Story here. They’re guarding Angkor Wat itself very well these days, but the more remote temples are being plundered on a daily basis. I’m sorry to say it’s true that Thais can always be found right in the middle of the trade, too. 
If they’re forgotten, how are they being looted? How does anyone even know they are being looted?
I forget.
I guess if you´re a cambodian, a short memory is a very nice thing to have.
So?
Better to have the stuff in them recycled back into circulation, museums or private collections, than to leave it ‘forgotten’ and rotting away out in remote jungles, unseen by humans ever again.
Hmmm… no. They will be seen again at some point in the future. They will be investigated, studied, restored. It’s the plundering that will cause a lot of things to disappear forever. Because plunderers won’t hesitate to destroy everything to get a couple items of high value. And of course, they’re not going to take photographs, study the strata, etc… A lot of knowledge and beauty will be lost for the benefit of some unscrupulous collectors.
One man’s investigator is another man’s looter.
is another man’s first-level adventurer.
Really, if they’d just keep them better stocked with monsters and deadly traps, this would be less of a problem.
Daniel
Plus it’s not only loose objects laying around that’s getting spirited away. It’s sad to see a long line of Budddha statues with their heads all decapitated for distribution around the world. 