Tourists \'stripping ancient Rome bare\'

[Sean Manning]

I wonder why people get so upset about this, just because it is Rome. The press could fill whole newspapers with reports about looted archaeological sites every day. As long as there is a market for it, crime goes on. What is particularly upsetting, is that certain companies earn a lot of money this way, and that nothing is done against it. And everyone here on this board owning original artifacts from the market can pull at his own nose, in that sense. Like it or not.

I think vandalism is even worse than looting because its so pointless. At least the looters get something for their criminal troubles. But its a very old problem: Greek mercenaries scratched things like "Dion son of Archilocus was here" on ancient Egyptian monuments in the sixth century BCE! I agree with you that buying ancient artefacts is wrong unless you are certain that they were scientifically excavated.