In a joint US-UK initiative financed by the SmartWater Foundation, the not-for-profit arm of the international crime-fighting company, SmartWater, a team of undercover operatives and trained Syrian Archaeologists have successfully applied SmartWater’s unique ‘traceable liquid’ to some of Syria’s most treasured historical artifacts, including two precious mosaics from the UNESCO World Heritage designated site of…
A whole illegal excavation campaign was reported by tourists and locals in Noto/Siracusa (Sicily), Italy. A Greek cemetery in the region of Eloro, a few kilometres from Noto, was completely robbed. Excavators and other heavy equipment was used to reach the objects buried in the tombs in order to sell them later on the international…
As recently reported, an Etruscan vessel dating from 470 BC was seized at Royal Athena Galleries, New York. The vessel, which was valued at $ 250,000, was seized by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, and will be now returned to Italy. It was already formally returned to the Italian consul general in New York, Francesco…
At this year’s annual conference of the European Association of Archaeologists in Maastricht, our Committee organises a Round Table on ‘Archaeology on sale: how to prevent official selling of illegally excavated objects?‘ You can find the abstract of our Round Table here. Archaeology on sale. We welcome any contribution to our session. If you’re interested,…
Carabinieri seized five archaeological objects dating to the 7th-3rd century BC which were in private possession in Tarquinia. The owner did not declare the possession of the objects to the soprintendenza. The objects are currently catalogued and their value estimated. The seizure of the objects is part of a bigger investigation on illegal excavation and…
Five arrests during a coin fair in Munich, Germany, on March 4-5, 2017: Four men tried to sell coins without certificates of provenance outside the fair. Criminal proceedings have been instituted against them. Inside the fair, a merchant from Denmark was not only selling coins but also spear heads and jewellery. The origin of these…
About 200 Etruscan, Apulian and Magna Graecia vases, small statues, ceramics and bronze archaeological finds illegally kept in the house of a former art dealer have been recovered by the Italian police in Cossato, northern Italy. The looted pieces, dating from the eighth to third centuries BC and with an estimated value of well over…
Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis identified recently another antiquity likely of illicit origin at the Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, on February 17, 2017. Royal-Athena Galleries is the same New York gallery recently in the news about an illicitly trafficked sarcophagus fragment. The provenance and sales details listed for the amphora recently seized was stated on the gallery’s…
One of the artifacts stolen from the Kocaeli Archaeology Museum in 2009 has been found at an auction in Germany. The Culture and Tourism Ministry reported theft of the Roman-era colour marble relief, which is valued at around 32,000 euros in the auction, to Interpol. Following the illegal excavations there, the Kocaeli Archaeology Museum initiated…
Trading in antiquities in Israel requires a license sanctioned by the Antiquities Authority (IAA). Currently, however, only a small number of dealers are only allowed to trade items that that came into private hands prior to the year 1978. Since that time, every antiquity discovered in Israel is property of the state and cannot be…
EAA-Community on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 