To the Ends of the Earth

Looting treasures

The story of the quest for Site Q – especially the fact that so many Maya treasures have been bought and sold on the international art market – raises the issue of the looting of archaeological treasures from unprotected sites.

Precious artefacts

Ever since archaeologists first began to investigate ancient ruins, whether as antiquarians in the 18th century or as professional scholars in the 19th, they came across sites that had been looted by treasure hunters. The latter would raid ancient tombs and ruins to find the precious artefacts buried there and then sell them.

This practice has been very frustrating for archaeologists. It has resulted in the loss of many artefacts that could tell us about the cultures whose ruins were looted. And, perhaps more importantly, there can be severe consequences for the study of ancient cultures from even the slightest disturbance of an archaeological site.

In Guatemala, looters damage sites not only by taking away artefacts, but also by digging deep trenches into ruins. Since they cannot distinguish between the various archaeological eras, they tend to dig indiscriminately and damage those ancient sites that are rich in evidence of Maya civilisation but poor in saleable objects to loot. Since archaeology as a science depends on the preservation of objects in layers of soil, which can be dated and related to each other, the disturbance of these layers can make it very hard to piece together a true picture of a long-lost culture.

The scale of the problem

Because of this, the looting and sale of ancient artefacts is now illegal, and the export of the 'national heritage' is also forbidden. However, in remote jungle locations, it is extremely hard to enforce laws preventing the theft of precious objects.

The scale of the problem can be seen in the northern Petén region of Guatemala, with its abundance of Maya sites. Of 26 known sites, only 14 have been studied and hundreds more await discovery. In the past decade, these have been looted at a terrible rate. In 1997, for example, George Stuart of the National Geographic Society in the United States estimated that as many as 1,000 pieces of fine Maya pottery are removed from the region every month. Most popular are ceramic pots with line drawings of the Late Classic period (AD 600-900). While the looters receive between £100 and £250 per vessel, some collectors will pay as much as £250,000 at a gallery or auction in the United States.

The Guatemalan government has responded by guarding the major ruins with troops and passing ever more stringent laws and regulations designed to protect the country's heritage. Let us hope it is not too late.

To find out more about looting, visit Channel 4's Time Team and Great Excavations websites.

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