The ten lost antiquities most sought after by archaeologists
Although Indiana Jones is a fictional character, archaeologists who dedicate their time and energy to finding lost, looted, or simply stolen antiquities do exist. A group of them created the NGO Antiquities Coalition, with the goal of joining forces—not only among themselves, but also with Interpol, the FBI, and ICE's art trafficking division—to recover what belongs to us as a species: ancient art that is a World Heritage Site.
The Antiquities Coalition, which emerged in the wake of the art looting that followed the Arab Spring, regularly publishes a list of the Ten Most Wanted Art Pieces to draw attention to the looting that still exists today and to denounce the illicit trafficking of works of art. The most wanted piece in August 2025 is the Mariupol Bull, a 6000 BC figure that disappeared during the Russian siege of Mariupol, part of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The looting and trafficking of cultural heritage remains an urgent international problem,” denounces the Aquities Coalition, which points out that “traffickers of cultural property can also use the profits obtained from the sale of these stolen objects to finance terrorism and war.” These are the ten most sought-after pieces by archaeologists, who seek to rescue them from greedy hands… and those inexperienced in the care of objects of incalculable value.
Housed in the Mariupol History Museum (Ukraine), it disappeared with more than 2,000 other objects during the Russian siege of the city, at an undetermined date between 2022 and 2024. It is a palm-sized carving of a boar's tusk in the shape of a bull. It belongs to Ukraine's Historical Heritage, which is endangered by the war.
This piece, whose last known location is an auction in France, is an alabaster stone, approximately 58 cm x 26.8 cm, engraved with a text, originally from the Temple of Awam (Marib, Yemen). Yemen's archaeological sites remain at risk due to the ongoing civil war.
Originally from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, China, these are several heads of snakes, goats, roosters, and dogs, each measuring approximately 30 cm. Seven have been recovered. During the Second Opium War, Anglo-French troops sacked the opulent Qing Dynasty palace, taking some of the imperial treasures and destroying the rest.
This spectacular ivory relief, almost identical to the one pictured (located in the British Museum), resided in the Iraq Museum. Originally, the piece was housed in the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II. In the tumult of war, looters made off with the pride of the world's greatest collection of Mesopotamian art. Only two are known in the world.
Last seen in a temporary exhibition in Spain in 1999, the greenstone mask representing Kinich Ahau, the sun god, belongs to the Mayan culture of present-day Guatemala. It was likely stolen from the Río Azul site between 1962 and 1981, before being smuggled into the United States and later Europe.
Nearly 200 Homo erectus fossils from more than 40 individuals—possibly 770,000 years old—packed in boxes were handed over by China to the U.S. Marines. The delivery was made to save this emblematic find from the advancing Japanese army. If recovered, this paleoanthropological treasure could significantly enrich our knowledge of early humans.
Last located in Kolomoki Mounds State Park, Georgia, these fine pieces of ceremonial funerary pottery and animal figurines, some with spiritually significant holes, were crafted by Kolomoki artisans. The theft—or looting—affected 129 pieces of Native American pottery from the southeastern U.S. Some have been recovered.
Mubarak's fall led to an administrative chaos that affected the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where this unfinished 43 cm limestone statue, made by New Kingdom sculptors at Tell el-Amarna, disappeared. It was a mass looting operation, in which hundreds of people stole irreplaceable antiquities from archaeological sites and museums.
Housed in a private museum in Switzerland, this inscribed stone figure weighing over 500 kilograms was originally located in the temple complex in the Atru district of Baran, Rajasthan, India. To steal it, the looters placed an iron chain over its legs and used a truck to break them, thus freeing the sculpture from its pedestal. The theft is linked to a prominent antiquities dealer.
This is a sandstone statue of Cambodian origin, approximately 163 cm tall; its twin is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Museum). It was stolen from Prasat Thom, known for its enormous Step Pyramid. Looted by Toek Tik, a Khmer Rouge guerrilla turned professional looter, it was later laundered on the global art market by the notorious Douglas Latchford.
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