Charles Stanish has been tracking the antiquities trade on eBay for the past decade, and what he's learned about what eBay has done to the market is pretty darned interesting. He's written an article discussing what he's learned in the May/June issue of Archaeology magazine, a version of which appears online.
It's kinda good news, for people who worry about looting and the antiquities trade, and it's good news for people who run workshops in Peruvian towns and it's good news for people who like having quality reproductions. Not so much for people who actually believe they're buying antiquities on eBay.
Forging Ahead, Or, how I learned to stop worrying and love eBay Archaeology magazine, Volume 62 Number 3, May/June 2009 by Charles Stanish
Comments
Chip’s article got a mention in Crunch Gear:
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/05/06/archaeologists-find-ebay-helping-to-stop-antiquties-trade/
Here’s another reference to Chip’s article:
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42325/181/
And here’s the one that probably got the attention of the others, in Scientific American:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=ebay-lessens-antiquities-looting-09-05-06
And another one
http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2009/05/and-over-here-is-my-rare-incan-fertility-figure-only-49-dollars-on-ebay.html
Must have been the keyword “eBay” that turned on so many techies to this story. Very rare in our field to have this much interest–it was a good article, too.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/eBay-Has-Dampening-Effect-on-Looted-Antiquities-Sales-110791.shtml