A trickle of repatriation of artifacts of particular value has already started. That is where the museums of the west and in particular Europe give back artifacts that are known to be from other countries. Because of this we are also learning more about some artifacts.
Before returning a mummy now believed to be Rameses I, there were tests conducted on the artifact. The Atlanta museum that purchased it from a museum from Niagara Falls agreed to return it if the evidence agreed. It did, so Egypt got their Rameses I mummy.
There are many more valuable artifacts to be returned. Egypt wants its Rosetta Stone that was instrumental in translating the ancient hieroglyphs. Famously it has a long passage in Greek and the same passage in Egyptian hieroglyphs. When discovered, this led to the deciphering of a lot of Egypt’s past.
Greece wants its Parthenon Marbles back. These sculptures once stood on Athens’ acropolis and at the Parthenon. There is a deal to exhibit them in Greece. But many Greeks want full ownership. And eventually, I think they are going to get it. And stop calling them the Elgin Marbles, Britain. Elgin wasn’t responsible for any of the creating of these artifacts. Elgin just took them. He didn’t uncover them as they stood for millennia on the famous acropolis.
Which brings about the prime lesson of plundering from others. Just take silver and gold and other hard to claim valuables. Why? So you can melt them down and otherwise make them untraceable. With jewels you can cut them in pieces. Which may not be as valuable as they were originally, but this makes them very hard to trace back and have it repatriated from the injured country.
This is all on you, the west, if you wanted to preserve the culture for the future generations. You must realize by now that you were also preserving it for the future generations of the country that had it taken from. It’s time to give this easily traceable loot back. However I wouldn’t do this all willy-nilly. Make sure the looted country is going to preserve it as well as you would have.
