)(1)(D)). The Assistant Secretary also found that the 
material described in the determinations meets the statutory definition 
of ``archaeological or ethnological material of the State Party'' (19 
U.S.C. 2601(2)).

The Agreement

    On December 16, 2019, the United States and Jordan entered into a 
bilateral agreement, ``Memorandum of Understanding between the 
Government of the United States of America and the Government of the 
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Concerning the Imposition of Import 
Restrictions on Categories of Archaeological Material of Jordan'' 
(``the Agreement''), pursuant to the provisions of 19 U.S.C. 
2602(a)(2). The Agreement enters into force on February 1, 2020, and 
enables the promulgation of import restrictions on categories of 
archaeological material representing Jordan's cultural heritage ranging 
in date from the Paleolithic period (approximately 1.5 million B.C.) to 
the middle of the Ottoman period in Jordan (A.D. 1750). A list of the 
categories of archaeological material subject to the import 
restrictions is set forth later in this document.

Restrictions and Amendment to the Regulations

    In accordance with the Agreement, importation of material 
designated below is subject to the restrictions of 19 U.S.C. 2606 and 
Sec.  12.104g(a) of title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR 
12.104g(a)) and will be restricted from entry into the United States 
unless the conditions set forth in 19 U.S.C. 2606 and Sec.  12.104c of 
the CBP regulations (19 CFR 12.104c) are met. CBP is amending Sec.  
12.104g(a) of the CBP regulations (19 CFR 12.104g(a)) to indicate that 
these import restrictions have been imposed.
    Import restrictions listed at 19 CFR 12.104g(a) are effective for 
no more than five years beginning on the date on which the Agreement 
enters into force with respect to the United States. This period may be 
extended for additional periods of not more than five years if it is 
determined that the factors which justified the Agreement still pertain 
and no cause for suspension of the Agreement exists. The import 
restrictions will expire on February 1, 2025, unless extended.

Designated List of Archaeological Material of Jordan

    The Agreement between the United States and Jordan includes, but is 
not limited to, the categories of objects described in the Designated 
List set forth below. Importation of material on this list is 
restricted unless the material is accompanied by documentation 
certifying that the material left Jordan legally and not in violation 
of the export laws of Jordan.
    The Designated List includes archaeological material in stone, 
metal, ceramic, and other categories ranging in date from the 
Paleolithic period (beginning around 1.5 million B.C.) to the middle of 
the Ottoman period in Jordan (A.D. 1750).

Archaeological Material

    Approximate chronology of well-known archaeological periods and 
sites in Jordan:

(a) Paleolithic period (c. 1.5 million-10,000 B.C.): Azraq Basin, 
Masharia, Wadi Sirhan Basin, Wadi Uwaynid, Zarqa Valley
(b) Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (c. 10,000-3,800 B.C.): Abu 
Hamid, Ayn Ghazal, Bab adh-Dhra, Basta, Bayda, Pella, Shkarat 
Msaied, Tulaylat Ghassul, Sahab, Tall Magass, Tall Shuna North, Tall 
Wadi Faynan, Wadi Shuayb
(c) Bronze and Iron periods (c. 3,800-539 B.C.): Amman, Bab adh-
Dhra, Dhiban, Jarash, Jawa, Khirbat Iskander, Khirbat Zaraqun, 
Pella, Sahab, Tall Abu Kharaz, Tall Dayr Alla, Tall Hammam, Tall 
Hayyat, Tall Nimrin, Tall Shuna, Tall Umayri, Tall umm Hammad, 
Yiftahel
(d) Persian period (539-332 B.C.): Drayjat, Hisban, Khilda, Rujm 
Selim, Tall Dayr Alla, Tall Jalul, Tall Mazar, Tall Saidiyya, Tall 
Umayri, Tawilan
(e) Hellenistic period (332-30 B.C.): Gadara (Umm Qays), Gerasa 
(Jarash), Khirbat Dharayh, Khirbat Tannur, Machaerus, Petra, 
Philadelphia (Amman), Qasr Abd
(f) Roman period (c. 63 B.C.-A.D. 322): Abila (Quwayliba), 
Capitolias, Gadara (Umm Qays), Gerasa (Jarash), Petra, Philadelphia 
(Amman)
(g) Byzantine period (c. A.D. 322-600): Nebo, Pella, Tall Hisban, 
Umm el-Jimal, Umm Rasas
(h) Islamic period (c. A.D. 600-1516): Ajlun, Amman, Aylah (Aqaba), 
Azraq, Dhiban, Bayda, Gadara, Jerash, Khirbat Faris, Qasr Burqu, 
Pella (Fihl), Shawbak, Tall Abu Qadan, Tall Hisban, Umm Walid, 
Wuayrah (Petra)
(i) Ottoman period (c. A.D. 1516-1918): Aqaba, Khirbet Faris, 
Hubras, Shawbak, Tall Hisban, Qalat Unaya (noting that import 
restrictions for the Ottoman period apply to categories of 
archaeological material dating up to the middle of the Ottoman 
period in Jordan, A.D. 1750)

Categories of Archaeological Material

A. Stone
B. Ceramic
C. Metal
D. Bone, Ivory, Shell, and Other Organic Material
E. Glass, Faience, and Semi-Precious Stone
F. Painting and Plaster
G. Textiles, Basketry, and Rope
H. Wood
I. Leather

A. Stone

    1. Architectural Elements--This category includes doors, door 
frames, window fittings, columns, capitals, bases, lintels, jambs, 
archways, friezes,

[[Page 7206]]

pilasters, engaged columns, altars, mihrabs (prayer niches), screens, 
fountains, inlays, and blocks from walls, floors, and ceilings of 
buildings. Architectural elements may be plain, molded, or carved and 
are often decorated with motifs and inscriptions. Marble, limestone, 
sandstone, and gypsum are most commonly used, in addition to porphyry 
and granite.
    2. Mosaics--Floor mosaics are made from stone cut into small bits 
(tesserae) and laid into a plaster matrix. Wall and ceiling mosaics are 
made with a similar technique but may include tesserae of both stone 
and glass. Subjects can include landscapes, scenes of deities, humans, 
or animals, and activities such as hunting and fishing or religious 
imagery. There may also be vegetative, floral, or geometric motifs and 
imitations of stone.
    3. Architectural and Non-Architectural Relief Sculptures--Types 
include carved slabs with figural, vegetative, floral, geometric, or 
other decorative motifs; carved relief vases; stelae; palettes and 
plaques. All types can sometimes be inscribed in various languages. 
Sculptures are used for architectural decoration, including in 
religious, funerary (e.g., grave markers), votive, or commemorative 
monuments. Marble, limestone, and sandstone are most commonly used.
    4. Monuments--Types include votive statues, funerary and votive 
stelae, and bases and base revetments in marble, limestone, and other 
kinds of stone. These may be painted, carved with relief sculpture, 
decorated with moldings, and/or carry dedicatory or funerary 
inscriptions in various languages.
    5. Statuary--Statues are large-scale representations of deities, 
humans, animals, or hybrid figures in marble, limestone, or sandstone. 
Statuary figures may be painted.
    6. Figurines--Figurines are small-scale representations of deities, 
humans, animals, or enigmatic forms such as the ``violin-shaped'' 
figures, in limestone, calcite, marble, greenstone, basalt, or 
sandstone.
    7. Sepulchers--Types of burial containers include sarcophagi, 
caskets, reliquaries, and chest urns in marble, limestone, or other 
kinds of stone. Sepulchers may be plain or have figural, geometric, or 
floral motifs painted on them. They may be carved in relief and/or have 
decorative moldings.
    8. Vessels and Containers--These include bowls, cups, jars, jugs, 
lamps, and flasks, and also smaller funerary urns and incense burners, 
in marble, basalt, limestone, calcite, alabaster, gypsum, or other 
stone. Sculpted vessels in the form of a human head or animal with a 
bowl on top (``pillar figures'') made of basalt are distinctive of the 
Chalcolithic period.
    9. Furniture--Types include thrones, tables, and beds, from 
funerary or domestic contexts.
    10. Tablets and Ostraca--Types include small-scale plaques and 
chips of stone used as surfaces for writing or drawing. These can be 
inscribed with pictographic, cuneiform, Aramaic, Greek, Punic, Latin, 
or Arabic scripts.
    11. Tools and Weapons--Chipped stone types include blades 
(``Canaanean-type''), borers, scrapers, sickles, burins, notches, 
retouched flakes, cores, arrowheads, cleavers, knives, chisel, and 
microliths. Paleolithic period types are described as Acheulean, 
Mousterian, Ahmarian, Aurignacian, and Natufian complexes. Ground stone 
types include grinders (e.g., mortars, pestles, millstones, whetstones, 
querns), choppers, spherical-shaped hand axes, hammers, mace heads, and 
weights. The most commonly used stones are flint, chert, limestone, 
granite, basalt, and obsidian; other examples are hematite and calcite.
    12. Jewelry--Types include seals, beads, finger rings, masks, and 
other personal adornment in marble, limestone, or various semi-precious 
stones--including rock crystal, amethyst, jasper, agate, steatite, and 
carnelian.
    13. Seals and Stamps--These are small devices with at least one 
side engraved with a design for stamping or sealing. They can be in the 
shapes of squares, disks, cones, cylinders, or animals.

B. Ceramic

    1. Architectural Elements--These are baked clay (terracotta) 
elements used to decorate buildings. Examples include acroteria, 
antefixes, painted and relief plaques, revetments, carved and molded 
brick, knobs, roof tiles, and tile wall ornaments and panels.
    2. Figurines--These include terracotta (clay) statues and 
statuettes in the shapes of deities, humans, and animals, ranging in 
height from approximately 5 cm to 20 cm (2 in to 8 in). Figurines may 
be undecorated or decorated with paint, appliques, or inscribed lines. 
Plaque types are made in a mold and have a flat back and image of a 
human form, often female, on the front.
    3. Models--These are small-scale and in terracotta, including 
furniture such as chairs and beds, chariots, boats, and buildings.
    4. Vessels--Types, forms, and decoration vary among archaeological 
styles and over time. Forms may be painted or unpainted, handmade or 
wheel-made and decorated with burnish, glazes, or carvings. Ceramic 
vessels can depict imagery of humans, deities, animals, floral 
decorations, or inscriptions. Some of the most well-known types are 
highlighted below:
    a. Neolithic--This type is handmade and often decorated with a 
lustrous burnish and may also be decorated with appliqu[eacute] and/or 
incision, sometimes with added paint. Yarmoukian style vessels feature 
banded herringbone impression. Jericho style vessels have slips and red 
pigment applied in geometric motifs.
    b. Chalcolithic--This type is dominated by medium-sized holemouth 
or short-necked storage jars and holemouth cooking pots. Distinctive 
forms include cornet cups, fenestrated stands, necked churns, spoons, 
``torpedo'' jars, and vessels in the shape of humans or animals. May be 
painted with geometric designs.
    c. Bronze and Iron--Distinctive types include Grey Burnished Ware, 
Metallic Ware, Band Slip and Line Group painted decoration, Crackled 
Ware, Tall Yehudiyeh Ware, Khirbat Kerak Ware, Mycenaean types, 
Chocolate-on-White Ware, fenestrated stands, collared pithos jars, and 
holemouth jars with four pushed-up ledge handles on the shoulder.
    d. Persian--This type includes locally produced wares, 
indistinguishable from other Iron period ceramics, as well as imported 
Greek wares from the fifth and fourth century B.C. Types include 
sausage jars, high-necked cooking pots, amphorae, narrow bottles, and 
bag-shaped perfume juglets.
    e. Hellenistic--This type includes local and imported fine and 
coarse wares and amphorae. Examples include oil lamps, black-slipped 
pottery, rhodian amphorae, relief-bowls, plates, jugs and juglets, 
fishplates, and bowls with incurved and outcurved rims, mastoi, table 
amphorae, lagynoi, amphoriskoi and small vessels for unguents. Imports 
include black-slipped pottery from Greece, jugs and juglets, bowls, 
storage jars or cooking pots from Cyprus, and Rhodian wine amphoras.
    f. Nabataean--This type is characterized by forms with thin walls 
and floral motifs, often red pottery with black designs. The designs on 
the wares are painted on or pressed into the surface with stamps and 
rouletting wheels. Vessels of this type come in a variety of shapes 
including plates, serving bowls, drinking bowls, flasks, jugs, 
amphoriskoi, and cooking pots.
    g. Roman--This type includes fine and coarse wares, including terra 
sigillata and other red gloss wares,

[[Page 7207]]

cooking wares and mortaria, and storage and shipping amphorae.
    h. Byzantine--This type includes undecorated plain wares, 
utilitarian tableware, storage jars, serving vessels, cook pots, 
amphorae, and special shapes such as pilgrim flasks. The fineware 
``Jarash bowls,'' which are often slipped and painted, are particularly 
distinctive. Other styles can be matte painted or glazed--including 
incised ``sgraffitto''--and stamped with elaborate polychrome 
decorations using floral, geometric, human, and animal motifs.
    i. Islamic and Ottoman--This type includes mostly unglazed earthen 
coarse wares as well as those painted with linear or vegetal designs. 
Examples include dark gray metallic wares with white paint; glazed fine 
cream wares; red-painted wares, including fine ``palace wares;'' and 
ceramic vessels imitating steatite vessels. The most common glazes are 
yellow, green, and blue. Vessels appear in a variety of shapes, 
including jars, jugs, bowls, basins, cups, zirs, and so-called ``sugar 
cones'' made of distinctly heavy ceramic.
    5. Lamps--Lamps can be glazed or unglazed in ``saucer,'' 
``slipper'' or other styles; they typically have rounded bodies with a 
hole on the top and in the nozzle, handles or lugs, and motifs such as 
beading, human faces, rosettes or other floral elements like bunched 
grapes or leaves. Inscriptions may also be found on the body. Later 
period examples may have straight or round, bulbous bodies with a 
flared top and several branches.
    6. Seals and Sealings--These are small devices with at least one 
side engraved with a design for stamping or sealing. They can be in the 
shapes of squares, disks, cones, cylinders, or animals. Sealings are 
lumps of clay impressed with a seal used to secure doors or containers.
    7. Tablets--Tablets are covered with wedge-shaped cuneiform 
characters or incised pictographs/hieroglyphics. Shapes range from very 
small rounded disk forms, to small square and rectangular pillow-shaped 
forms, to larger rectangular tablets. Tablets may be impressed with 
cylinder or stamp seals.
    8. Ostraca--Ostraca are pottery sherds used as surfaces for writing 
or drawing.
    9. Objects of Daily Use--These include game pieces, loom weights, 
toys, tobacco pipes, portable hearths, and andirons.
    10. Sepulchers--Types of burial containers include reliquaries and 
ossuaries, the latter being rectangular in shape or in the shape of 
stylized animals with an opening in the short end of the container. 
Sepulchers may be decorated with paint or appliques, or incised.

C. Metal

    1. Statuary--These are large- and small-scale, including deity, 
human, and animal figures in bronze, iron, silver, or gold. Common 
types are large-scale, free-standing statuary from approximately 1 m to 
2.5 m (approximately 3 ft to 8 ft) in height and life-size busts (i.e., 
head and shoulders of an individual).
    2. Reliefs--These include plaques, appliques, stelae, and masks, 
often in bronze. Reliefs may include inscriptions in various languages.
    3. Inscribed or Decorated Sheet--These are engraved inscriptions 
and thin metal sheets with engraved or impressed designs often used as 
attachments to furniture or figures. Primarily in bronze or lead, but 
also less frequently in gold and silver.
    4. Vessels and Containers--Forms include bowls, cups, jars, jugs, 
strainers, cauldrons, and boxes, as well as vessels in the shape of an 
animal or part of an animal. This category also includes scroll and 
manuscript containers, reliquaries, and censers. In copper, bronze, 
silver, and/or gold. May portray deities, humans, or animals, as well 
as floral motifs in relief. They may include an inscription.
    5. Jewelry--These include necklaces, chokers, pectorals, finger 
rings, beads, pendants, bells, belts, buckles, earrings, diadems, 
straight pins and fibulae, bracelets, anklets, girdles, wreaths and 
crowns, make-up accessories and tools, metal strigils (scrapers), 
crosses, and lamp-holders. In the Ottoman period, perforated coins were 
used as jewelry. In iron, bronze, silver, and gold. Metal can be inlaid 
with items such as colored stones and glass.
    6. Seals--Seals are small devices with at least one side engraved 
with a design for stamping or sealing. Types include finger rings, 
amulets, and seals with a shank; in lead, tin, copper, bronze, silver, 
or gold.
    7. Tools--Types include hooks, weights, axes, scrapers, 
hammerheads, trowels, locks, keys, nails, hinges, tweezers, mace heads, 
ingots, mirrors and fibulae (for pinning clothing), in copper, bronze, 
or iron.
    8. Weapons and Armor--This includes body armor, such as helmets, 
cuirasses, bracers, and shin guards, shields, and horse armor; often 
decorated with elaborate designs that are engraved, embossed, or 
perforated. Both launching weapons (e.g., spears, javelins, arrowheads) 
and hand-to-hand combat weapons (e.g., swords, daggers, etc.), in 
copper, bronze, and iron; and in silver and gold for ceremonial use.
    9. Lamps--Lamps can be open saucer-type or closed, rounded bodies 
with a hole on the top and in the nozzle, handles or lugs. They can 
include decorative designs such as beading, human faces, animals or 
animal parts, rosettes or other floral elements. This category includes 
handheld lamps, candelabras, braziers, sconces, chandeliers, and lamp 
stands.
    10. Coins--Some of the best-known types include:
    a. Nabataean--Coins in silver, lead, copper or bronze and struck at 
Petra. They typically have cornucopiae or wreaths on the reverse and 
portrait of the ruler or rulers on the obverse.
    b. Roman Provincial--Coins in silver and bronze were struck through 
the third century A.D. at Roman and Roman provincial mints of Abila 
(Abel), Adraa (Daraa), Charachmoba (Al-Karak), Dium, Esbous (Heshbon), 
Gadara (Umm Qais), Gerasa (Jerash), Medaba (Madaba), Pella, Petra, 
Philadelphia (Amman), Rabbathmoba (Aroer) Capitolias/Dion (Beit Ras), 
and Raphana. This type also includes the pseudo-autonomous coinage of 
the second and first centuries B.C.
    c. Byzantine--Coins in bronze and struck at the Arab-Byzantine mint 
of Aylah/Elath (Aqaba).
    d. Early Islamic--Coins in bronze or silver and struck at the 
Umayyad mints of Adraa (Daraa), Gerasa (Jerash), Philadelphia/Rabbath-
Ammon (Amman) and under the Abbasids at Philadelphia/Rabbath-Ammon 
(Amman). These coins are epigraphic in design, featuring one or more 
lines of Arabic script. Some Abbasid bronze coins from Philadelphia/
Rabbath-Ammon (Amman) feature a small flower-like design in the center 
of one side.
    e. Crusader--These coins appear as thin, light-weight, low-quality-
silver billon. Examples usually feature crosses and/or crude portraits 
or buildings as central images.

D. Bone, Ivory, Shell, and Other Organic Material

    1. Small Statuary and Figurines--These include representations of 
deities, humans, or animals, in bone or ivory.
    2. Reliefs, Plaques, Stelae, and Inlays--These are carved and 
sculpted and may have figurative, floral, and/or geometric motifs.
    3. Jewelry--Types include amulets, pendants, combs, pins, spoons, 
bracelets, buckles, beads, and pectorals. Jewelry can be made of bone, 
ivory, amber, coral, mother-of-pearl, tortoise shell, and cowrie shell.

[[Page 7208]]

    4. Seals and Stamps--These are small devices with at least one side 
engraved with a design for stamping or sealing. They can be in the 
shapes of squares, disks, cones, cylinders, or animals.
    5. Vessels and Luxury Objects--Ivory, bone, and shell were used 
either alone or as inlays in luxury objects, including furniture, 
chests and boxes, writing and painting equipment, musical instruments, 
games, cosmetic containers, combs, jewelry, amulets, and seals.
    6. Tools--Tools include bone points and awls, burnishers, needles, 
spatulae, and fish hooks.
    7. Manuscripts--Archaeological manuscripts can be written or 
painted on specially prepared animal skins (e.g., cattle, sheep, goat, 
camel skins) known as parchment or papyrus. They occur as single 
leaves, bound as a book or codex, or rolled into a scroll.
    8. Human Remains--This includes skeletal remains from the human 
body, preserved in burials or other contexts. Particular to early 
periods are human skulls painted or covered with lime plaster and 
bitumen.

E. Glass, Faience, and Semi-Precious Stone

    1. Architectural Elements--These include glass inlay and tesserae 
pieces from floor and wall mosaics, mirrors, and windowpanes.
    2. Vessels and Containers--These can take various shapes, such as 
jars, bottles, bowls, beakers, goblets, candle holders, perfume jars 
(unguentaria), and flasks. Vessels and containers may have cut, 
incised, raised, enameled, molded, or painted decoration. Ancient 
examples may be engraved and/or light blue, blue-green, green, or 
colorless while those from later periods may include animal, floral, 
and/or geometric motifs.
    3. Jewelry--Jewelry includes bracelets and rings (often twisted 
with colored glass), pendants, and beads in various shapes (e.g., 
circular, globular), some with relief decoration including multi-
colored ``eye'' beads.
    4. Lamps--Lamps may have a straight or round bulbous body, some in 
the form of a goblet, with flared top, and engraved or moulding 
decorations and may have several branches.

F. Painting and Plaster

    1. Rock Art--Rock art can be painted and/or incised drawings on 
natural rock surfaces. Common motifs include humans, animals, 
geometric, and/or floral elements.
    2. Wall Painting--With figurative (deities, humans, animals), 
floral, and/or geometric motifs, as well as funerary scenes. These are 
painted on stone, mud plaster, lime plaster (wet--buon fresco--and 
dry--secco fresco), sometimes to imitate marble.
    3. Stucco--This is a fine plaster used for coating wall surfaces or 
molding into architectural decorations such as reliefs, plaques, 
stelae, and inlays.
    4. Jewelry--Jewelry includes plaster beads from the Neolithic 
period.
    5. Figurines--Figurines can be human statuettes made of marl lime 
plaster. They can be full body or busts with one or two heads, and may 
have detailed facial and body features like arms, hands, and breasts.

G. Textiles, Basketry, and Rope

    1. Textiles--These include linen, hemp, and silk cloth used for 
burial wrapping, shrouds, garments, and sails. These also include linen 
and wool also used for garments and hangings.
    2. Basketry--Plant fibers were used to make baskets and containers 
in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as sandals and mats.
    3. Rope--Rope and string were used for a great variety of purposes, 
including binding, lifting water for irrigation, fishing nets, 
measuring, lamp wicks, and stringing beads for jewelry and garments.

H. Wood

    1. Jewelry and Personal Items--These include rings, bracelets, 
combs, and spindle whorls.
    2. Containers--These include boxes, chests, and coffins.

I. Leather

    Leather items include belts, sandals, necklaces, bracelets, and 
other items of personal adornment.

References

Coins of the Holy Land: The Abraham and Marian Sofaer Collection at 
the American Numismatic Society and the Israel Museum, volumes I and 
II, 2013, Y. Meshoreer, The American Numismatic Society, New York.
Jordan: An Archaeological Reader, 2008, R.B. Adams (editor), 
Equinox, London.

Inapplicability of Notice and Delayed Effective Date

    This amendment involves a foreign affairs function of the United 
States and is, therefore, being made without notice or public procedure 
(5 U.S.C. 553(a)(1)). For the same reason, a delayed effective date is 
not required under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3).

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Because no notice of proposed rulemaking is required, the 
provisions of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) do 
not apply.

Executive Orders 12866 and 13771

    CBP has determined that this document is not a regulation or rule 
subject to the provisions of Executive Order 12866 or Executive Order 
13771 because it pertains to a foreign affairs function of the United 
States, as described above, and therefore is specifically exempted by 
section 3(d)(2) of Executive Order 12866 and section 4(a) of Executive 
Order 13771.

Signing Authority

    This regulation is being issued in accordance with 19 CFR 0.1(a)(1) 
pertaining to the Secretary of the Treasury's authority (or that of 
his/her delegate) to approve regulations related to customs revenue 
functions.

List of Subjects in 19 CFR Part 12

    Cultural property, Customs duties and inspection, Imports, 
Prohibited merchandise, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Amendment to CBP Regulations

    For the reasons set forth above, part 12 of title 19 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (19 CFR part 12) is amended as set forth below:

PART 12--SPECIAL CLASSES OF MERCHANDISE

0
1. The general authority citation for part 12 and the specific 
authority citation for Sec.  12.104g continue to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 301; 19 U.S.C. 66, 1202 (General Note 3(i), 
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS)), 1624.
* * * * *
    Sections 12.104 through 12.104i also issued under 19 U.S.C. 
2612;
* * * * *

0
2. In Sec.  12.104g, the table in paragraph (a) is amended by adding 
Jordan to the list in alphabetical order to read as follows:


Sec.  12.104g  Specific items or categories designated by agreements or 
emergency actions.

    (a) * * *

[[Page 7209]]



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          State party                         Cultural property                           Decision No.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
Jordan........................  Archaeological material representing Jordan's  CBP Dec. 20-02.
                                 cultural heritage from the Paleolithic
                                 period (c. 1.5 million B.C.) to the middle
                                 of the Ottoman period in Jordan (A.D. 1750).
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

    Dated: February 4, 2020.
Mark A. Morgan,
Acting Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
    Approved:
Timothy E. Skud,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
[FR Doc. 2020-02552 Filed 2-5-20; 4:15 pm]
 BILLING CODE 9111-14-P