Archaeological looting

Poverty is a major cause: in some regions an object sold for a few dozen euros represents a month's income. Criminal networks exploit this situation by financing digging teams. Conflicts worsen the phenomenon by disrupting monitoring.

Market demand is the final driver. As long as buyers buy without asking questions, objects will continue to be torn from their sites. That is why due diligence is a tool for protecting sites.

Looters use spades and metal detectors, sometimes mechanical machinery and, in the worst cases, explosives. They dig at night, in small teams, targeting tombs and sites already identified. Satellite images show entire zones riddled with holes.

The objects are then cleaned, sometimes roughly restored, then resold to intermediaries. The most precious follow a complex international route. The humblest feed local markets and online sales.

The legal response goes through dissuasive laws and their effective application: criminal penalties, control of metal detectors, ownership regime for finds. The technical response goes through monitoring, physical protection and documentation of sites.

The social response is just as important: local jobs, sharing of tourism benefits, education, recognition of the role of communities. OIMAP supports projects in which residents become the guardians of their heritage.

Looting also affects people: looters exposed to collapses, mines or violence, communities deprived of their history, threatened guards. Site guards have been injured or killed defending their heritage.

OIMAP pays tribute to these women and men and supports their families through a solidarity fund fed by donations. Protecting heritage is also a fight for human dignity.