Ebay Causes Decrease in Antiquities Looting

Ebay Causes Decrease in Antiquities Looting

www.archaeology.org

Our greatest fear was that the Internet would democratize antiquities trafficking and lead to widespread looting. This seemed a logical outcome of a system in which anyone could open up an eBay site and sell artifacts dug up by locals anywhere in the world. We feared that an unorganized but massive looting campaign was about to begin, with everything from potsherds to pieces of the Great Wall on the auction block for a few dollars.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Fears aside, electronic buying and selling has actually hurt the antiquities trade. This is because, starting in 2000, many of the primary "producers" of the objects have shifted from looting sites to faking antiquities.

Although this is good for mainstream Archaeology, I wonder what this does for the "Lost Civilizations" researchers? It seems like they would benefit from having looters out there, independently searching for new, untapped sites.

www.archaeology.org
(visit the link for the full news article)