[MSN] Deep in the south of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the looters move in broad daylight, trying to unearth historic treasures from a region that has become a paradise for plunderers.

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FYROM treasures looted 

ISAR MARVINCI (AFP) - Deep in the south of the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, the looters move in broad daylight, trying to unearth historic
treasures from a region that has become a paradise for plunderers. The
brazen diggers in Isar Marvinci, a village of around 900 inhabitants some
170 kilometers (105 miles) from the capital Skopje, scour an ancient
settlement in the hope of finding artifacts dating as far back as the Bronze
Age.

"What to do with them, take them or leave them? If you leave them, the next
digger or visitor will take them," says one digger who refuses to reveal his
identify. The raiders act with little fear of punishment despite knowing
that what they are doing is illegal in FYROM, an impoverished Balkan country
that doesn't have the resources to protect its historic heritage. "Police
come and go, and there is no local force," says another.

The role of the diggers is the first link in a smuggling chain that usually
sees the items end up on display in the West's major shopping centers, or
even its museums. FYROM is famous for its bronzes, but some of the highest
prices currently being paid are for coinage from the era of Alexander the
Great and his father Philip II. One such piece recently sold locally for
around -3,000 ($3,950), but was expected to fetch more than four times as
much in Western Europe.

Among the estimated 1 million artifacts to have been smuggled out of the
country since independence in 1991 are jewelry, decorative ornaments,
weapons and the armor of ancient foot soldiers, and statues. Some end up on
Europe's black markets, while others are offered for sale on Internet sites,
where they are quickly snapped up by buyers in countries such as the UK,
Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. "We have so far identified
artifacts from Macedonia in many museums, among them in the British Museum
in London, and museums in Paris, Belgrade, Sofia and Russia," says Pasko
Kuzman, a chief state archaeologist. With a past that includes the Bronze
and Iron ages, and the Byzantine and Roman empires, FYROM has been a
favorite hunting ground for looters since independence. Archaeological sites
number between 5,000 and 11,000, according to varying estimates given by
local institutions. Viktor Lilcic, a FYROM archaeologist and university
professor, says that only around 10 percent of the country's 1,500 largest
archaeological sites have been secured by authorities.

The police force of the village's southern municipality of Valandovo says it
can do nothing more to safeguard the region's ancient Macedonian heritage.
"There are no laws against the collection (and sale) of the objects of
antiquity," says Dragi Nestorovski, an official in the police department
tasked with protecting culture. However, the diggers themselves lay the
blame for the problem on state authorities, who they say have failed to
curtail organized crime and reform laws on antiquities. "They are not taking
care of valuable state property," one of the diggers asserts.

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