China's tomb raiders laying waste to thousands of years of history

Bulldozers and dynamite used to strip priceless artefacts from remote sites, with booty sold on to wealthy collectors


China's tomb raiders laying waste to thousands of years of history
Bulldozers and dynamite used to strip priceless artefacts from remote sites, with booty sold on to wealthy collectors


Tania Branigan, special correspondent in Beijing, told us about a complicated situation that takes place in the archaeological excavations realized in China during the last 20 years, a problem that could be critical and irreversible if the government and the police don’t do something about it, the strip of priceless artifacts from ancient tombs, and the consequent destroy of the structure and historical patrimony.
During the last years, the police and the government of China, stepped up their operations against this organizations of tomb thieves, but there are so many facts that turns very difficult this mission. In first place, the opened up of China’s economy create a huge international and domestic black market, that sale part of the most ancient treasures. The other thing that makes the problem bigger is the continuous process of professionalizing of the tomb thieves gangs, increasing the number of thieves with a huge expertise, and the use of heavy equipment, included bulldozers and TNT.
A high number of archaeologists say that they are finding many tombs that were empty and destroyed, and this fact affect the archeologist profession because the archaeological site is devastated and that means that they are not able to work there anymore, preventing from continuing the investigation. The cultural patrimony begins to vanish and this makes decline our profession.
I think that is very important to apply strong governmental politics to decrease the archaeological damages to the patrimonial sites. This is not only important in China, it is important in the whole world, including countries as ours, because there has to be a cultural change in people’s minds.

You can find this article in: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/01/china-tomb-raiders-destroy-relics?INTCMP=SRCH
Regards.