Archaeologists in London are pushing for emergency legislation to stop the heavy flow of looted antiquities into England from Iran and Pakistan.
After completing a six-year survey of the ancient sites in the region, Robin Coningham, professor of archaeology at the University of Bradford told The Times of London that about 90 percent of major archaeological sites in the two countries have been plundered.
Coningham said he is alarmed by the amount of "new" material without any excavation details.
"A lot of it looks pretty fresh and does not have any archaeological provenance," he said.
Neil Brodie, coordinator of the Illicit Antiquities Research Center at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, estimates up to 20 percent of the material being offered in London does not have an archaeological provenance.
Brodie wants the government to extend to Pakistan and Iran the emergency legislation passed last year to protect Iraqi antiquities. That legislation forces anyone in possession of such an object to prove it came out legally before UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq.
"Since the emergency legislation, Iraqi antiquities have virtually disappeared from the London market," Brodie said.