archaeological looting

By: Jennifer Drummond

The world’s oldest Hebrew Bible, the Aleppo Codex, is missing pages—and not just a couple leaves, but four of the Five Books of Moses! What happened to them?

By: Mary Joan Winn Leith

“The Cherry Tree Carol” is a Christmas carol that first appeared in 13th-century England; an American version was discovered in Appalachia in the 20th century. Stonehill College Biblical scholar Mary Joan Winn Leith explains the carol’s roots in early Christian Syrian churches.

By: Robin Ngo

In the Middle East, archaeological looting and the deliberate destruction of archaeological sites and monuments are rampant. What, if anything, can be done?

By: Jonathan Laden

People have been increasingly using metal detectors to find coins from archaeological sites. This is done by trespassing, and also includes destruction of unexcavated sites. […]

By: Marek Dospěl

According to Mark R. Fairchild, archaeological looting is alive and well in rural and remote areas of Turkey.

By: Michael D. Danti, Darren P. Ashby, Marina Gabriel, and Susan Penacho

Between January 20–22, 2018, the early Iron Age temple at Tell Ain Dara in Syria—considered to be a close parallel to the Temple of Solomon—suffered large-scale damage. Read a special report by ASOR’s Cultural Heritage Initiatives that documents the damage.

By: Douglas Boin

In part two of a two-part series, Douglas Boin challenges the idea that Christians left so few archaeological traces behind because they couldn’t afford to make them.

By: Christopher Rollston

The so-called Jerusalem Papyrus is purported to be an ancient papyrus from the seventh century B.C.E. that mentions “Jerusalem,” “the king,” and “jars of wine.” Epigraphist Christopher Rollston thinks it’s a fake.

By: Hershel Shanks

Looters sometimes indirectly alert archaeologists to the existence of valuable finds and are sent to jail if they are caught, while the archaeologists learn from the looters where to dig. In his First Person column in BAR, Hershel Shanks explores this paradox.

By: Roberta Mazza

Recently, the Hobby Lobby corporation—owned by the Green family—agreed to pay a $3 million fine for the purchase of thousands of artifacts believed to have been smuggled out of Iraq. Given the connection of the Green family and their massive collection of artifacts to the soon-to-be-opened Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., how are we to understand the significance of this civil case? Cultural heritage expert Roberta Mazza of the University of Manchester explains in this guest blog post.