Trafficking in works of art: “Looters who act in bands, camouflaged and at night…”

Bertrand Triboulot is an archaeologist at the regional directorate for cultural affairs in Île-de-France, an expert with customs.

Le Figaro.

- France is delivered to the looting of its cultural heritage.

What is the scale of the phenomenon?

Bertrand TRIBOULOT.-

It's hard to measure, but treasure hunting goes back a long time.

Begun under Louis XIV, it took a new turn from the Second World War, with the mechanization of the soil, which made it possible to plow deeper and to bring up vestiges dating from the Roman or Gallic era.

The cultivators will then dig up objects that look like potatoes or pebbles but which, in reality, are Neolithic axes.

In 2017, in Orange, offenders were sentenced after attacking a Gallic oppidum

Bertrand Triboulot, archaeologist

Little by little, they will constitute small private museums.

From the 1970s appear metal detectors and the number of their users will quickly increase.

For lack of regulations, the latter will in turn raid archaeological remains and…

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