You're mistaken that it being "recovered" now means it was preserved. Much of the information that could have been gained from leaving the items where they we

You're mistaken that it being "recovered" now means it was preserved. Much of the information that could have been gained from leaving the items where they were found was lost as soon as this guy dug stuff out with a shovel and took it with him. Most of the information archaeologists gain isn't from finding objects and studying them, it's from mapping where they are in relation to other objects, studying residues on them, studying the environments in which they were found, and even sometimes what orientation they were buried in. This guy destroyed a huge amount of information about these items for the sake of "collecting" and helped no one but himself. He wasn't a sympathetic old man, he was a criminal that was never prosecuted.