The antiquities looting crisis in the Middle East (George Richards, Al Jazeera)

Last week, Ori, an Israeli boy, went on a field trip with friends to the archaeological site at Tel Rehov in the Jordan Valley. Wandering among the dust and the stones, he kicked away a small pebble and revealed a stone head half-buried in the ground - it turned out to be a spectacular find, a small statue of a woman, her hair elaborately styled, that may be a devotional figurine of the fertility-goddess Astarte, more than 3,000 years old. Ori handed his discovery over to the authorities.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/03/antiquities-looting-crisis-middle-east-160310093409472.html

(Istituto fondamentale - Middle East) The future of ancient sites in the Middle East (George Richards, Al Jazeera)

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2015/07/future-ancient-sites-middle-east-150707071347453.html