:The antiquities trade is the subject of contentious debate. The anti-trade position stems from a long unquestioned stance within academia that private ownership of antiquities inherently results in archaeological site destruction and the loss of valuable data. However, there is little data to support this notion. It also ignores the enormous contributions to our shared knowledge of the past that have been made through art collecting and museum acquisitions. The narrative that the destruction of ancient sites is directly tied to Western demand for ancient art is overly simplistic. Despite the ongoing destruction in the Middle East and North African region, virtually no artifacts from there have entered the Western trade in recent years. Opportunistic treasure hunting by desperate locals and intentional destruction of ancient objects for religious reasons cannot be curtailed by increased legislation in Western nations. Fetishizing mundane ubiquitous antiquities as sacrosanct objects of great national importance that must be retained within modern borders in a globalized world and demanding criminalization of the legitimate international art trade are counterproductive. In many archaeologically rich countries, antiquities are regarded as items to sell to foreigners at best or sacrilegious objects to be destroyed at worst. The free trade in cultural objects is itself an institution that needs to be protected. An open legitimate trade in antiquities is now more than ever necessary to ensure the preservation and dissemination of worldwide cultural property.

中文翻译：

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古物贸易的现状：艺术品经销商的视角

: 古物贸易是有争议的话题。反对贸易的立场源于学术界长期以来毫无疑问的立场，即私人拥有古物必然会导致考古遗址的破坏和有价值的数据丢失。然而，支持这一观点的数据很少。它还忽略了通过艺术收藏和博物馆收购对我们对过去的共同了解所做的巨大贡献。古代遗址的破坏与西方对古代艺术的需求直接相关的叙述过于简单化。尽管中东和北非地区正在遭受破坏，但近年来几乎没有来自那里的文物进入西方贸易。西方国家增加立法不能减少绝望的当地人的机会主义寻宝和出于宗教原因故意破坏古代物品。将世俗无处不在的古物视为具有重大国家意义的神圣物品，在全球化的世界中必须保留在现代边界内，并要求对合法的国际艺术品贸易进行刑事定罪，这会适得其反。在许多考古资源丰富的国家，文物充其量被视为出售给外国人的物品，或者被视为亵渎神明的物品，最坏的情况是被销毁。文物自由贸易本身就是一个需要保护的制度。现在比以往任何时候都更需要公开合法的古物交易，以确保世界范围内文化财产的保护和传播。