Bulgaria: Greedy Dealers and Collectors the Real Looters

Ruins at Archar 

There is quite a bit of coverage at the moment of the article on archaeological looting by Veselin Toshkov which takes as its starting point what is happening at Archar, a site discussed several times on this blog. The site is described as a "moonscape littered with shards of ceramics or glassware destroyed by the diggers" who move in the moment the archaeologists leave the 80 hectare site. What has happed here on teh site of the ancient town of Ratiaria is "the most drastic example of the looting that has been going on over the last 20 years, since the fall of communism". "The first excavations here were carried out by Bulgarian archaeologists between 1958 and 1962. They were renewed in 1976 by an Italian team, but lack of funding forced them to leave the site in 1991".

Ancient sites were protected during communist times by a strong fear of the omnipresent police and harsh punishments for any law-breaking activity. Since the collapse of the totalitarian system, many have taken up looting to earn a living. Organized by local mafia, looting squads that have mushroomed all over the country are well equipped with metal detectors, bulldozers, tractors and even decommissioned army vehicles. [...]  In early October, some 5,000 Roman items were handed over to the National History Museum in Sofia. They were seized at a border crossing with Serbia, just few miles (kilometers) west of Ratiaria. [...] Coins and other treasures found by looters are sold to people who smuggle them abroad. Roman items from Ratiaria can be found in auction houses and antiquity collections around the world [...] Experts say they have no way to gauge the extent of the pillaging. "There are hundreds of tombstones and statues in local museums, but what we don't know exactly is how many more such relics were smuggled out of the country and are now in Italy, Munich or Vienna," said Rumen Ivanov, Roman History professor at the National Institute of Archaeology. . 

Certainly in a region which is one of the poorest in the European Union there is a huge temptation for local inhabitants to dig at the site to see what can be found. This however can only be a viable manner of raising money when there is somebody willing to buy the proceeds of this illegal activity. Archaeologist Krasmira Luka, who directs current excavations here is well aware of hgow the procedure goes. She told the story:

...of three men from the nearby village or Archar, who had found a golden coin and sold it to smugglers for 1,500 euro, which equals the amount of four monthly average salaries in Bulgaria. "Months later the same coin was sold in Germany at a price many times higher," Luka said. "But it is not only the looters with the shovels who are responsible," Luka said, "there are a lot of people up the chain, and they enjoy the highest protection."

In other words, not the looters but the dealers and collectors who buy from them. It is well worth taking note of just with whom it is that the middlemen and dealers who handle this material are themselves doing business. Again Krasmira Luka has been looking into what has been happening on her doorstep: 

Over the last two decades, she said, organized crime groups have constantly bribed police officers, prosecutors and local officials who have sheltered their illegal activities. Those who usually get caught and sentenced, however, are from the lowest level of the well-organized scheme. With more than 50 percent of the 2,700 inhabitants of Archar jobless, Mayor Emil Georgiev seems unable to stop the daily attacks of looters seeking the treasure that is supposed to change their life. "Usually they work late at night or at weekends or holidays," the mayor said, adding that some 20 villagers have been convicted over the last year and ordered to serve different terms of probation by performing community service.

Recently the local government received government funds that providing jobs for eight people to work as guards at the archaeological site, but this is clearly an inadequate number to protect such a large area.


Sources:
Veselin Toshkov, 'Treasure hunters strip Bulgaria of its ancient treasures, destroying a cultural legacy', Associated Press 26th October 2012.

Veselin Toshkov, 'Bulgaria Treasure Hunters Loot Ancient Rataria Site' Huffington Post , 26th October 2012.