ABSTRACT
Preserving and protecting cultural property allows the reader to better tell human story, as it relates to individual and collective identities, as well as the natural world. The ability to define theft revolves around the idea of ownership. The concept of ownership and realities of the boundaries of law collide in courts, such as when facing the frustration of proving a specific item derived from an illicitly excavated site that indicates unknown yields. Money laundering uses a process of making illegally acquired funds legitimate in order to use that capital freely. Laws at local, national, and international levels require constant research, evaluation, analysis, and amendment. The pace of technological advances seems to grow exponentially with each decade. Cultural heritage represents human history as a totality, contributing to the story of all people, regardless of origin.
