"Bought at a Garage Sale"

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ancientartifactsinformation/posts/29476387131978656

"Unfaking" October 7th in Israel

 Israel Antiquities Authority  wtorek, 6 października 2026 o 13:48

Even Jewish archaeologists are getting involved in justifying the genocidal massacre of their non-Jewish neighbours they've been conducting in occupied Palestine since 1948. This is why we should cut off all academic collaboration with Israeli scholars for the foreseeable future. Documentation experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) Conservation Department, in collaboration with the Ministry of Heritage worked to "capture and preserve the sights of the Gaza border communities in the aftermath of October 7, using the most advanced technology available today".

Using aerial photography from light aircraft, drones, and laser scanning, they documented the burned-out cars, the ravaged kibbutz homes, and the Nova festival site from every angle, down to the smallest detail. For the past three years, the IAA has been painstakingly using this material to create detailed 3D models. In the face of “fake” claims, these models make it possible to return virtually to the sites themselves, move through them, and understand the events within the physical spaces where they occurred.[...] The extensive documentation collected throughout the Gaza border area and currently being processed will form a national archive to be used to commemorate the disaster and combat its denial.

 Now do one of the Gaza strip, after every single Jewish bombing campaign. 

 

Artefact Hunting Vandals Strike Historic Church Site in Britain

Matthew Lockwood, 'Vandals strike historic church site' BBC 21 September 2026. 

Campaigners fighting to save a Grade II listed 15th Century church tower say they are to step up security after the graveyard was vandalised. Hertfordshire Police said holes were dug in the ground of Thundridge Old Church of St Mary and All Saints, near Ware, on 16 August. Officers have released CCTV footage showing a group of men in the area with what appeared to be metal detectors behind them[...] The site is a scheduled monument, and it is illegal to use metal detectors or disturb the ground.

This is a truly disgraceful act of disrespect and a blatant violation of the law. Desecrating a scheduled monument and historical graveyard for selfish plunder not only damages irreplaceable history but also deeply insults the community working tirelessly to preserve it. It is incredibly disheartening to see such disregard for heritage and sacred ground, and those responsible must be held fully accountable. It is time to consider what should be done about the lack of any curbs on artefact hunting and collecting and the unregulated use of metal detectors as current half-measures are doing nothing to curb such selfish behaviour.

STOP - Stop Taking Our Past.

Rather Optimistic Tekkies Disappointed by no-sale

Two Suffolk artefact hunters will not be able to pay the landowner off just yet (Alice Cunningham,'Medieval gold ring fails to sell at auction', BBC 23/9/2026). The auction was by Noonans Mayfair during a sale featuring a mixed bag: "silver, jewellery, watches, and objects of vertu". The 14th-century gold seal ring was originally uncovered in April 2024 within a ploughed field near Stoke Ash, Suffolk, by two friends, Aaron Pizzey (30) and James Race (39). Although the duo expressed disappointment when the piece failed to reach its £8,500 reserve price, they plan to try selling it at auction again down the road.

Initial estimates valued the ring between £10,000 and £12,000, though the finders had higher hopes of it fetching £25,000 to £30,000 (eh?).

Aaron Pizzey (left) and James Race 

The ring features a carnelian intaglio depicting a griffin, alongside an inscription that presumably identifies its owner. The engraved text reads "GRIFFVnMATILIELEMATILIOVR", which evidently translates to something like "griffin Matilda the maternal countess". It is claimed that this phrasing points toward Matilda of Lancaster, the Countess of Ulster, as the probable owner. Notably, she joined the Augustinian Campsey Priory near Wickham Market as a canoness around 1347–1348, located roughly 20 miles from the discovery site. How true that is is anybody's guess.

The men also managed to find a hoard of 60 gold Roman coins in February in Eye and were similarly going through the treasure process again before hoping to auction them. The Suffolk archaeological heritage is being ripped out of the archaeological record rich and fast now. 

The Lesson of Torchesk

 

                   2026 screenshot (after Sikorski)      

Jerzy Sikorski reports that at the EAA meeting in Athens, in a paper (read by Jens Schneeweiss) on work on the middle Dnipro region in Ukraine, a mention is made of the continuation of the monitoring by drone of the earthwork site at Ol'shanytsya in the southern Porossya area on the Ros' river (Torchesk) begun in 2021 ['Looking Over the shoulder of the 'Black Diggers' of Ukraine', PACHI Saturday, 4 December 2021]. While six years ago there were recorded traces of the digging of over 5000 holes there, apparently the total now is 16000+ and the plan shown at EAA indicates a shocking density of digging and destruction (compare with the 2021 one in my post). This is not only of significance in terms of the site itself and Ukrainian heritage protection in general, it raises the issue that this is (as far as I know, please correct me if I am wrong) a pioneering project, and if such monitoring were to be carried out of 'productive' sites elsewhere (England and Wales for example with the laissez faire legislation in place there) would it reveal a comparable level of destruction? It's easy to assume that "Ukraine is an exception" but how can we complacently assume that it is not? 

Also, if 21 days monitoring six years ago produced evidence of 5100 holes dug in that period, the whole post-harvest and spring metal detecting seasons would have involved even more hole-digging.  If c. 15.5k holes were dug in 2022 [when the war's Front came no nearer than 300km before retreating], 2023, 2024, 2025, and spring 2026, does this represent a slowdown? Could it be that awareness that the site was under intensive monitoring by drone slowed down the attacks of these culture-criminals? Are the young men who'd be searching the site now fighting the occupant? Or is there a feeling among detectorists that with all the searching that has gone on there, the site is largely "searched out" ?

Archaeological Looting in the Republic of Bashkortostan

A recent study (Gizzatov, Tuzbekov and Akhatov 2025) reveals that over 12% of recorded archaeological sites in the Republic of Bashkortostan in the Russian Federation, despite the nominal protection these sites are given by the law of the region, have been damaged by illegal looting. The researchers analyzed data collected between 2017 and 2023 by the Scientific and Production Centre of the Republic of Bashkortostan on the condition of 623 archaeological sites (the work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation under Grant No. 25-18-00270 “Looting in the Urals: development of methods to counteract the destruction of cultural heritage objects). This research revealed a severe threat to local history and cultural artefacts and that looting is as a key factor in the loss of archaeological heritage in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Looters mostly search for metal objects and historical items from the 16th century to the early 20th century. There has been a ninefold increase in the activity of ‘treasure hunters’ since 2010, particularly in the Bashkir Trans-Urals and the northwestern part of the region near the lower parts of the Belaya River. Despite the huge rise in illegal excavations, officials have not recorded a single criminal case against archaeological looters in the region, Russian laws protecting cultural heritage contain contradictions and grey areas, making it hard to punish modern metal-detector looters. As a result of the research, the article proposes improvements to the monitoring system through the use of modern technologies and stricter control over the sale of metal detectors to preserve archaeological heritage. Reference

Gizzatov, D., Tuzbekov, A., and Akhatov, A. (2025). Cultural Heritage Loss Through Archaeological Looting: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Current Situation in the Republic of Bashkortostan. Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 27(3), 195–215.

Ukrainian Archaeologist: "The Situation of the Archaeological Heritage in Eastern Ukraine is Catastrophic"

Serhiy Telizhenko, Scientific Secretary of the Institute of Archaeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Candidate of Historical Sciences carried out research in the Luhansk region until the illegal Russian invasion of the area. He describes the situation with the Ukrainian archaeological heritage in the eastern regions, where fierce fighting is currently taking place, as catastrophic. According to him, many archaeological sites have been significantly damaged, or even irretrievably lost. However, he does not give up hope of returning to his native Luhansk region with new excavations. “We will have to return there. We simply did not have time to explore many things and, I am afraid, we will not have time to do much,” he says. Currently, the scientist works in the West and South of Ukraine.

Археолог Сергій Теліженко: «Ситуація з археологічною спадщиною на Сході України – катастрофічна» [Archaeologist Serhiy Telizhenko: “The situation with the archaeological heritage in Eastern Ukraine is catastrophic”] National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine press release 25.08.2026  катастрофічна». 

Maryna Tereshchenko  “Окопи копають на місці давніх стоянок”: археолог Сергій Теліженко про розкопки у Кремінній та спадщину під вогнем [“Trenches are being dug on the site of ancient sites”: archaeologist Serhiy Telizhenko on excavations in Kreminna and heritage under fire]Tribun August 18, 2026.