The problem: When they are known, they will attract looters. And local people will totally have noticed those german guys doing strange stuff on this field near their town or might even been employed as helpers by them. When the word is out in a war zone, the time is ticking.
You’re right ofc, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.
There’s the well known chinese emperor who’s name escapes me who’s tomb has been left for exactly this reason - if we were to excavate it would be very difficult to preserve the contents. I doubt that’s what’s going on in this location though - I imagine the taliban or whoever runs the show there would very much appreciate the short term cash flow from opening a site like that.
I don’t know anything about this find, but I do know that the best way to preserve archeological sites is to leave them untouched in the ground.
The problem: When they are known, they will attract looters. And local people will totally have noticed those german guys doing strange stuff on this field near their town or might even been employed as helpers by them. When the word is out in a war zone, the time is ticking.
You’re right ofc, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.
There’s the well known chinese emperor who’s name escapes me who’s tomb has been left for exactly this reason - if we were to excavate it would be very difficult to preserve the contents. I doubt that’s what’s going on in this location though - I imagine the taliban or whoever runs the show there would very much appreciate the short term cash flow from opening a site like that.
The Taliban aren’t exactly struggling for cash…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban#Economic_activities
Sure but the local cleric or whoever would alleviate the opportunity for self enrichment I’m sure.