Looting of historical sites and monuments still happens in Italy, every day. There is only one reason for this criminal activity: money. And with illegal revenues comes organized crime. Indeed Italian Mafias are involved in trafficking illicit antiquities and supporting professional looters who can now use tools like drones for rapid site identification and theft.
To counter these threats, the Centre for Cultural Heritage Technology (CCHT) of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (ITT) has pioneered the use of Artificial Intelligence. Their tools can now sift through vast amounts of satellite imagery to pinpoint illegal excavations and analyze online communications to reconstruct major trafficking groups and their criminal networks.
In this talk, CCHT Director Dr. Arianna Traviglia will detail how these tools can be used to detect and prevent looting and to provide intelligence against illicit trafficking of cultural goods.