Posted on 09/26/2011 6:59:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Several archeological sites in the ancient city of Apamea were vandalized and pillaged by groups taking advantage of the events in Syria to excavate secretly, dig randomly and steal artifacts in secret, damaging several finds including a mosaic and the crown of a column in the middle of the city.
Head of Hama Archeology Department Abdelkader Firzat called on locals to report those who commit such acts of vandalism and robbery, adding that Apamea became a target for such crimes due to its wealth of historical periods and its large size.
He pointed out that secret excavations and random digging often damages the structure of the entire site, noting that some saboteurs attacked the guards of those sites and threatened to kill them if they tried to stop them from committing their crimes.
(Excerpt) Read more at sana.sy ...
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Assad's fault. |
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One of the best preserved Selucid sites on Earth,mind you it is hardly unique given how far that civilization went.
Not good. Although stealing antiquities for profit is better than destroying them through fanaticism, which may still be one of the results of the “Arab spring.” At least if they are stolen they may survive and eventually be returned to where they belong.
As I understand, it's quite important to know where the item was found. Thieves seldom keep detailed records and hardly any are trained in Archaeology.
1) "Hey, I found two steel gears somewhere in Peru; they seem to be made on a milling machine." - "Well, recycle the metal then."
2) "Hey, I found two steel gears inside of a solid stone wall in Machu Picchu, they opened a secret door; also, they seem to be made on a milling machine." - "!!! (everybody faints)"
Well, of course, true.
But better an ancient statue ends up in some Sheikh’s house and eventually finds its way to a museum, origin unknown, than some Muslim fanatic gets his hands on it and smashes it to pieces.
That’s what may happen to a lot of those Egyptian statues if the fanatics get hold of them. It’s happened many times before, as it did recently with the ancient statues of Buddha, and many Egyptian antiquities probably wouldn’t exist now if they hadn’t been safely hidden from the Caliphate beneath the sands.
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