Changes

==Looting==

==Looting==

[[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.

[[Image:Adad-Nirari stela2.jpg|frame|right|<center>[[Stela]] of king [[Adad-Nirari]], stolen during 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.

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.