Grave robbing is illegal, but the number of grave robbers is much more than that of archaeologists. Their purpose is very obvious. They look for graves, dig graves, find treasures and resell them. They don't have to consider the destruction of ancient tombs, the value of these cultural relics, and they don't have to think hard about how to preserve and repair them. Therefore, their time in the ancient tomb is relatively short, and it may only take one or two nights to toss out valuable things. When they have no money, they will look for the next target. Old grave robbers may have more experience in digging graves than archaeologists, but their understanding of cultural relics always stays on the value and non-value
After receiving reports from the masses, archaeologists often rush to the scene to carry out rescue excavations. They will spend a lot of time investigating the local terrain and the location of the stolen caves, and then decide on the way to dig, and each step should be careful not to destroy the whole tomb as much as possible. They should carry out follow-up sorting, restoration and research on each cultural relic, further determine the identity of the tomb owner, prepare a large number of academic reports, and finally discuss with the local government how to protect the site and a series of related work.
Most of us have misunderstandings about the work of archaeologists. In particular, many people keep saying that archaeologists are blatant grave robbers, which is an insult to these senior intellectuals who live in the wind and sleep. Any archaeologist who can go deep into the investigation and excavation of ancient tombs is not a generalist in history, culture, geography and art, and can only be compared with a grave robber who digs for treasures with a spade. Moreover, most of our archaeologists are not looking for treasures in ancient tombs, but are busy with ancient ruins that have been dug up in urban construction.
Archaeology is not such a cold job, and grave robbers are not high-end talents. There are also professional drillers in the archaeological team. They can find clues from the soil extracted by Luoyang shovel. As long as the extracted soil is cooked soil moved by later generations, there may be ancient tombs or ancient buildings underground. They can even judge the underground situation by the sound of shovels hitting the ground and the tactile sensation felt by their hands.