In 1966, a Harvard student visiting Northeastern Thailand to research his thesis tripped over a tree root and hit his head. But then he made one of the biggest accidental archaeological finds in history. What he found was thousands of pieces of evidence - pots and jewelry, ceramic, stoneware, bronze - of the Ban Chiang culture that is thought to be the earliest prehistoric settlement in Southeast Asia. The excavation of the tens of thousands of antiquities started in the 1970s. Over the years, many, if not most, of these pieces have ended up in the hands of private collectors as well as many American museums. After conducting a five-year secret investigation by three federal agencies of these pieces and how they came to be in these museums' hands, Thailand wants them back. Badly. Their argument is that the antiquities located in the U.S. are stolen material. The legal matter is nowhere near being "cut and dry", but there is a chance that both U.S. and Thai law agrees on the matter. In addition, museum curators and other experts have said that this might be more of an ethical matter than a legal one. But as for the legal side, Stephen K. Urice, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law believes the case could swing in any direction, saying that “the whole thing could be dropped altogether because of insufficient evidence or because they are feeling weak about their legal theories, or this could move forward into an important, precedent-setting case.” Join discussion...