Facebook pages selling artifacts stolen by ISIS shut down

During their assaults in Syria and Iraq the Islamic State pillaged and destroyed museums and cultural and historical sights, occasionally destroying artifacts that were thousands of years old.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Now it appears the group may be releasing some of these artifacts to raise money, after Facebook shut down several pages that may have been selling historical artifacts from pillaged sites.

Reportedly ISIS has been utilizing social media sites to sell the stolen artifacts, including golden statues, ancient scrolls, clay tablets, and other valuables.

Matt Steinfeld, a Facebook privacy spokesman, said that "We may not always be able to identify artifacts as stolen, but insofar as we can when someone reports content to us, we will remove this content."

Some estimate that the group has made up to $100 million by selling the artifacts.

This has spurred the historical community to take action, and Museums, auction houses and other experts in the field have been rushing to identify as many of the stolen works in the hope that they can be prevented from disappearing into unscrupulous hands.

"We are always on the alert for material of this type in case an attempt is made to introduce looted items into the commercial art market, and we work closely with UNESCO, Interpol and other entities to ensure any such attempt will be caught," said Sung-Hee Kim of the art society Christie's.

Perhaps more awfully, the looting and destruction is not just intended to raise money but to actually destroy any trace of pre-Islamic history, part of their intent to build a new Islamic Caliphate that will dominate the Middle-East, North Africa, Europe, and eventually the world.

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