July 21, 1998
Today we found over half a dozen robbed burial tumuli
in the forest at Tatarmezarligi, [see map]
near the shore at Akliman.
Hundreds of sites are plundered in Turkey every year
by criminals encouraged by the lucrative international
black market in antiquities. Local officials are almost
powerless to stop these thieves, who employ sophisticated
strategies to loot sites. Our survey can help document
sites under threat, but unless the demand for looted
antiquities is decreased by strict enforcement of
international law, people will continue to plunder the
cultural legacy of Turkey and other countries.
[Ed. note:
for more about looting archaeological sites, check
out the special
exhibition going on right now at the University
of Pennsylvania Museum: a gold object which had been
stolen from an ancient Peruvian gravesite was recovered
by the FBI and returned to Peru!]
