ASOR blog on the antiquities market

ASOR BLOG: Buyer Beware: Shopping for Artifacts in the Holy Land (Morag M. Kersel). Excerpt:

Those in positions of political power acted on behalf of the dealing and collecting communities to ensure that the traditional enterprise of dealing in antiquities would be allowed to continue. While supporting a trade, the Antiquities Law of 1978 was passed with the intention of putting a stop to the illegal excavation of artifacts – by allowing a legally available supply of artifacts there should be no new looting. But various legal loopholes in the law and the ongoing battle to monitor the thousands of archaeological sites and monuments results in the ongoing destruction of the archaeological landscape in order to supply the burgeoning market demand.