Grave Robbers still Exist Today

Pale Horse

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Staff member
And sometimes they are caught.

I wonder if the Bantu Wind was the maidens name who was lined up to smuggle the rest of this piece?

Lost statue of Roman emperor Caligula unveiled
Rueters
By Paul Casciato | Reuters ? Wed, Jul 13, 2011


...The statue, which had been broken in several large pieces and a head, was first found last January when Finance Police stopped it from being smuggled out of the country by boat at a port near Rome...

...The statue, now cleaned of the earth that had covered it for 2,000 years, shows parts of a robed man sitting on an elaborate throne like the Greek god Zeus.

Anyone on that side of the pond know how the duo was captured?
 
Amazing we haven't heard more...

Ancient tombs along "south silk road" on Qinghai-Tibet plateau link cultures, attract thieves

Dulan County, Qinghai Province, July 11 (Xinhua) -- In the silent mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, an old Tibetan man herds his sheep near the 1,500-year-old tombs to protect them from grave robbers.H "The robbers used to be quite rampant here, and who knows how much treasure they stole, but it really hurts when I think about it," said Shihorgya, the 55-year-old grave keeper of the 2,000 tombs in Reshui Village in Dulan County in Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Growing up in the remote village, Shihorgya used to be a herd boy, sitting on the hills, staring at the tombs and wondering what secrets were buried there.

In the 1980s, the ancient tombs were identified as being built during the Tuyuhun Kingdom (417A.D.-688A.D.). They were listed as one of the top six national archeology discoveries of the year in 1983, and listed as one of the national key units of cultural relics protection in 1996.

As the connection between ancient central China and ancient Tibet, the Tuyuhung Kingdom was on the South Silk Road, which was unimpeded after the 7th century as the empire had been protecting the trade passage with their castles and daks, while the Silk Road in northern China was blocked by wars and riots, said Xu Xingguo, an archeologist at the Archaeology Institute of Qinghai Province, who is in charge of the excavation of the graves.

"The empire played an important role to protect the communication and trade between the two places, and the countless cultural relics are of great value," Xu said.

In front of Shihorgya's home, a nine-floored tomb was identified to be the most magnificent large imperial tomb belonging to Empire of Tuyuhun, which was built in the eagle-shaped mountains. It had been robbed before the archaeologists arrived.

The archaeological work was launched in 1983, but thieves remained rampant at the end of 2000, said Han Musheng, director of cultural bureau of Dulan County. Just in the year 2000, robbers raided 130 graves, he added.

"Robbers took everything they could get their hands on--they let nothing pass," Han said.

The tombs are praised to be "Tibetan-Han Civilization Pyramid," as hundreds of thousands of cultural relics from ancient central China and the Tibet have been unearthed here, Xu said.

"The graves are solid history that show the amalgamation of Tibetan people and Han people," Xu said.

Thousands of pieces of silk were discovered here, which still have clear patterns and bright colors.

The architect style of the tombs as well as the silk patterns are all in Tang Dynasty style, which means they were widely used in Yuyuhun and Tibetan areas, Xu said.

Special patterns that include birds and other animals were adopted in the silk patterns, and Chinese characters can be seen on the unearthed relics, he said.

As robbers continued to threaten site, the county's government has launched a series of measures to stop them, Han said.

More than 30 administers have been recruited among the locals by the county's government to patrol in the mountains and report suspects, Han said.

"The measures have been effective," he said. "They caught five robbers last year."

In addition, more than 2 million yuan (308,000 U.S. dollars) has been provided to build a protection station for the graves, and video supervision systems and earth-wave detectors will be installed, Han said.

Barrel-drains and fences will be built for the large graves and trees will be planted in the treeless mountains.

Some of the cultural relics were kept in the cultural relics administration within the police station.

"It might be the only police station that guards cultural relics,said Mao Lansheng, director of the administration.

A protection center with a new museum opened in May in the county and exhibited more than 200 precious relics, Mao said.

"We want to open a window to the Han, Tibet and Tuyuhun cultures, to let the world know more about the history of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau," he said.
 
Stamping out the illicit trade in cultural artifacts

The instability of the Arab Spring has created opportunities for smugglers of antiquities. The west has a responsibility to act

In the recent indictment, the US department of justice charged Mousa Khouli, Salem Alshdaifat and Ayman Ramadan, and collector Joseph A Lewis II, with conspiring to smuggle artifacts and conspiring to launder funds. The men are said to have collaborated in disguising and transferring ancient Egyptian artifacts, sidestepping international treaties and domestic customs laws, and abandoning moral restraint.

Nice article, though the links were my favorite part:

Many domestic governments are doing their part to combat illegal trade, as well. In the United States, for example, specific legislation permits the government to seize artifacts that may have been illegally obtained, while another law makes it a crime to transport, receive or sell suspected stolen goods. In addition, the Washington-sponsored Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art establish comprehensive guidelines to facilitate international cooperation in combating illegal art trading.
 
Tampa ICE agents help return priceless statues home

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ORLANDO, Fla. - They are priceless pieces of history that look like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.

"These articles date back to 2000 B.C.," said Special Agent in Charge Susan McCormick with Homeland Security.

Agents say an unknown number of people were smuggling dozens of ancient statues and ancient tools out of the Dominican Republic. Many of the relics were found packed up, passing through warehouses in Florida. Agents even stopped and arrested one accused smuggler red-handed at Orlando International Airport.

"In his possession, he had seven additional figurines," McCormick said.

On Thursday, the U.S. government returned the artifacts to Dominican officials.

The investigation began when agents searched an Orlando warehouse three years ago and found suspicious import packages that were marked "stone figurines".

The items were confiscated, but then other similar packages began to arrive throughout the state.

A University of Florida curator helped identify the artifacts that were likely intended for sale online or on the black market.

"Everybody is out to make a buck and these people intended to sell these and get the highest price for the antiquities," said McCormick.

Florida wasn't the only place where agents found the stolen artifacts. More packages with other antiquities were also found in Tennessee and Puerto Rico.
 
Out of the pages of Indiana Jones?

US Citizen prevented from taking antique relics

Out of the pages of Indiana Jones, a U.S. citizen attempted to cross the Macedonia - Bulgaria border with valuable old knives and a gun.

The knives seemed very old, antque and were well preserved, as if they were taken from a museum.

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Police was not able to verify where any of this came from. The American had no documentation to support the origin on any of the knives/gun come from or where was he taking them.

The Ministry of Protection of Macedonia's Cultural Heritage was called to proceed with examination and is now in possession of the above relics.
 
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