Thieves led police to archaeological site

[Melvadius]

Antiquities thieves have unwittingly led to the discovery of a major site associated with the Emperor 'Caligula' as well as a statue apparently showing him in his 'divine' aspect in the 'only one (work) that represents Caligula as Zeus' as this report from ANSA (although I've switched round the primary and secondary titles above)indicates:

 

(ANSA) - Rome, July 12 - Officials revealed a monumental statue believed to be of Roman Emperor Caligula Tuesday, announcing that an illegal dig pointed them to the major archaeological find.

 

Police stumbled upon the site near Lake Nemi, just south of Rome, after monitoring the area for suspicious activity, finding a truck "hidden by rubble and intended for a foreign destination, probably Switzerland," said Massimo Rossi, head of the Archeological Heritage Protection Group.

 

The seizure, which led to the arrest of two antiquities thieves, had the fortuitous effect of leading authorities to the previously unknown site where Caligula is believed to have had an imperial residence...continued

[caldrail]

That's brilliant. I don't think we we fully appreciate the scale of antiquities theft and fraud and I like to see that for once, the criminal fraternity have done the decent thing and added to our archaeological record. Even if they probably hadn't a clue what it was.

[caesar novus]

The "naked archeologist" had a program on how thieves or at least illegal amateurs had brought to light the most interesting artifacts in Israel. Of course the legal archeologists countered that the biggest loss then was inability to examine artifact's embedded context. Maybe in centuries the items could be properly dug up - or on the other hand destroyed by construction.

 

Lake Nemi was such a heartbreaker. Those fabulous Roman ships brought to light by Mussolini draining the lake - a documentary recently examined the tunnels drilled to make this happen. Then the ships being burned by retreating Nazis (I take it an alternate theory that Allies did it accidentally is whispered among scholars - I so much wish the Allies used plan B invading Sardinia rather than the mainland boot). I wonder if Italy completed a reconstruction of 1 ship that was shown laying a keel in a long ago documentary?

[DecimusCaesar]

The "naked archeologist" had a program on how thieves or at least illegal amateurs had brought to light the most interesting artifacts in Israel. Of course the legal archeologists countered that the biggest loss then was inability to examine artifact's embedded context. Maybe in centuries the items could be properly dug up - or on the other hand destroyed by construction.

 

Lake Nemi was such a heartbreaker. Those fabulous Roman ships brought to light by Mussolini draining the lake - a documentary recently examined the tunnels drilled to make this happen. Then the ships being burned by retreating Nazis (I take it an alternate theory that Allies did it accidentally is whispered among scholars - I so much wish the Allies used plan B invading Sardinia rather than the mainland boot). I wonder if Italy completed a reconstruction of 1 ship that was shown laying a keel in a long ago documentary?

 

it's quite sad, I've never heard that story. It reminds me of what happened in Afghanistan under Taliban, when many historical sites were destroyed, including the collections at the Kabul museum. It's truw what Michael Wood said about the subject "war destroys the past as well as the present".

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

I just came back from Berlin where indeed war did huges damages too : at the end of the Altes Museum (Old Museum, one of the three antiquity museum on Museuminsel, Museum Island, the museum district in the center of the town) they list some of the damage that museum alone did suffer : 500+ destroyed ancient potery, 250+ marble and bronze statues, hundreds of other objects... Same was true in the Neue Museum (New Museum) which held amongst other Schlieman's trojan artifacts : an allied bomb blew of in the middle of 300 crates of ancient artifacts... And I don't speak of what the Russian took and still exhibit in Moscow !

[caesar novus]

an allied bomb blew of in the middle of 300 crates of ancient artifacts... And I don't speak of what the Russian took and still exhibit in Moscow

 

I wonder in what phase of the war the worst of the artifact damage happened? Too bad Germans didn't recognize that Heidelburg was being purposefully spared (as a culture center, just as Kyoto was) and sent artifacts there. They could have used Hitler's personel train bristling with AA guns, which he didn't use towards the end. Oh right, they would have installed secret weapons and elite villas instead. I will risk brainstorming a bit more, even though my WW2 knowledge may be fractured...

 

It's interesting to think whether the damages were particularly needless (although not known at the time). The final intense bombings of Berlin had a solely psychological purpose IIRC since there were few useful ground targets or defensive planes to worry about. It was actually trying to save more damage and killing by forcing surrender before the ground forces swept in. The Russians were very close, but maybe Allies didn't have Hitler's psychology profiled right to see that a combined, imminent, apocalyptic threat did not tempt surrender (did tempt Hitler's deputies tho).

 

But previous to that, at least in the latter half of the war, the Berlin bomb damage was not for psychological reasons. It was a successful program of tying down masses of 88 guns and fighter planes so that the Russians and later the Normandy invasion could proceed without overwhelming opposition. The bomber crews were explicitly sacrificial bait for the German fighters to approach and be mauled by P-51s and P-47s. Russia gets credit for 4 out of 5 allied casualties, but maybe this would have risen unsustainably if not for artifact-busting bombing which gave them air superiority. Earlier in the war the bombing may have been less useful due to less impact on German defenses (and of course psychology).

 

In the case of Italy, isn't it a shame the fake invasion plan they so skillfully convinced the Germans of (thru a covert operation in Spain) didn't go into effect. Sardinia (after Sicily?) was to be captured and project airpower from southern Germany to the surrounding Med. There was optionally going to be incursion into Macedonia, Albania, or Yugoslavia. Think of the saving to the Italian mainland, not only to such prime artifacts of western civilization but to casualty rates in the mountainous boot that favors defense over offense. I think there is little in Sardinia worth preserving, and if the Germans could be convinced that the island invasion has merit, then why not. Instead a roll up the Italian boot occurred with a particularly skillful German general and klutzy US one.