Looting, looting and more looting

Treasure hunters are of all times, from the Assyrians and Egyptians to the Greek, Roman, or Byzantine times. They don’t care about the tombs, the churches, or city remains as their only concern is to find valuable artifacts, mostly gold objects. These treasure hunters ignore that their finds are out of context forever. Archaeologists arriving on the site after the robbery generally miss too many pieces to recreate what is lost. 

Turkish authorities have assessed that curfews and lock downs to prevent the spread of Covid have encouraged both professional and amateur looters to carry out illegal digs all over the country. 

Turkey is extremely rich in archaeological sites, many of which have not been excavated yet. It is unfortunate to hear the Ministry of Culture and Tourism confirm that during the past two years, some 3,365 illegal excavations occurred. Of those, only 26 cases were caught red-handed.  

It is hard to imagine people able to move across the country unnoticed by local authorities. As reported by an archaeologist, the looters used generators, hammer drills, and other pieces of machinery. The noise made by such equipment is heard from afar, especially in the countryside. Still, the treasure hunters could work unnoticed by local authorities? 

Monumental tombs around the ancient site of Sardes (see: Sardes, the capital of ancient Lydia and a key-city for Alexander’s Successors) have been destroyed forever. Other examples of looting abound, from a thousand-year-old sarcophagus from the Byzantine or Seljuk time to the destruction and robbing of Armenian churches in search of gold mainly. It remains challenging to trace the smuggling route of the artifacts abroad. 

The pandemic has caused the loss of human life all over the country, but nobody could expect this surge of illegal hunters, causing another loss to the history of humankind.