Grave Robbery

Grave robbery, grave robbing, or tomb raiding is the act of uncovering a tomb or crypt to steal artifacts or personal effects. Someone who engages in this act is a grave robber or tomb raider. A related act is body snatching, disinterring a grave for the purpose of stealing a corpse rather than for stealing other objects.

Grave robbing has caused great difficulty to the study of archaeology, art history, and history. Countless precious grave sites and tombs have been robbed before scholars were able to examine them. In any way - the archaeological context and the historical and anthropological information is destroyed.

"Looting obliterates the memory of the ancient world and turns its highest artistic creations into decorations, adornments on a shelf, divorced from historical context and ultimately from all meaning."

In modern times, grave robbers are often lower-income individuals. Grave robbers sell their goods on the black market. Though some artifacts may make their way to museums or scholars, many end up in private collections instead.