The antiquities trade is the exchange of antiquities and archaeological artifacts from around the world. This trade may be illicit or completely legal. The legal antiquities trade abides by national regulations, allowing for extraction of artifacts for scientific study whilst maintaining archaeological and anthropological context.^{[1][2][clarification needed]} The illicit antiquities trade involves non-scientific extraction that ignores the archaeological and anthropological context from the artifacts.

Legal trade

The legal trade in antiquities abide by the laws of the countries in which the artifacts originate. These laws establish how the antiquities may be extracted from the ground and the legal process in which artifacts may leave the country. In many countries excavations and exports were prohibited without official licenses already in the 19th century, as for example in the Ottoman Empire. According to the laws of the countries of origin, there can't be a legal trade with archaeological artifact without official papers. However, most national laws still overturn these regulations.

Illicit trade

Illicit or illegal antiquities are those found in illegal or unregulated excavations, and traded covertly.^[3] The black market trade of illicit antiquities is supplied by looting and art theft. Artifacts are often those that have been discovered and unearthed at archeological digs and then transported internationally through a middleman to often unsuspecting collectors, museums, antique dealers, and auction houses.^[4] The antiquities trade is much more careful in recent years about establishing the provenance of cultural artifacts.^[5][6] Some estimates of billions of dollars in annual sales are demonstrably false.^[7][8]

The true extent of the trade is unknown as incidents of looting are underreported. It is not unheard of for stolen pieces to be found in auction houses before they have been noticed as missing from their original home.^[9]

It is believed by many archaeologists and cultural heritage lawyers that the demand created by circulation, marketing, and collectorship of ancient artifacts causes the continuous looting and destruction of archaeological sites around the world.^[10][11] Archaeological artifacts are internationally protected by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and international trade in cultural property of dubious provenance is restricted by the UNESCO Convention (1970) on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. After years of resistance, the United States played a major role in drafting and promoting the 1970 Convention.

Examples of looting of archaeological sites for the black market:

• Archaeological looting in Iraq
• Archaeological looting in Romania
• Maya stelae looting

Response

The protection of antiquities necessitates the formulation and implementation of comprehensive public policies. These policies address issues such as provenance, looting prevention, and repatriation, ensuring the ethical circulation of historical artifacts. On 16 November 1972, UNESCO adopted the international Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.^[12]

The export of antiquities is now heavily controlled by law in almost all countries and by the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property,^[13] but a large and increasing trade in illicit antiquities continues. Further complicating matters is the existence of archaeological forgeries, such as the Etruscan terracotta warriors, the Persian Princess,^[14] and the Getty kouros.

There has been a growing effort to repatriate artifacts illicitly obtained and traded on the international market and return them to their countries of origin and preserve their cultural value. Such artifacts include those held by reputable museums which are unaware of their illegal provenance, such as the Getty Museum^[15] (e.g. Victorious Youth) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (e.g. Euphronios Krater^[16]). In July 2023, a repatriation ceremony was held at the Indian Consulate in New York City to celebrate the handing over of 105 trafficked antiquities to India. The countries had agreed to prevent illegal trafficking of cultural artefacts during Prime Minister Modi's state visit to US. The artifacts span a period from the 2nd to 19th centuries. Around 50 of them have religious significance.^[17]

To combat looting, aerial surveillance - the effectiveness of which depends on the capability to perform systematic prospections - is increasingly being used. It is sometimes impractical, due to military activity, political restrictions, the vastness of the area, difficult environments, etc. Space technology could offer a suitable alternative, as in the case of Peru, where an Italian scientific mission directed by Nicola Masini^[18] has since 2008 been using very high resolution satellite data to observe and monitor the phenomenon of huaqueros (archaeological looting) in some archaeological areas in southern and northern Peru.^[19][20] The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report describing some of the United States’ cultural property protection efforts.^[21]