Archaeology as a profession faces two major prob-lems. First, it is the poorest of the poor. Only paltry sums are available for excavating and even less is avail-able for publishing the results and preserving the sites (5) once excavated. Yet archaeologists deal with priceless objects every day. Second, there is the problem of illegal excavation, resulting in museum-quality pieces being sold to the highest bidder.
The basements of museums are simply not large enough to store the artifact s that are likely to be discov-ered in the future. There is not enough money even to(40) catalogue the finds; as a result, they cannot be found again and become as inaccessible as if they had never been discovered. Indeed, with the help of a computer, sold artifacts could be more accessible than are the pieces stored in bulging museum basements. Prior to(45) sale, each could be photographed and the list of the purchasers could be maintained on the computer A purchaser could even be required to agree to return the piece if it should become needed for scientific purposes.