A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.
Thursday, 5 May 2011
514 archaeological pieces seized from home of a collector
. In Spain in an operation code-named "Professor" the National Police in Jaén seized a total of 514 pieces of art and archaeological interest in the town of Úbeda, in the home of a 63-year old collector who has been charged with the offence of receiving stolen property and offences against property. Among the items seized are coins, vases, lamps, sculptures and urns, one of them (an ossuary it seems) with human bones inside, columns, capitals, and other Iberian and Roman items. At present, experts are examining and cataloguing the pieces, while the Police investigation continues to try to ascertain the provenance of objects which seem to have come from the looting of archaeological sites.
British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.
"coiney" - a term I use for private collector of dug up ancient coins, particularly a member of the Moneta-L forum or the ACCG
"heap-of-artefacts-on-a-table-collecting" the term rather speaks for itself, an accumulation of loose artefacts with no attempt to link each item with documented origins. Most often used to refer to metal detectorists (ice-cream tubs-full) and ancient coin collectors (Roman coins sold in aggregated bulk lots)
"tekkie" - metal detectorist/metal detecting (a form of artefact hunting)
CDE - Collection-Driven Exploitation of archaeological sites
CPAC - Cultural Property Advisory Committee [US]
FLO - Finds Liaison Officer (post in the PAS)
HER - Historic Environment Record [UK]
IAPN - International Association of Professional Numismatists
MENA - Middle East and North Africa
PAS - Portable Antiquities Scheme
PNG - Professional Numismatists' Guild
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO 1970 Convention - Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property
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