13 Aug, 2012
In Afghanistan, heritage is best left underground – ArabNews
Below ground, the relics are protected from endemic looting, illegal smuggling and the corrosive effects of freezing winters. “There is looting on a large or small scale at 99.9 percent of sites,” says Philippe Marquis, director of a French archaeological delegation in Afghanistan.
Middlemen pay Afghans $ 4 to $ 5 a day to dig up artefacts, which are smuggled abroad and sold for tens of thousands of dollars in European and Asian capitals, he says.
Read more: In Afghanistan, heritage is best left underground | ArabNews.
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