“I could find a little seed like this in a broken pot and that could be worth more than any treasure. We could trace its path back through ancient trade routes, decode its DNA, paint a picture of the world as it was all those years ago. Sometimes the rubbish dumps of ancient people are more interesting than their palaces. That’s why the looting hurts us so much. People disturb the objects, take them out of their context. They break the story that’s been waiting for thousands of years to be told.”