Italian Tomb Raiders

This is a very interesting story on how Italian Tomb raiding has gone down in recent years. One thing the Italians could do is to employ some of these guys to help their archeology departments:

He soon developed a keen eye for promising sites — sometimes using a
friend's glider to spot them from above, but more often by paying attention to
details on the ground.

"When I dig I often know beforehand what I will find, because I
have learned to read the land," he said. "For example if you see brambles
growing tall and yellowish you know the roots are leaning on buried walls."

But since this guy didn't have a PhD and such (or any formal education at all) he would be iced out of any legitimate archeology work. He instead used his skills to steal stuff out of the sites with a bulldozer.

I wonder if he were given the chance to pursue archeology without having to endure decades of schooling he would have chosen to be a tomb raider like this? He might have been pretty skilled at excavating these sites without having to be tenured, published, credentialed, or any of that other stuff. Too bad his schooling only gave him enough potential to either carry the dirt on a legitimate project or bulldoze for treasure on an illegal one.