Illicit excavations lead to the murder of cultural heritage officers in Iran

Human conflict in culturally rich areas such as the Middle East ultimately leads not only to the loss of human life, but also to heritage sites that have served to record the rich historic traditions of a region for hundreds even thousands of years. While preventing the loss of human life is always paramount to protecting heritage sites from destruction, in some cases the two overlap—such as this tragic case of the murder by looters of cultural heritage officers in Iran.

Read

Update on three Iranian archaeologists shot and seriously injured by antiquities smugglers in the Kurdistan province of Iran

By Lynda Albertson

ARCA: Association for Research into Crimes Against Art

January 4, 2017