Antiquities

Greek Cyprus has found its first undisturbed Roman shipwreck complete with ancient cargo off its southern coast, the antiquities department said June 27, noting the discovery could illuminate regional trading history.

Police said Monday that a 34-year-old man has been arrested in the town of Mytikas, near Preveza in northwestern Greece, for the illegal possession of antiquities hidden on his property.

Two German pensioners who have lived in Greece for around 30 years are being accused of antiquities smuggling and producing unauthorized replicas of ancient artifacts.

An ancient Greek amphora was found in the house of a 67-year-old man on the island of Kalymnos. Police discovered the artifact after being tipped off about the possibility of illegal possession of antiquities by a source. The man was taken into custody for questioning while the item was confiscated and taken to the island’s archaeological museum.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office on Friday announced the return of a fragment of an ancient marble sarcophagus fragment to Greece.
As part of a continuing investigation with partners in international law enforcement, the DA’s office went into a gallery in Midtown Manhattan with a search warrant and seized the fragment, which was on display as a centerpiece.

Thirty seven antiquities from an illegal excavation were found and confiscated in Negros cave on the island of Astypalea during a police investigation.

The confiscated antiquities are dated back to the Late Neolithic Period, the Classical and the Hellenistic Era and the Late Antiquity.

A 65-year-old woman was arrested on the southeast Aegean island of Kalymnos on Friday, charged with possession of a large cache of illegal antiquities.

UNESCO member states signed a declaration expressing their political will to protect humanity’s cultural heritage on Wednesday after an initiative put forward by Greece.

Alternate Minister for Culture Nikos Xydakis expressed Greece’s full support for the directives issued by UNESCO on the national policies to combat illicit trafficking of cultural goods. Speaking at the Third Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention in Paris, he presented the Greek proposal on the illegal cultural trade called “Stop Illicit Trafficking”.

A police officer from Greece’s antiquities protection department has been arrested, accused of being part of a smuggling ring that was trying to sell an ancient marble statue worth an estimated 1 million euros.