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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Carausius, post: 2672708, member: 76440&quot;]This movement started in source countries, many of which have draconian laws against their citizens trading cultural artifacts. In these countries, even an innocent farmer who ploughs-up an artifact in his/her field must turn it over to the government for no compensation. In effect, these countries don&#039;t recognize private ownership of cultural artifacts, and they offer no incentive for their citizens to come forward with finds. Of course, enforcing these laws takes money and manpower. These source countries can&#039;t afford to enforce these draconian laws within their own borders. Instead, they ask the U.S. State Department, via Memoranda of Understanding, to broadly ban import of all items of &quot;cultural significance&quot;, even ancient coins which were minted in the millions and are regularly found in tbe thousands. The U.S. complies with these requests, probably for favors (i.e. military bases); and the archaeological lobby fights in favor of them largely, I&#039;m convinced, for financial reasons - access to excavation permits, control of what comes out of the ground (bragging rights) and paychecks to dig.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s what we&#039;re up against, and we need a unified voice or we&#039;ll be ignored. The ACCG provides this voice.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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