Tourists 'stripping ancient Rome bare'

[Primus Pilus]

Rome's ancient monuments are so poorly guarded that tourists are taking away mementos of their visit to the Eternal City with impunity. Archaeologists said yesterday that Trajan's Forum, in the heart of the city's classical ruins, had been stripped of all the fragments of statues and shards of amphorae that adorned the site until recently.

 

To highlight the problem, a reporter from Il Messaggero newspaper carried away large boxes full of ancient artefacts during the daytime without being challenged...

 

Telegraph

[Northern Neil]

The world is full of people who mine archaeological sites for personal gain, or for profit. My own personal experience with the predations of metal detector enthusiasts on British Roman sites has given me an (admittedly) extreme - and perhaps over zealous - aversion to acquiring even the smallest of ancient artifacts for personal, private use. I own a single Roman coin which I bought off a dealer decades ago, and now wish fervently that I had not bought it.

 

No doubt the spoils of this vandalism will find their way on to various internet auction sites, pedalled by 'legitimate' dealers who - even though they may not plunder the sites themselves - are certainly in receipt of items gained in the manner mentioned in this report.

[caldrail]

I was using someone elses PC on SUnday, and an e-bay monitor kept popping up. Lo and behold genuine frgments of roman pottery were for sale, items found in Swindon would you believe? Such a small world, and proof that looting of ancient sites is not limited to Rome.

[DecimusCaesar]

This reminds me of the story I read of looters digging up World War One trenches in search of jewellery and watches to flog on the black market. It just shows how common looting really is.