[MSN] Tomb raiders destroy one-third of China's national treasures

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Tomb raiders destroy one-third of China's national treasures 

Beijing: Sophisticated Chinese tomb raiders have become a major headache for
archaeologists since the robbers are destroying a third of the country's
national treasures, the state media reported today.

Archaeologists reported that a third of China's 400,000-plus archaeological
sites have been hit by thieves and that half of the country's top-ten
ancient discoveries in 2005 had been at least partially looted.

Although local police are often asked to patrol the ancient tombs they have
had little effect, the archaeologists said.

In a number of cases, Chinese archaeologists find themselves following the
robbers' trail and end up only being able to salvage what has been left
behind by the thieves.

The excavation to the 3,000-year-old tombs, which belonged to the royal
family of Western Zhou Dynasty (1100 BC-771 BC), in Jiangxian County of
north China's Shanxi Province, is one example.

The deputy director of the Archaeological Institute of Shanxi Province, Song
Jianzhong said that after hearing that tomb robbers were active in the
county, archaeologists rushed to the scene. They managed to excavate 191 of
the most endangered tombs, but they were too late to save some of the most
valuable artefacts.

"Eleven of the tombs had been looted. In one we found bronze ware wrapped in
newspaper that robbers didn't have enough time to take away," said Song.

Song estimated there are more than 300 ancient tombs at the site, and over
100 have not been excavated. He's worried about the safety of the other
tombs. 

http://www.newkerala.com/