This link takes you to a Tehran Times article (brought to my attention by Museum Security Network) discussing the on-the-ground looting situation at the ancient city of Dastvar, Khuzestan Province, Iran. After five excavation seasons spanning the 1960s-1990s, it appears that what's left of the city and its cemeteries are being looted away at a frightening pace. Part of the Elymais (Elam) city-state east of the Tigris, historical and numismatic records have illuminated the reigns of at least 27 Greek and/or locally born kings spanning c. 147BC-224AD, and a few key events reported by scribes of later (or successive) Empires, after the fact. As always with large sites such as these, much remains unexcavated and/or not fully understood, especially in regards to daily life and deathways for non-elite individuals.With each hole dug by a looter's spade as opposed to an archaeologist's trowel, another piece of what's knowable about the city's rise and fall is erased forever. Every burial recklessly opened represents another individual life that archaeological science will never be able to bring to light. This has all been explained before, and yet such blatant looting to feed the international trade continues, with local and foreign professionals feeling powerless to stop it. Are we? As this example of Parthian artifacts for sale attests to (also here...note the VCoins connection), it is arguable that dealers and buyers in demand-side countries have yet to accept full responsibility for their part in this vicious cycle. We're waiting...
