Over 41 000 artefacts seized in global operation targeting the illicit trafficking of cultural goods

Over 41 000 cultural goods such as coins, paintings and drawings, furniture and musical instruments, porcelain, archaeological and paleontological objects, books and manuscripts and sculptures were seized all over the world as a result of coordinated law enforcement actions. These seizures were made during the first Global Global Customs-Police Operation, codenamed ATHENA and organised by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) in cooperation with INTERPOL, and during the regional Europe-focused Operation PANDORA II, coordinated by the Spanish Guardia Civil and Europol.

Credit: Europol

Both operations took place from October to early December 2017, with a common action phase from 20 to 30 November 2017, and saw the involvement of customs and police forces from 81 countries. Both, ATHENA and PANDORA II, focused on the illicit trafficking of cultural objects, theft, looting as well as internet sales. Most of the actions were developed and coordinated jointly between Customs and Police on the national level with the support and participation of the experts from the Ministries of Culture and other relevant institutions and law enforcement agencies.

Apart from seizures, there have been tens of thousands of checks and controls in various airports, ports, other border crossing points, as well as in the auction houses, museums and private houses. As a result, more than 200 investigations were opened and 53 persons arrested.

Credit: Europol

Given the global nature of this crime, operation coordination units working 24/7 were established by Europol on one side, and the WCO and INTERPOL on the other, to support the exchange of information as well as disseminate alerts, warnings and perform cross- checks in different international and national databases.

Internet as a facilitator for the illicit trafficking of cultural goods

Internet has changed, as in many other fields of our society, the traditional chains of the illicit trade of cultural goods. It is a new challenge for law enforcement authorities especially for the specialized cultural goods crime units. Now the criminals can reach the collector’s (anywhere in the world) without any intermediate, and out of the traditional channels.

Credit: Europol

Facing this threat, the involved law enforcement agencies monitored thousands of market places, internet announcement has in order to detect and seize looted or stolen cultural goods. Only in this area, 63 new criminal investigations have been opened and more than 6 000 cultural objects have been seized.

In a single successful investigation in Spain, Guardia Civil seized more than 2 000 cultural objects. Most of them were coins from Roman and other Empires and archaeological objects made of ceramic, metal and stone. In addition, 88 pieces of ivory were seized during the searches, including a carving of Christ valued at EUR 6 000 , and 39 firearms of different classification, from historical weapons, such as rifles and shotguns, swords, swords, katanas and a crossbow, revolvers and pistols. The investigation started with the checks of various internet pages dedicated to the sale and purchase of objects of historical value, and is still ongoing.

The Hellenic Police conducted a fruitful investigation in the framework of PANDORA II: during the searches in two residences and in two businesses of a national entrepreneur, they found 41 archaeological objects, for which the collector did not have a corresponding license. Additionally, from a legal collection of 1 133 coins of silver, bronze and gold of the 2nd century B.C. until 200 A.C., 15 coins were missing, and from a legal collection of 105 ancient objects, 26 objects were missing. All the possessed objects of archaeological and cultural value were confiscated, namely 1 252 cultural goods.

Source: Europol [February 23, 2018]

Read more

Aphrodite statue found during Metro excavation works in Thessaloniki

New archaeological finds unearthed from the excavations for the Thessaloniki Metro include a headless statue of Aphrodite and floor mosaics from the 4th century AD.

Credit: Yiannis A. Mylopoulos

The Aphrodite statue was found on the site of Hagia Sophia station, near a fountain complex discovered only a few weeks ago.

Chairman of Attiko Metro SA, Yiannis Mylopoulos, posted the picture of the headless statue on Facebook. As he pointed out, this is the latest find among the 300,000 antiquities that came to light during the archaeological excavations in Thessaloniki.

Earlier, well-preserved mosaic floors from the 4th century were brought to light. The mosaics, which are of great aesthetic value, were also found at the southern entrance of the Hagia Sophia station, according to Voria.gr website.

Credit: Yiannis A. Mylopoulos

Archaeologists believe the multicolored mosaics belong to either a large public building complex or urban villas of the 4th century AD.

The mosaics are in good condition and they are typical geometric decorations, believed to have adorned the floor of the west portico gallery.

From the saved floor, a medal with a woman’s figure stands out. She is in a seated position but her face is destroyed; the face of a small child can be seen too, the Voria.gr report says.

Credit: Voria.gr

Apart from the floors, wall ruins and part of a bath that was in the complex have been saved. From the excavations that are still in progress, it turns out there was also a tank that supplied the bath with water. Glass fragments at the site likely belong to bottles with aromatic oils used by the bathers.

It is estimated that the complex was built in the 4th century and was used until the 5th century. Then it was wrecked and the marble-lined square was built on top.

The Attiko Metro chairman told Voria.gr the finds do not change the timetable of the project. “The findings will be evaluated by a special committee of the Ministry of Culture, in which we also participate to find the best way to exhibit them,” he said. Mylopoulos reiterated that for the Attiko Metro administration, the antiquities are not treated like obstacles that hinder the project but as part of this great work.

Author: Philip Chrysopoulos | Source: Greek Reporter [February 22, 2018]

Read more

Philip II’s palace at Aigai to open to the public in May

Work is proceeding at a fast pace to prepare the magnificent palace of Aigai in the region of Pella, northern Greece, for its opening to the public in May, with its walls restored to a height of 1.6 metres and the rich mosaics uncovered on the hall floors.

Credit: ANA-MPA

The palace, constructed during the reign of Philip II (359-336 BC), father of Alexander the Great, is three times the size of the Parthenon and belongs to a complex that includes royal burial clusters and a fortified town. The complex is in a strategic location defined by two rivers and the Pieria mountains.

Stonemasons have been working on the palace reconstruction, slowly reassembling the nearly 30 columns in the palace’s peristyle (a colonnade surrounding the main court), on the facade and elsewhere.

Credit: ANA-MPA

Sixteen columns of the peristyle’s southern section and the frieze will be reconstructed, to a height of eight metres. “This will allow us to get a comprehensive view of the building,” as archaeologist Angeliki Kottaridi, also head of the antiquities ephorate in the region of Imathia, explained to Athens-Macedonia News Agency (ANA).

Another 7,000 stone-cut blocks – measuring 1m long by a maximum 0.70m wide and 0.50m in height – are being prepared to augment original ones and to shore up the massive buttress on which the palace foundation rests. The surfaces of these stones are hand-carved, using tools like those of ancient stonemasons.

Credit: ANA-MPA

The floor mosaics, which will be visible in May, include the mythological theme of the rape of Europa and scenes of nature.

“The palace of Philip II was destroyed in the middle of the 2nd century BC, following the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans. Many of its architectural stone parts were used in constructing other buildings,” Kottaridi told ANA. “It’s characteristic that many of the stones from the building uncovered by the French excavators in the 19th century were used to build homes housing [Greek] refugees in the nearby village of Vergina,” she added.

Credit: ANA-MPA

Meanwhile, part of the upper floor at the palace’s entrance way (propylon) and a 30m part of a colonnade have been set up inside the new museum at Aigai, because they could not be reconstructed in situ. Kottaridi said the museum will be ready to open fully by the spring of 2020.

Funding for the project comes from the EU’s NSRF business programme on “Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation”, which will provide 10 million euros in total for the reconstruction, expected to be completed by end-2022.

Credit: ANA-MPA

The increased funding from EU and Greek state sources will help support the wall the ancient Macedonians started building and to stabilize the eroded hillside, Kottaridi said.

“The reconstruction of the Aigai palace complex is particularly significant, as it will provide Macedonia with the most important example of classical-era architecture in the whole of northern Greece,” she concluded.

Source: The Greek Observer [February 21, 2018]

Read more