Street market and the Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali, which was designated a world heritage site by Unesco in 1988. During the pandemic, the town was hard hit by illegal excavations and looting.
Giv/Wikipedia
The Covid-19 pandemic will long be remembered for the lockdowns it imposed and the millions of lives it stole. A recent Unesco report reveals that it has also took a large toll on world heritage sites.
Benin Bronzes: 944 objects looted in the 19th century from the Kingdom of Benin are in the British Museum in London.
Mltz via Shutterstock
Momentum is growing for the restitution of objects, such as the Benin Bronzes, stolen during colonialism. Listen to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
The Tailban destroyed this Buddha statue dating to the 6th century AD in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001. The photo on the left was taken in 1977.
AP Photo/Etsuro Kondo, (left photo) and Osamu Semba, both Asahi
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban outlawed almost all forms of art while looting and destroying museums. With their resurgence, Australia must strengthen measures to stop trafficking of antiquities.
Training museum staff in Iraq in how to mark priceless heritage artefacts using SmartWater.
Ali Al-Makhzoomi
Archaeologists working with museums in Iraq have protected more than 270,000 artefacts using SmartWater liquid technology.
NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island
A recent ruling allowing a new expedition to the Titanic wreck gives the go ahead to commercial exploitation.
The Great Mosque of Aleppo, Syria, was destroyed in December 2016.
Fathi Nezam /Tasnim News Agency
The destruction of a country’s historical and cultural heritage sites is a distressing byproduct of conflict, but there are now strategies in place to prevent it happening.
An Islamic State photo purports to show the destruction of a Roman-era temple in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra in 2015.
Islamic State/Handout via Reuters
Armed conflict in Syria has been a disaster for the area’s cultural heritage. A displaced archaeologist describes what’s being lost.
A Syrian archeologist holds an artifact that was transported to Damascus for safe-keeping during the Syrian Civil War.
AP Photo/Hassan Ammar
According to a new study, a small portion of a site can yield thousands of objects, adding up to millions of dollars.
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There is a surprising amount of support for the destruction of antiquities in the Middle East.
One of the plundered Benin plaques, at the British Museum.
Shutterstock.
Colonial powers plundered the heritage of countries all over the world – restitution is long overdue.
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What’s needed is a comprehensive international strategy to combat the illicit trade in antiquities.
Some of the artefacts found after disappearing from the National Museum of Iraq.
Ceerwan Aziz
Looting of Iraq’s national museum began on April 10, 2003. At least half of the artefacts taken remain missing and disturbingly, the illegal trade in stolen antiquities has grown in the years since.
Ilze Kitshoff/Warner Bros
Looting of antiquities is a serious problem, but looters are not always just motivated by greed.
Burial sites may contain treasures, or just old bones. And looters won’t know until they’ve destroyed them.
Julia Kate Clark
Mongolia’s important historical sites are under threat from climate change and looting - and one exacerbates the other.
Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com
Sales of antiquities legally excavated are just as ethically problematic as those likely looted.
Cambodian art produced in the Angkorian period are among the greatest artistic masterpieces of the pre-modern world.
leo.laempel/Flickr
Fake Cambodian sculptures have infiltrated the antiquities market, where they remain unacknowledged and their production continues unabated.
Antiquities seized in a raid on Islamic State fighters in Syria were returned to the Iraqi government by the United States.
Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters
Profit estimates have ranged from $4 million to $7 billion. But with the Paris attacks costing only $10,000, does a number even matter?
Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Unpaid volunteers are negotiating with Islamic State and facing military attacks as they try to save Syria’s ancient cities.
A depiction of the destruction.
Humam Alsalim and Rami Bakhos
Work is already underway to repair the damage to the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, but we need to question if technology will take things too far.
from www.shutterstock.com
Our past is under threat from “nighthawks” - illegal metal detectorists who go out at night to seek their fortune from protected ancient monuments. A Bristol archaeologist investigates.