This book is the second in the series of cultural heritage studies
initiated by the University Press of Florida with Paul Shackel of the
University of Maryland as the series editor. The series explores the uses
of heritage and the meaning of its cultural forms as a way to interpret
the present and the past. The first title in the series is Heritage of
Value, Archaeology of Renown: Reshaping Archaeological Assessment and
Significance (2005). Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the
Antiquities Trade enumerates the ways that commodifying artifacts
fuels the destruction of archaeological heritage and considers what can be
done to protect it. The title of the book is apt. Archaeology is the
bedrock of material cultural heritage, and it is illegal archaeology by
looters or subsistence diggers that fuels the burgeoning trade in
illicitly excavated artifacts.