PAST CRIMESthe place in which it was deposited, the artefacts it was originally placed
among, the way it was put into the ground, and the purpose behind its
deposition. All this information is lost when an artefact is simply wrenched
from the earth by illicit treasure hunters or looters who are only interested in
profit.
Museums and ancient sites have been destroyed in recent years by bombs
and mines, sometimes by accident and sometimes deliberately for religious or
political reasons. These can never be replaced; once destroyed, they are lost
forever. Archaeology is a nonrenewable resource and is all the more precious
as a result. We have seen how much new archaeological and scientific
techniques can illuminate our history–it would be a crime against the past to
lose this evidence now.