Rogue diggers pillage Macedonia's ancient treasure

Rogue diggers pillage Macedonia's ancient treasure

There's little to stop them.

A third of the country's work force is jobless, and the government says it can only afford to hire one dedicated official to tackle the rampant illegal antiquities trade.

"This is nothing but an open invitation for illegal diggers to come here looking for buried treasure," said 72-year-old Taip Tahiri, a retired teacher from the village of Dedeli, near Lake Dojran, about 112 miles south of the capital Skopje.

His family home stands next to a rich Iron Age site with 98 excavated tombs.

"This site has been explored a lot ... but groups of illegal diggers are still active in the area. Many of them made a fortune selling famous Macedonian bronzes to Greeks and other foreign buyers."

Irena Kolistrkoska, head of Macedonia's archaeologists' association, warned each year that scores of local and foreign diggers uncover priceless remnants from the Iron Age, as well as Greek, Thracian, Roman and Byzantine artifacts.

"There are two main reasons Macedonia is failing to seriously protect its cultural treasure: A lack of a strategy at a national level and the absence of credible experts in the field," Kolistrkoska said.

Pasko Kuzman, director of the National Directorate for Protection of the Cultural Heritage, said Iron Age archaeological sites in southeastern Macedonia have been extensively looted.

Police, he said, are already overstretched fighting organized crime, adding that fees offered by corrupt art collectors only encourage illegal excavations.