A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.
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Jesse Casana et al, Remote Sensing-Based Analysis of Archaeological Site Damage in Syria: Revisiting a Post-War Landscape , Heritage (2026). DOI: 10.3390/heritage9060209 Amy Olson, 'Syria's ancient sites face widespread looting and systematic bulldozing, satellite images reveal'. [...] Relying on an expanding suite of satellite imagery resources, this paper presents a renewed analysis of looting…
In the USA, President Trump announces that he is terminating 3 million acres of national monuments in southern Utah, opening them up to drilling, mining, and industrial development . These are the largest cuts to public lands in US history. It is not known whether in this case money changed hands and if so, how much. Grand Staircase-Escalante (created under the Antiquities Act by President Bill…
Watching over the looters' shoulders: " A Digger Hit A Bascom Blade Cache, “4,000 Years,” Then More Blades Were Still In The Dirt ". Much hilarity ensues as, with a soundtrack of empty-headed banter from camo-clad seniors, artefact hunters "uncover what looks like a few Bascom blades, but the hole keeps getting better every time they look closer. The count jumps from four to five, then six, then…
Steven Morris, ' Somerset detectorist strikes gold with ‘spectacular’ Roman ring find ' Guardian Tue 2 Jun 2026 . When Kevin Minto, a lorry driver, former soldier and keen metal detectorist, came upon something glinting in a Somerset field, he thought at first it was a coin – potentially quite interesting, probably not amazing. But the object turned out to be extraordinary: a gold Roman ring,…
Sothebys New York . Colección Mariano Moret @ColeccionMMoret [ Translated from Spanish] "Despite having spent more than 25 years buying art in the international market and having seen it all, I still find myself amazed when I see pieces as absolutely exceptional as this Roman emperor torso from the Julio-Claudian period (1st century BC) coming from a private collection that @Sothebys will put up…
Ukrainian authorities confirm that Kyiv’s iconic Lavra Monastery was significantly damaged during a Russian drone and missile raid last night. Firefighting efforts to preserve the structure are ongoing. A massive Russian missile and drone attack hit Kyiv overnight into June 15, damaging homes and markets, and cut power to 140,000 residents. T he Russians launched more than 60 missiles at civilian…
A 46-year-old man, Andrew Crowley, was sentenced to two years in prison for attempting to sell fraudulent Cycladic figures at Sotheby’s London using forged 1976 provenance documents that were later identified to use a typeface developed in 2001. Forensic analysis by the Metropolitan Police and FBI revealed the invoices were fakes, and while Crowley claimed the items were inherited, expert evidence…
Israeli forces have detonated the historic Shamaa Castle and the shrine of Shamoun al-Safa (St. Peter) in south Lebanon, destroying the UNESCO-protected sites alongside an airstrike on Froun. This follows local reports of multiple deaths in Haboush within the last hour. The satle is under UNESCO protection
Poland has released Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin who was due to be extradited to Ukraine to face charges of carrying out illegal excavations in occupied Crimea. He was arrested while travelling across Europe to give lectures on his work. Butyagin was exchanged at the Belarus–Poland border today in a "five for five" exchange. According to Russian officials, he was exchanged for two…
"Great" Britian shows once again what a load of tossers they are when it comes to chasing up antiquities crime (Craig Simpson ' Academic who exposed British Museum thefts 'annoyed to die before seeing justice ' MSN 28/4/2026). An expert who exposed the theft of hundreds of artefacts from the British Museum was “annoyed” to know he was dying without the case being resolved. The arts and heritage…
