Archaeological looting

Many countries have antique looting laws which state that the removal of the cultural object without formal permission is illegal and considered theft.

Tomb raiders and looters have been attempting to steal from Pharaonic sites since such structures were built, and the 2011 Arab Spring revolution has only since exacerbated the problem.

[6][7] Three regions have been especially hit hard since the revolution, with some estimates citing a five hundred percent increase in looting in the sites of Saqqara, Lisht, and el Hibeh.

[8] Many sites are often left unguarded and unmonitored due to a lack of funding, but there has been a recent surge in social media activism that seeks to report and document the loss and damage caused by looters, in an attempt to combat further theft and vandalism.

[9] Apamea was a Greco-Roman city with a large acropolis in the western region of modern-day Syria, located on the bank of the Orontes river.

In the chaos created by the Syrian civil war, the site has been looted and damaged extensively, as evidenced by satellite imagery of the area.

[14] Multiple figures, shrines, and sculptures of various cultures and religions (Roman, Sumerian, Palmyrene, Judean, Parthian, and Greek) were found here.

It is the location of a temple built roughly around 2000 BCE, making it one of the oldest archaeological sites in South America.

[22] The painting on it is an image of Sarpedon, the son of Zeus, dying with Hermes, Hypnos, and Thanatos surrounding Sarapedon.

[4] Additional measures of aerial surveillance of archaeological sites, including by drones, helicopters, and airplanes, have seen limited application due to interference imposed by local governments and conflict.