Looted from Syria, sold on Facebook: antiquities smuggling surges after fall of Assad

Actual museum curators track these kind of events, and have budgets to re-collect them later. That's how we found the new chapter of Gilgamesh a few years ago. It was unidentified in Iraq museum, stolen during the 2003 invasion, then bought by a curator for less than $1000.

It's a tough proposition, because Islamist militants have a recent history of destroying artifacts and desecrating historical sites. At least if they're stolen, the possibility exists of repatriation in the future, when Syria hopefully has a stable government.

But the people involved in this are most probably not curators in spirit like that, they're thieves and mercenaries looking for a cashout.