Greece’s weakened economy has affected the world of archaeology, resulting in some of the precious antiquities being reburied so as to save them from harm.

Lack of funding has crippled the country’s archaeological research and conservation works, local media reported.

Greek daily Ta Nea spoke to archaeologists ahead of an archaeology conference to be held in Athens. Michalis Tiverios, a professor of archaeology at Aristotelio University, Thessaloniki, told the newspaper that an Early Christian basilica, excavated in 2010 during an underground railway work in Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, was reburied recently. AFP reported.

Let us leave our antiquities in the soil, to be found by archaeologists in 10,000 AD, when Greeks and their politicians will perhaps show more respect to their history, Tiverios said.

The debt-stricken Greeks experienced two museum thefts this year in which many “incalculable” antiquities were stolen, including a famous Picasso artwork that was taken away during an attack on Athens National Gallery in January.

Last month, two masked men ransacked another museum in Ancient Olympia, fleeing with over 70 valuable objects.

Greek archaeologists are persuading Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos to bury more antiquities as lack of funds for their conservation will likely deteriorate them and put them at a risk of such thefts.

Mother Earth is the best protector of our antiquities, Tiverios added.

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