Archeological Losses During the time, one of the biggest controversies remained the social and archaeological consequences

of building the Three Gorges Dam. The Three Gorges area is also home to over 1000 archaeological sites, some pertaining to civilizations thousands of years old. Social costs of resettlement and environmental damage are enormous. Over 100 villages have been relocated and millions of acres of fertile farmland were lost, accounting for about one third of the project's cost. These displaced families have lived in the same village for centuries and now have exchanged their ancestral homes for poorly built apartment blocks in a completely new location. When initial excavations began, archeologists uncovered artifacts unlike any they had seen before. These relics have since been attributed to the formerly unknown Ba people, now considered an important part of early Chinese history. Since the discovery of bronze masks in the 1970s, archeologists have located 100 sites that belonged to the Ba people each considered a historical archive. The Ba disappeared after 316 B.C. with the invasion of the Qing Dynasty, and their whimsical animal statues and ornately inscribed daggers are all that is left behind (See, "Waters of Three Gorges Dam Will Wash Over World Culture."). The Chinese government has long known where the archeological sites are but claims that it has not had the resources to protect them. Total project costs near $26 billion while only under international pressure did China allocate $135 million to preserve relics (Ferraro, "China's Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences."). Although the government's negligence has been heavily scrutinized and outside assistance provided, several archeological had been exploited. Without proper documentation and cataloging, pieces were being sold on black markets

around the world. Looting reached an all time high when a Han Dynasty candelabra was sold in New York for 2.5 million dollars (Qing, "Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China."). Works Cited Ferraro, Vinnie. "China's Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences." China's Three Gorges Dam Social Consequences. Mount Holyoke College, n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~vanti20m/classweb/website/socialconsequences.ht ml>. Qing, Dai. "Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/itvs/greatwall/dam.html>. See, Lisa. "Waters of Three Gorges Dam Will Wash Over World Culture." CommonDreams.org. Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2003. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. <http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0608-02.htm>.