Word: pre-columbian
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...their newly discovered stela too heavy to cart away intact, the thieves cut it into six pieces with chain saws. Then, along with the rest of their booty, they load the chunks onto burros and head for the border. Within days their contraband enters the flourishing black market in pre-Columbian antiquities, to be bought by rich collectors in the U.S., Western Europe or Japan...
Plundering pre-Columbian...
Because the value of pre-Columbian art spirals upward faster than California real estate, even the largest treasures are not safe. Last month a quarter-ton stone figure of an ancient priest chewing coca, known as El Coquero and dating back some 3,000 years, vanished from its site in San Agustin in southwest Colombia. Ecuadorian officials are trying to retrieve an entire 11,000-item collection of Andean treasures that somehow managed to turn up in Milan and Turin, where they were being put up for sale...
...curtail assaults on their history, Latin American governments have passed stiff new laws against smuggling, stepped up customs inspections and exerted pressure on other governments to cooperate in the fight against the thefts. The U.S., for its part, has made it illegal to import any pre-Columbian object without the approval of its country of origin, and customs officials have become more vigilant...
...perfectly preserved, a sign that it was apparently buried prior to the Spanish invasion, thus escaping destruction by the conquistadors. Along with the stone, diggers found six skulls, stone knives and other objects possibly linked to the ritual human sacrifice practiced by the Aztecs. Scientists suspect that many more pre-Columbian objects may lie hidden under Mexico City's streets...