Heritage campaigners have created ‘Wikiloot’, an online database of stolen artefacts, to bring members of the public into the fight against the illegal antiquities trade.
Spearheaded by Jason Felch, author of Chasing Aphrodite, an exposé of the smuggling of a Classical statue out of Italy, the initiative collates documents and photos to help track down objects’ whereabouts. It is hoped that tapping into crowd resources will assist police forces worldwide.
Although its launch date is yet to be announced, Wikiloot’s first targets are Italy and Greece, and Felch hopes datasets will soon become available for other vulnerable areas, particularly the Near East, Afghanistan, and Indochina.
This article is an extract from the full article published in World Archaeology Issue 54. Click here to subscribe