[MSN] China. Tomb robbers hit 1/3 of archaeological sites

[Museum Security Network Mailinglist]

Tomb robbers hit 1/3 of archaeological sites 
 
www.chinaview.cn 2006-05-11 17:46:47 


    BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China's archaeologists are as a matter of
fact playing a risky cat and mouse game with tomb robbers who are destroying
and stealing national treasures and are often just one step ahead of the
police. 

    Archaeologists report 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, said archaeologists. 

    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. 

    Song Jianzhong, deputy director of the Archaeological Instituteof Shanxi
Province, 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 artifacts. "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. 

    "We found nine holes in the tomb left by the robbers. This means there
could have been three or four groups of robbers here in the past two years,"
Song said. 

    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. 

    "Although armed police were safeguarding the site during the excavation,
the tombs that have not been excavated are still in danger of being robbed
after the archaeological team leaves," Song said. 

    The archaeological digs in the provinces of Guizhou, Shanxi, Shaanxi and
Jiangsu were all honored by experts this week and all had been looted to
some degree. 

    "Many beautiful antiques have been stolen by the robbers. The interior
structure of the ancient tombs have been ruined and we've lost some crucial
historical information," said Lin Liugen, head of the archaeological team
conducting excavation to the tombs in east China's Jiangsu Province. 

    Of the 25 nominees for last year's top 10 archaeological discoveries,
ten have been damaged and looted over the last two years, acknowledged
archaeologists. 

    Ace Chinese archaeologist Zhang Zhongpei said the robberies pose a
serious threat to China's cultural heritage. He blames people's ignorance,
and corruption. 

    A census conducted some 20 years ago showed that there were more than
400,000 historical sites across China. Experts now estimate at least a third
of them have vanished over the past two decades as a result of human
destruction. 

    Shan Jixiang, Director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage,
has proposed setting up a special police task force that would be in charge
of protecting the relic sites. 

    Experts also say that a new census should be conducted to determine the
current situation of archaeological sites across the country. Enditem

 
 Editor: Mo Hong'e  

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-05/11/content_4535158.htm