The issue of "tomb-robbing" and pilfer in antiquities is as old as the "goods" being taken. Lest we forget, tombs and monuments in the oldest cultures were most raided as soon as they were filled or built. In point of fact, just as the seeds of modern chemistry can be found in alchemy, the origins of "scientific" archeology are not that separable from "unauthorized invasions" of buried artifacts. It is intersting to note that rather than seek more creative solutions to the issues involved in unauthorized excavations and the sale of artifacts, all that has been accomplished is that as the perceived risks increase, the prices of purloined artifacts increase exponentially and natural selection of the population of "excavators" sets in; the dummies get caught and the best get better (and richer). There really will not be a dimunition in the available market place, just more care taken in deals between sellers and buyers.

It is interesting to note that there is a parallel in the discovery and sale of fossils and paleontology to what is occurring in archeology. The dismal and notorius prosecution of some very good fossil collectors (who are also paleontologists of some accomplishment) in South Dakota over a dinosaur named "Sue" (not after the Johnny Cash song, but after her discoverer, Susan Hendrickson), has virtually destroyed the opportunity for research paleontologists to work on private lands in the West. By an unholuy alliance of Disney and McDonald's with a major museum, the Field Museum, and after much persecution of the Black Hill folks, Peter Larson adn his brother Neil, the Federal government figured the best thing to do with the dinosaur skeleton, was to have a public auction at a major auction gallery. Disney and McDonalds got together with the Field Museum and bid millions of dollars for the bones. Hence forth, what rancher out West struggling against drought and rising taxes and fuel costs would allow some paleontologist to get on his or her land to dig for bones that might be wotrh millions. Gee, if Disney and McDonalds and the Field Museum in Chicago figured a fossil was worth millions, it would be insane for that rancher not to agree or risk not agreeing. And, thus, the price of fossils jumped!