The #antiquities trade has been accused of incentivizing #theft & #looting, especially in unstable parts of the world, and an ecosystem of private collectors, dealers, auction houses and museums has sprung up to handle items of dubious origin. A number of recent U.S. and Europe-based cases have centered on #falsified paperwork.
#Cambodia is one of the most extreme cases. The country’s temples were largely intact before a civil war broke out in the 1970s between government forces and the communist #KhmerRouge. At the time the looting mostly concentrated on #Angkorian and post-Angkorian items. Intense #looting of #prehistoric sites has been a more recent development, dating back to early 2000s.
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