Changes

==Looting==

==Looting==

[[Image:Adad-Nirari stela.jpg|frame|right|[[Stela]] of a king named [[Adad-Nirari]]. Object stolen from the Iraq National Museum in the looting in connection with the [[Iraq war]] of 2003.]]Looting of archaeological sites by people in search of [[hoard]]s of buried treasure is an ancient problem. For instance, many of the tombs of the Egyptian [[pharaoh]]s were looted in antiquity{{Fact|date=October 2007}}.

[[Image:Adad-Nirari stela2.jpg|frame|right|<center>[[Stela]] of king [[Adad-Nirari]], once in the Iraq National Museum, stolen in the Iraq war.</center>]]Looting of archaeological sites by people in search of [[hoard]]s of buried treasure is an ancient problem. For instance, many of the tombs of the Egyptian [[pharaoh]]s were looted in antiquity.

Archaeology stimulates interest in ancient objects, but it can also attract unwelcome attention by looters to these places{{Fact|date=October 2007}}. The commercial demand for artifacts encourages looting and the [[illicit antiquities]] trade, which smuggles items abroad to private collectors. Looters damage or destroy archaeological sites, deny archaeologists valuable information that would be recovered from excavation, and ultimately rob people of the opportunity to know their past.<ref name="autogenerated2">Sheets (1973)</ref>

Archaeology stimulates interest in ancient objects, but it can also attract unwelcome attention by looters to these places{{Fact|date=October 2007}}. The commercial demand for artifacts encourages looting and the [[illicit antiquities]] trade, which smuggles items abroad to private collectors. Looters damage or destroy archaeological sites, deny archaeologists valuable information that would be recovered from excavation, and ultimately rob people of the opportunity to know their past.

Popular consciousness often associates looting with poor [[Third World]] countries, but this is a false assumption.<ref name="autogenerated2" /> A lack of financial resources and political will are chronic worldwide problems inhibiting more effective protection of archaeological sites.

Popular consciousness often associates looting with poor [[Third World]] countries, but this is a false assumption. A lack of financial resources and political will are chronic worldwide problems inhibiting more effective protection of archaeological sites.

In 1937 W. F. Hodge the Director of the [[Southwest Museum]] in [[Los Angeles]] CA, released a statement that the museum would no longer purchase or accept collections from looted contexts.<ref name=Hodge1937>Hodge (1937)</ref> The first conviction of the transport of artifacts illegally removed from private property under the [http://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/FHPL_ArchRsrcsProt.pdf Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA; Public Law 96-95; 93 Statute 721; 16 U.S.C. 470aamm)] was in 1992 in the State of Indiana.<ref name=Munson_et_al1995>Munson et al. (1995)</ref>

In 1937 W. F. Hodge the Director of the [[Southwest Museum]] in [[Los Angeles]] CA, released a statement that the museum would no longer purchase or accept collections from looted contexts. The first conviction of the transport of artifacts illegally removed from private property under the [http://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/FHPL_ArchRsrcsProt.pdf Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA; Public Law 96-95; 93 Statute 721; 16 U.S.C. 470aamm)] was in 1992 in the State of Indiana.

==Descendant peoples==

==Descendant peoples==