Once untouched areas of Acaray are now heavily damaged by looters. The top photo shows recent looter's holes in what appears to be midden (ancient trash, in other words). The pot in the photo was left behind, which indicates that items worth selling were indeed sacked and stolen.
The second photo, a detail of the abandoned pot, tells us why it was left behind. The small hole, the entry wound, was created by a barreta, a tool used to probe for voids in the ground. The looters punctured the vessel when probing the ground to look for a place to dig. You can see the exit wound, the larger section of the pot at its base that was blasted out by the barreta. Looters do not value these items. Those who buy looted items do not value these items. Looters, and those who traffic in antiquities, are committing not only crimes, but acts of violence. Photos by Margaret Brown Vega, 2009.
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