I don't follow archeology directly, but every couple months I listen to the Unearthed! episodes of Stuff You Missed in History class, which goes over the prior quarter's archeological news. A whole section is dedicated to reciprocations, because there are tons of complaints. UK museums still refusing to send back stuff stolen from other lands, items found to have been illegally taken, etc.
So it's more if nobody the people who run the place cares about complains.
Oh yeah, everybody knows about the British Museum.
AKA Return the Moai 🗿🇨🇱
It's a government permit thing, not a time thing. If you go an dig up an Etruscan grave on your own it is absolutely grave robbing.
Yeah but that's just putting the problem of defining it onto governments.
If a court orders the exhumation of a murder victim, is that technically archeology?
Hmm true. Adam Savage would say it's whether or not you're keeping notes.
At the core it's about social contract, and despite all of it's flaws i think that even the countries in the imperial core have pretty ethical policies around (most) human remains, this is one of the least controversial areas of policy
Unfortunately the change is pretty recent, and all the grave robberies were grandfathered in, so don't ask for your indigenous grandfather's remains, it was before the legislation
even if you're a history geek?