The problem with priceless ancient artifacts is they're generally quite fragile and almost always irreplaceable, so leaving them in the hands of the careless and irreverent is a terrible idea.
And yet some of the world's most precious, and sacred, artifacts have been left in the hands of people who think it's just fine to take them apart, modify or destroy them like so much junk.
The Star-Spangled Banner is the Smithsonian's most prized possession, but before it landed in their collection it was savaged by the scissors of Georgiana Armistead, daughter of Lt. Col. George Armistead, who received the flag after the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812.
Georgiana loved the Star-Spangled Banner, but she thought it was too beautiful for one person to own, so she started snipping off pieces of the flag and giving them to people she deemed worthy.
More than 200 feet of the flag, including one of the fifteen original stars, were lost because of Georgiana's giving nature.
People often think they're doing good by destroying these ancient artifacts because they're being destroyed in the sake of progress.
Archaeologists were in the process of excavating ancient tombs in Guangzhou's Lougang district when their dig was derailed by contractors working on Metro Line 6, who came in with bulldozers and reduced a piece of Chinese history to rubble.
Read 6 Priceless Ancient Artifacts (Destroyed By Idiots) here