Farmer uncovers pre-Roman sanctuary near Aprilia

I wonder how many artifacts the farmer managed to pass on to the black market before he was discovered!

"A farmer working his land south of Rome dug up hundreds of artifacts from a 2,600-year-old sanctuary, but ran afoul of police when he tried to sell the ancient hoard, officials said Wednesday.

After spotting fragments of pottery in soil dug up by the farmer, authorities searched his home last month and seized more than 500 artifacts, including perfume vials, cups and miniature vases used as votive objects.

The art squad of the Carabinieri paramilitary police said the farmer was placed under investigation for allegedly trafficking in antiquities. Ancient artifacts found in Italy are considered state property, and finds must be reported to authorities.

Archaeologists said they will continue to excavate the sanctuary, which dates back to the 7th-6th century B.C. and is located outside the town of Aprilia, near a small lake some 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Rome.

The find could expand knowledge about the area's history in pre-Roman times, when it was inhabited by Latin-speaking people under the influence of the Etruscan civilization that dominated central Italy, experts said.

The pottery, some of which was imported from Greece, was offered to a deity probably connected to the lake, said Stefano De Caro, director of archaeology at the Italian Culture Ministry." - More, GMA News.TV

70 Sicilian tomb raiders to face judgment day

"Seventy tomb raiders will face a judge for a preliminary hearing in Gela, in southwest Sicily, in February, the Art Newspaper reports.

The defendants were caught by Operation Ghelas, which has dismantled a major Italian antiquities smuggling operation across Western Europe. Carried out by the Italian Cultural Patrimony Protection (TPC) squad, the operation concluded last summer with an unprecedented 85 indictments and 52 arrests. Fifteen tomb raiders have already pleaded guilty to various charges.

More than 2,000 antiquities were recovered, such as amphorae, statues, and coins from major archaeological sites in Sicily."

I wonder what sentence those pleading guilty received? I wonder what percentage of antiquities the tomb raiders handled were actually recovered?

Italain Carabinieri make dent in number of tombaroli

Pietro Casasanta had no Indiana Jones-type escapes from angry natives or booby-trapped temples. He worked undisturbed in daylight with a bulldozer, posing as a construction worker to become one of Italy's most successful plunderers of archaeological treasures.

When he wasn't in prison, the convicted looter operated for decades in this countryside area outside Rome, benefiting from what he says was lax surveillance that allowed him to dig into ancient Roman villas and unearth statues, pottery and other artifacts which he then sold for millions of dollars on the illegal antiquities market.

"Nobody cared, and there was so much money going around," he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "I always worked during the day, with the same hours as construction crews, because at night it was easier to get noticed and to make mistakes.”

Casasanta was the prince of the tombaroli, as the looters are known in Italy – and some of his finds are priceless.

But the tombaroli are dwindling.

Police and prosecutors believe they are beginning to see results in efforts to combat the traffic of stolen or illegally excavated antiquities which they say made their way to the world's top museums and collectors.

Gen. Giovanni Nistri, who heads the art squad with the Carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police, said that in 2006 his unit discovered fewer than 40 illegal digs. In the late 1990s that figure could soar to more than 1,000 a year.