Greek police seize 2 statues from 2 farmers, which date between 550 and 520 BC, and trying to trade them to a overseas buyer for euros 10 million.
Greece — Police in southern Greece have apprehended a rare twin pair of 2,500-year-old marble statues and arrested two farmers who supposedly planned to sell them abroad for euro10 million ($12.43 million), authorities said Tuesday.
Police said two Greeks aged 42 and 48 were arrested in the Peloponnese region late Friday as they were loading the criminally excavated figures of young men into a truck. Authorities are seeking a third man alleged of belonging to a smuggling gang that planned to spirit the 6th century B.C. works out of the country.
“This is a very significant find, of fabulous value, and (both statues) were ready to be taken out of Greece,” Culture Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said.
Archaeologists said Tuesday the statues are “exceptional works of art” and may have come from a temple or cemetery in a lost ancient city in the Peloponnese area in southern Greece. Both are in outstanding condition, but lack sections of their lower legs and were gashed by a plow or digging machinery.
They stand 1.82 meters (5 feet 9 inches) and 1.78 meters (5 feet 8 inches) high, and were perhaps carved by the same sculptor out of thick-grained island marble between 550-520 B.C, at the height of the archaic period of sculpture.
“They are accurately the same, with an unimportant variation in hairstyle and a small difference in height,” said Nikos Kaltsas, director of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens where the finds were momentarily housed for conservation and study. “The artist may have wanted to produce two similar figures that would form part of a group.”
Such discoveries in good condition are rare — about three have turned up during excavations in the past decade. But matching pairs are particularly uncommon.
Archaeologists hope to find the missing leg sections, because the breaks are recent.
Police chief Lefteris Economou said the arrests followed information from culture ministry officials. He provided no details on the identity of the potential buyers or which country the finds had been heading for.
Antiquities looting is a major problem in Greece, where treasures — by law all state property — can lie inches below farmers’ cultivator’s or modern buildings, particularly in cities like Athens that have been always inhabited for thousands of years.
Immorally excavated finds can be impressive to look at, but the entire valuable context, which in an organized excavation provides information on their use, date and origin, is lost during hasty looting digs.
Archaeologist: Prevent Muslim Temple Mount Denial, ‘Barbaric’ Digs
Dr. Gabi Barkai, senior lecturer at Bar Ilan University and recipient of the Jerusalem Prize for Archaeology, says Israelis must claim that Israeli antiquities law be enforced at Israel’s most significant archaeological site– the Temple Mount.
“It is the most significant site in the world for the Jewish people,” Barkai told Benny Tucker of Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew newsmagazine in a Jerusalem Day interview, “as well as the most significant archaeological site in Israel, and in spite of all this, Israel has discarded it. Over the past ten years, the Waqf has taken control, making major changes in the status quo: It has conducted illegal digs, built mosques and the like, and the situation has changed from one tremendous to the other.”
Barkai explained that despite the circumstances, “We have made thousands of amazing finds that have changed the way we understand that period.”
He told Israel National News, “For instance, we have found many small floor tiles, of different colors, which bear out the Talmud’s description of the floor of the Second Temple as being evocative of the ocean.”
Other finds have included fragments of stone festooned with ornaments known to be from the Second Temple Period, arrowheads from Nebuchadnezzar’s military and also from the Romans, as well as coins and decorations from many periods. Among the most thrilling finds were bullae (seal rings), ostracons written in ancient Hebrew script, seals, and more.
The “Screening the Waste” project is being carried out in Emek Tzurim, to where the mud was transferred. Emek Tzurim is located above the Kidron vale northeast of the Old City wall, part of the National Park around the walls of Jerusalem, and the project is being behavior under the sponsorship of the National Parks Authority, sponsored by the Elad (a Hebrew acronym of “To the City of David”) Association.
“We demand that the law regarding antiquities be compulsory,” Barkai said, “and our dominion be activated there. These are cultural property for which we have a tremendous responsibility towards future generations… I would like to see the removal of all the Waqf’s heavy equipment, and I would like to see the Waqf view the law; the Israel Antiquities Authority must be allowed to always be on site to control, and not have to come in various disguises and the like.”
Barkai explained that in addition to building mosques on the site, the Moslems clearly have the objective of detaching Israel from its past and Holy Temple connections: “They desire to undermine Jewish ownership and bonds to the Temple Mount. They’ve built a giant mosque there in Solomon’s even [under the Temple Mount] and another one nearby – but aside from that, they have an ideological aim which is even making inroads to naïve circles in the west, and it is called ‘Holy Temple denial.’ They act as if there never was a Holy Temple. This is very serious; regarding the Holocaust, there are living people who still remember it, but the same cannot be said regarding the Temple…”
Archaeologists in Egypt discover Ptolemaic king statue
Archaeologists in Egypt said that they have discovered a headless stonework statue more than 2,000 years old belonging to an anonymous Ptolemaic-era king.
Statement by the Supreme Council of Antiquities says an Egyptian-Dominican team made the finding at the temple of Taposiris Magna, west of the coastal city of Alexandria.
Archaeology chief Zahi Hawass says the well-preserved statue may be among the most gorgeous carvings in the ancient Egyptian style. He says the statue could belong to King Ptolemy IV.
 Ptolemaic king statue |
|
The statue’s height is 53 inches (135 centimeters) and its width at the shoulders is 22 inches (55 centimeters).
Alexandria was the bench of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt for 300 years, until the suicide of Queen Cleopatra.
Irish archaeologists are confused by the “bizarre” discovery of a 1,150-year-old Viking necklace in a cave in the Burren.
Besides being the largest by far – up to 12 times longer than previous finds – the team is confused by how such a “high-status” Viking treasure came to lie in the Burren, an area never settled by the Norsemen.
Besides being the largest by far – up to 12 times longer than previous finds – the team is confused by how such a “high-status” Viking treasure came to lie in the Burren, an area never settled by the Norsemen.
The site where the necklace was found at Glencurran Cave was explained by team leader Dr Marion Dowd of Sligo IT as a “treasure trove” for archaeologists.
The necklace is one of a number of most important items discovered in the dig, funded by the Department of the Environment and the Royal Irish Academy.
Dr Dowd said “The necklace is the largest Viking necklace to have been found in Ireland. Usually, Vikings necklaces that have been found have five to six glass beads, but this has 71 glass beads covered with gold foil.”
A leading expert on Irish cave archaeology, Dr Dowd was confused by how such a “stunning piece of jewellery” came to rest in the Burren.
“There is no parallel for it in Ireland and it is perplexing on a number of fronts,” he said.
Dr Dowd said that the Vikings never settled in the Burren, but that couplet was one of the Irish cities that they did settle in and wondered that the necklace – dating from the mid 9th century – could have been the result of a trade with Vikings from Limerick and Gaelic chieftains in the Burren.
Already, the skeletal remains of a two to four-year-old child that were placed in the cave in the Bronze Age, about 3,500 years ago, were subject to ancient DNA analysis.
In all, the dig has discovered the remains of seven adults, two children and one baby. A 10,000-year-old bear shoulder bone, a scapula, has also been found.
This article appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, April 28, 2010
An ‘alternative’ archaeological tour of Jerusalem
Yonathan is one of the founding members of Emek Shaveh, a non-profit organization composed of archaeologists, Silwan residents and human rights activists, which aims to “hut light on the vital role of archaeology in the Israeli-Palestinian quarrel.” Yonathan worked as an archaeologist for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) for many years. Sent to work in East Jerusalem he witnessed firsthand the collusion of government, academic institutions and Israeli interest groups in utilizing archeology for political purposes.
The City of David archaeological site lies in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians and the international community define as occupied country. Stretching down from the Dung Gate of the Old City, the site bisects the village of Silwan - splicing the Palestinian district in two. Although its presumed historical significance not to mention its illegality under international law, Israel allows the site to be the country’s only privately owned and administered “national” park. Israel has chosen for this role the Elad Association, an Israeli organization that funds Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. The Israel Antiquities Authority helps to legitimize Elad’s activities and particular vision of history by monitoring the excavations on its behalf. Elad also enjoys the support of both the Israeli Prime Minister’s office and the Jerusalem Municipality.
The archaeological digging has destabilized the structure of many buildings in Silwan, cracks have opened up in floors and walls, and gaping holes have appeared in Silwan’s streets after heavy rainfall. 88 Palestinian homes have been given destruction notices in order to build the “archaeological park.” Elad has little incentive to respect the rights of those living on or near the site.
In the blessed land today it is impossible to separate archaeology from politics. Archaeology is used in the battle over differing narratives. Yonathan attempts to explain Elad’s logic: “If the past can be proven to belong to ‘us’ then the present and future should be ‘ours’.” In the quest to suitable more land, the building of tourist parks and the expansion of archaeological sites is presented as an academic and thus innocent activity. Yonathan wonders how the scientists, archaeologists working at the dig, can separate themselves from the apparently inherent political ramifications of their work considering their surroundings.
During recent tensions resulting from the government announcement of more settlements in East Jerusalem, aggravation and anger were taken out on a guard post at the exit of the tourist site. The little metal box that once contained Israeli armed security personnel has been burnt to a brittle. The guns were not there to protect local residents, but rather to protect settlers and tourists from these residents. The ‘alternative’ tourists on our archaeological tour gape and wonder at the charred wood as we make our way out of the City of David and onto the residential streets that may be bulldozed someday soon.