Recent Looting in Ukraine

There has been a lot of what is euphemistically known as "Black Archaeology" been going on in Ukraine over the past decade or so. As is being blithely reported on the website of OKM Detectors (Julius-Zinkeisen-Str. Altenburg, Germany) their Cavefinder locates Greek artefacts in the [sic] Ukraine (Jan 16, 2009):

A small team of treasure hunting enthusiasts discovered an interesting archaeological area where Greeks settled down in former times near to the river Dnepr in the Ukraine. With the help of their geoelectrical instrument Cavefinder B they located voids at a depth of about 1.5 m up to 3 m. Inside these small caves they successfully excavated various ceramic utensils like these antique vases and many coins. This discovery is not only by chance because the terrain where the team concentrated their research is of great historic interest. The city of Kherson, where the specialists came from, has been named the door to Europe. In ancient times there was the largest Greek policy - Olviya. This was the area which was also known as the Scythian Empire, here the Scythians settled down in the south of Ukraine and Russia. Scythians were nomadic herders of the steppes north of the Black Sea. The Scythians roamed and ruled much of what is now Ukraine and southern Russia, trading with Greeks, burying their dead in kurgans, and plundering villages. Starting from the 6th century the Scytians imported Greek goods such as wine jars (Oinochen) to the Ukraine.

It is not quite clear what this machine is and purports to do. But the photo shows what the artefact hunters are doing with their spades on this site on the cliff overlooking the Black Sea. Just look at the damage. Olbia is 55km to the west of Kherson and just south of Parutyne Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. While there is visible looting here at lleast by 2003, it picked up in pace in 2010-13, and has been continuing until the present day. The OKM website shows some of the artefacts coming out of some of these sites. Note, there is no mention whatsoever on the website that this activity is totally illegal.