Two Men Arrested in Assen Museum Robbery Enquiry Named [UPDATED]

In their investigation of the burglary at the Drents Museum on the morning of Saturday, January 25 in which four antiquities were stolen, Dutch police are seeking more information about the whereabouts of two arrested suspects ('Dutch Police share Identities and Photos of Two Suspects in Drents Museum Burglary' ArtDependence 31.01.2025). They were named as: Douglas Chesley Wendersteyt (36?) and Bernhard Zeeman (34), both from Heerhugowaard, Netherlands. The identity of a third suspect, a woman from Heerhugowaard, has for some reason not yet been disclosed. Police are also asking a man photographed in a hardware store before the robbery to come forward, so far it seems he has not done so. 

The police began tracking the suspects after discovering a bag left behind in Assen. Clothing was also found inside the bag. The police have now released photos of the bag and clothing, as well as the exact location where the bag was found.

The suspects drove, among other things, a grey Volkswagen Golf with license plate P-343-RL. This car was stolen in Alkmaar and then had its number plates replaced by another, stolen one (K-813-BK) obtained in Witmarsum. The car was found burnt out soon after the robbery  in Rolde. The car was seen in Groningen on 23 January and not again in Assen until 25 January. Police would like to know where the suspects and car were in the meantime.

The investigation team also draws attention to a dark-colored Ford Transit, which may have been involved in the robbery.

On X-Twitter, a tentative connection has been made between one of the named men and a social media post, but in general, the two named men do not seem to have been active much on social media under those names.

Update

It is being reported that both Wendersteyt and Zeeman have been involved in burglaries in the past, the latter being convicted after a brutal home invasion  in Heerhugowaard and reportedly received a heavy prison sentence (here too). 

Meanwhile a local newspaper is reporting ('Aangehouden verdachten kunstroof zijn jong stel met kleine kinderen'  30.01.2025) that a young couple were arrested the day earlier in  Schoorlaan in Heerhugowaard a usually quiet street with mainly social housing (the photo of the house shown matches that shown in the Twitter thread claiming to identify Wendersteyt). This arrest was reportedly in connection with the art theft in the Drents Museum. "The police cannot confirm anything during the investigation".

Local inhabitants who spoke to De Telegraaf say that the two have young children, including a baby. The disbelief in the street is great. "It seemed like he was just going to work. She was always at home with the children. She is busy with an art theft? Surely not?", asks a resident.

Allegedly, the wife might be Iraqi. 

One Model of Hunter-gatherer Persistence During the Holocene

Hunter-gatherer persistence during the Holocene. Colors represent the dates when hunter-gatherer land use dropped below 20%. Data from: Stephens et al. (2019). Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use: https://science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aax1192

Adam Morgan Ibbotson ( @AdamMIbbotson) · 2h points out, "the data on the British Isles are incorrect. Britain saw its lowest forest cover in the Early Bronze Age. So 1800BC at the very latest. But you could easily push that back to 3200BC or before. The highlands etc are NOT natural landscapes".

Three arrested for Assen museum heist, artefacts missing

Agence France-Presse, 'Three arrested in Romanian artifacts heist at Dutch museum' AFP Jan 30, 2025

On Saturday, four gold objects on loan from Romanian collections were stolen in a showy break-in at the Drents Museum in Assen during which the thieves used explosives to get into the building. An intensive four-day manhunt followed, involving a team of approximately 30 to 35 detectives and specialists working on the case. The pressure on the police has been  immense. The police have now arrested three suspects for the spectacular heist. The arrests were made after the police received a tipoff. The stolen objects have not been recovered. A museum director lost his job as a result of the theft.

"The suspects are held under strict conditions and are being questioned about their role in the heist," Dutch police said in a statement, adding, "Further arrests are not being excluded." [...] Dutch police launched a large-scale probe into the heist, and earlier Wednesday released a photograph of another suspect wanted in connection with the case.
The Drents Museum welcomed the arrests, which were made in the small northwest Dutch city of Heerhugowaard, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Amsterdam.

On Sunday, authorities had revealed that the robbers used a Volkswagen Golf stolen in Alkmaar. On Monday, two hammers were discovered nearby, which police believe were used in the heist. 

The pieces are of enormous cultural-historical value to Romania. The theft has led to a lot of political turmoil in Romania and a diplomatic row with the Netherlands.

Other reports:

Three arrested for Assen museum gold heist, artifacts missing' Dutch News January 29, 2025.

Mick van Wely, ' Politie pakt drie verdachten op voor goudroof Drents Museum' Die Telegraaf 29.01.2025.

 

Warrant Issued for Arrest of Thieving Metal Detectorist on the Run.

      Powell in 2019        

A warrant has just been issued for the arrest of a man found guilty of stealing a Viking hoard of 300  silver coins and gold items worth £3 million that he found in a field in Eye, near Leominster, Herefordshire. Instead of declaring the treasure, as required by law, Powell, a former warehouse worker from Newport, Wales (together with fellow defendant Layton Davies, a school caretaker of Pontypridd), sold some of the finds to dealers and probably concealed the rest. Only 31 of the coins were recovered. Powell also only handed over to the owner of the land three of the coins he found that were "not particularly valuable". 

They were both found guilty of theft, conspiring to conceal criminal property, and converting criminal property by selling it in 2019 and sentenced to jail. Now there has been a further development (Nicola Goodwin, 'Warrant issued for Viking hoard thief ' BBC News 28th Jan 2025).

Metal detectorist George Powell, from Newport, failed to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 8 January. He was due to have been sentenced for failing to repay £600,000, the money a judge had earlier decided was his share of the missing coins and jewellery.

Powell was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison, but this was later reduced to six and a half years on appeal. Davies was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison, later reduced to five years on appeal. 

In 2022, both George Powell and Layton Davies appeared at Worcester Crown Court. Judge Nicholas Cartwright told the men he believed about 270 coins were still being deliberately hidden by them. They were given a confiscation order and each told to repay £600,000 or go back to jail. George Powell appealed against that order, but his attempts to stay out of prison were rejected twice by an appeal judge and also the Court of Appeal in London. He was due to be sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates Court in January [this year], but he failed to appear, so a warrant was issued for his arrest. 

His fellow detectorist, 56-year old Layton Davies had already been sentenced to a further five years and three months in prison after failing to pay back the £603,180 that he is believed to have made from selling the stolen treasures.

In May 2023, two further men, Craig Best, from County Durham, and Roger Pilling, from Lancashire, were each jailed for five years and two months after trying to sell 44 rare Anglo-Saxon coins worth £766,000. The coins were thought to be part of the hoard uncovered in Herefordshire by George Powell and Layton Davies. The rest of the hoard is still missing.

Hereford Museum raised £776,250 to buy the fragment of the hoard that has been recovered (jewellery, an ingot, and 29 coins) from the owner of the field where they were found.

Outrage in Romania about Theft of Iconic Ancient Romanian Artefacts from 'Negligent' Dutch Museum

The theft of archaeological masterpieces of major cultural importance for Romania, lent by the Romanian National History Museum (MNIR) to the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, has prompted heated debates and controversies in Romania related to the procedures followed by MNIR, by other Romanian authorities involved in the process, and by Drents Museum ( Iulian Ernst. ' Theft of iconic Romanian ancient artifacts from Dutch museum prompts heated debate' Romania Insider 27 January 2025

On the one hand, it is questioned why originals of such value were sent to a relatively minor Dutch museum without proper insurance (EUR 30 million for the entire collection, out of which EUR 5.8 million for the stolen items), and on the other hand, the Dutch museum is suspected of insufficient security measures.

A famous ceremonial helmet dating 450 B.C., known as the Coțofenești helmet, and three Dacian bracelets dating around 50 B.C., all made of gold, were stolen on the night of January 24 to 25 from the Dacia - Empire of Gold and Silver exhibition hosted by Drents Museum in Assen, which included around 673 archaeological objects made of precious metals.

"Multiple individuals," according to the Dutch Police, after consulting the CCTV, used dynamite to enter the museum, took the artifacts, and left the place in three minutes. No human guard was assured by the Dutch museum, despite the immense value of the objects in the exhibition and, according to MNIR, despite the clauses of the contract signed between parties.

"I assure you that the insurer [of the exhibition] has done all the necessary research to ensure that the heritage is properly preserved during the exhibition," said the MNIR director Ernest Târnoveanu in a press conference on January 26 when asked about the security measures provided for the exhibition. However, he also said that "there is no human guard at night," speaking of the security of the exhibition at the Assen Museum. Moreover, he stated that MNIR would sue Drents Museum if the contractual obligations regarding 24/7 surveillance of the exhibition were not observed - and he implied this was the case.

The DUTCH Mueum apparently asserts that the contract only obliges the institution to "ensure 24/7 surveillance" and therefore contract has no clause requiring the empty building full of that much gold should have human guards at night. It is not clear who alerted the police to the explosions, and – the police itself is inexplicably vague on this. The formulation of their statement: "at approximately 03:45 AM, the Dutch police received a report of an explosion at the Drents Museum on the Brink in Assen. Upon arrival, it became clear that access to the building had been gained by forcing a door with explosives" seems to suggest that the Drents Museum had not secured proper surveillance that would have allowed it to provide the police with real-time information.

Amid high political tensions, the event has been exploited by nationalist opposition in Romania, which pointed to the otherwise visible discrepancy between the value of the exhibition sent to the Netherlands and the value of the insurance, the contracts and agreements, and the insufficient security secured by the Dutch museum.

Several politicians [...] accused the Romanian authorities of negligence and criticized the fact that the gold heritage objects were taken out of the country and taken to a museum in the Netherlands without adequate security measures to be exhibited.

Meanwhile, a crisis cell was established by the Romanian government in the case of the theft of the Dacian treasure. Romania will send a team of forensic experts to the Netherlands, and the Control Body will go to the Ministry of Culture to verify the entire process of organizing the exhibition at the Drents Museum.

Collectors' Vases and their Archaeological Context

 US YouTuber plays the role of a wannabe expert in the antiquities market. Fails through lack of knowledge of the issue. 

Tell us "I don't know what this is about" without saying "I've no idea what this is about". In the hands of Mr Corsetti, the thought pattern, "Looks like ...so..." is doing rather too much lifting here. The issue of course is where the dealers producing the fine vases bought by collectors like the hapless Mr Beall had sourced them. NOT whether there are ancient Egyptian hardstone vessels of these type - actually "looking just like" the ones found on the market - or rather the ones on the market look a bit like....

"Artefacts Safer in Western Collections Than in their Homelands" (Eh?) [UPDATED]

We often hear the above from the pro-collecting lobby... but reality...

Arthur Brand (art detective) @brand_arthur · 9h
Breaking: Last night thieves entered the Drents Museum in Assen, The Netherlands, with the use of explosives. They got away with precious objects from the exhibition 'Dacia - Realm of Gold and Silver'. The display features treasures from the ancient kingdom of Dacia. What a horror

They took three gold bracelets (artefacts with a story of their own concerning the antiquities trade) and the iconic gold helmet of Cotofenesti, which was the centrepiece of the exhibition. Basically, nowhere is safe from the greed of the antiquities market. This was a high-security display, explosives had to be used to get the cases open. This looks to me like a theft-to-order. 

 

UPDATE
Archaeological gold stolen from Dutch museum The Brussels Times Saturday 25 January 2025 

'Theft from the Dacian Treasure: The contract included 24-hour security. The insurance for the entire exhibition amounts to 30 million euros' SpotMedia.ro 26.01.2025 

At least 15 Romanian museums had lent items to the Dutch museum for the exhibition.  There is no mention of whether any of the security staff that would have been guarding the museum at the time were injured. Since explosives were used, and  Assen-Weiersstraat Police Station is just 600m away, the thieves probably did not have much time before there was a patrol car on the scene. Probably the whole thing was planned down to the last second. It really looks like a theft-to-order.

Dutch museums and galleries have been targeted by thieves in the past – including in November when works by artist Andy Warhol were taken, as well as a Van Gogh stolen from a museum in 2020.

More Security Problems at the British Museum

It seems the British Museum has some problems maintaining security. Another problem just months after the earlier one (Lauren Turner 'British Museum hit by alleged IT attack by ex-worker' BBC News 25.01.2025)

The British Museum has been partially closed to visitors after a former employee allegedly shut down some of its IT network. The museum alleged that the contractor entered the building and accessed the systems before being arrested. It led to some galleries being closed on Friday, the museum added, along with temporary exhibitions that remain closed [...] A British Museum spokesman told the BBC: "An IT contractor who was dismissed last week trespassed into the museum and shut down several of our systems. "Police attended and he was arrested at the scene. "

Dismissed, but - since I presume access to the computer system is not from the public galleries - may have had a key to one of the offices.

So, how safe is the Portable Antiquities Scheme database and the accessions registers? Another public enquiry would help ascertain that.

.

Report on Looting of Ukraine’s Museums

                              .                                

Russia seeks to erase Ukraine’s identity, looting museums and targeting its heritage, while 90 Ukrainian museums remain under occupation.

The Kyiv Independent exposes this cultural destruction
in its investigation.

@MamedovGyunduz
“The largest looting since WWII”: Journalists from Kyiv Independent exposed the scheme behind the theft of over 33,000 historical artifacts and works of art from Kherson museums in the fall of 2022. Key figures: Russian officer Dmitry Lypov, who sealed the trucks loaded with stolen treasures; Sergey Patrushev, an official from Crimea’s so-called “Ministry of Culture”, responsible for transporting the valuables; and directors of Crimean museums, who selected the artifacts. The operation was orchestrated by Russia’s FSB. This is violation of the 1954 #HagueConvention. The results of the journalistic investigation must be taken into account by the investigation to ensure those responsible are brought to justice.

Indus Valley Script.

 

                              .                               

India announces a $1 million prize for decoding the 5300-year-old Indus Valley script.

The government of the state of Tamil Nadu, in south-east India, is offering the €960,000 reward to anyone who can decipher the writing of the Indus Valley civilisation. The BBC reported that MK Stalin, the chief minister of the Tamil Nadu state, recently made the prize announcement following the publication of a study revealing similarities between the Indus signs and inscriptions found on local pottery [...]. Made up of signs and symbols, the writing consists of around 4,000 short inscriptions, most of them engraved on small objects such as seals and pottery. Theories link the script to early Brahmi scripts, Indo-Aryan languages and Sumerian.
Decyphering the script would allow researchers to gain further knowledge on governance and beliefs. However, despite numerous efforts by linguists and archeologists, the Indus script remains shrouded in secrecy.

A problem might be sorting out the authentic artefacts with inscriptions from the much larger number of extant ones that do not actually come from controlled archaepological excavations (including in museum collections) with fake ones.

Commitment to Conservation Over There

Reportedly, Trump just withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. The US now joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries in the world not in the agreement.

Where Did You Say you Got Those Artefacts From?

       dugup coin, how did it get onto the market and reach you?       

Teheran Times, 'Iran takes legal action to seize historic coins sold at foreign auction' January 17, 2025

 The Classical Numismatic Group (CNG), established in 1975, is a prominent auction house specializing in ancient, medieval, and British coins  with offices in Lancaster (Pennsylvania, USA), London (UK), and The Hague (Netherlands). The Managing Director i is Mike Gasvoda. The coins they sell tend not to have any explicitly-stated collection history taracing their origins back to some past legal acquisition, neither do sales offers tend to have information about the existence of export documentation. Iran’s Minister of Culture alleges that in a recent sale the CNG is illegally selling coins “definitively linked” to Iran’s archaeological sites and moved to take action against the sale.

Leila Khosravi, the head of Iran’s Directorate of Museums, stated that as soon as the Ministry was informed of CNG’s intention to auction the coins, it took immediate steps to request the seizure of two specific coins, which have been definitively linked to Iran’s ancient sites, CHTN reported on Thursday. The Ministry sent official communications to the relevant authorities to request the stoppage of the sale. [...] The coins in question are from the pre-Achaemenid and Sassanian periods, and their sale was first reported by Iranian media. In response, the Ministry’s cultural heritage division acted swiftly to assert Iran’s claim of ownership and demand the return of the artifacts. Despite these efforts, reports from local counsel reveal that CNG Auction House sold one of the coins the previous day, with another still pending sale.

Let us hope the buyers can now prove they did their due diligence to avoid buying stolen property, and if they can't show that, what happens next? The coins were not dug up in Surbitoin in the UK with a PAS record of the findspot - so how can the buyer explain that he has these valuable pieces of Iranian history? Eh?

Non-Material Aspects of Artefact Collecting

A British metal detectorists gets spiritual and new Agey: The Spiritual Connection of Metal Detecting Archi: Archaeological Sites & Historical Maps Jan 13 2025

Have you ever felt an almost mystical connection when unearthing an ancient artefact? It’s as if these objects, buried for centuries, are calling out to be rediscovered—inviting us to reconnect with the people who once held them. I believe these artefacts serve as more than just links to history; they are spiritual bridges between the past and the present, carrying the voices and energy of their original owners.
This belief resonates with traditions from indigenous cultures worldwide, where it is often thought that objects, places, and even landscapes carry a spiritual essence or consciousness. In many forms of animism, for instance, objects are seen as living connections to those who made or used them, acting as messengers from the past.

Religions and spiritual practices around the world also echo these ideas:
🌟 In shamanism, artefacts can act as conduits for communicating with ancestors or the spirit world.
🌟 In ancestor veneration, practiced in traditions like Shinto or African spirituality, objects are honored as sacred links to those who came before us.
🌟 Hinduism and Buddhism teach that encounters with meaningful objects could be karmic, a destined moment tied to a greater purpose.

For me, who has had the honour of disovering the incredible golden records accompanying this post, metal detecting is not just about finding historical treasures—it’s a deeply spiritual journey.
Each find feels like a gift from the earth, chosen to remind us of the lives, struggles, and dreams of those who came before us.
As you trudge through the mud on a cold Winter's day, remember you are part of something bigger—a living connection between history and the present. Each find is a call to listen, learn, and share the stories of those who came before us.
What about you? Have you ever felt a special connection with a find, as though it was meant for you to discover? Let’s share our experiences and celebrate the incredible spiritual and historical bond we have with the past.

And how, precisely, is having some artefact pocketed by an artefact hunter and later ending u in a skip or on eBay when they stop collecting a way to "share the stories of those who came before us"? Serious question. Archaeological investigations end in a publication and dissemination of the information. What are artefact hunters doing to pass on that non-material part of the legacy intact? Also hoiking single loose artefacts out of the ground, out of a site or assemblage means leaving part of teh "story" in the ground, inaccessible, alienated from what was removed. How is that a good thing, "spiritually"?

Pre-Clovis In US Arrowhead Collecting

I think this https://projectilepoints.net/ webpage is an excellent and thought-provoking resource about arrowhead collection (my project for 2025). I find its presentation of the typology very enlightening, and am particularly taken with the coverage of raw materials.* I have a question.

If one is an "arrowhead" hunter/ collector in the USA, what are the type names given to the "paleo" points that are pre-Clovis?

On US collectors' websites like this, am I mistaken in seeing that points of the 'Clovis 'cluster' seems to be the earliest types listed?

 If so, is this a persistence of the "Clovis First" model here? Do not US collectors aspire to be "independent thinkers trying to make sense of the past" like the British "metal detectorists" (laughably) claim to be? Is there any literature on this? (I mean the US, not the Brits)  



*The site is unattributed to a group of authors/moderators/creators - does anyone know who's behind it? 

Diffusion of Archaeological Content on Social Media

 
                                           "Looks like"                                
 

Comfort from Nature:
Bonacchi, C., Krzyzanska, M. and Acerbi, A. Positive sentiment and expertise predict the diffusion of archaeological content on social media. Sci Rep 15, 2031 (2025).  

Abstract
This study investigates the dissemination of archaeological information on Twitter/X through the lens of cultural evolution. By analysing 132,230 tweets containing the hashtag #archaeology from 2021 to 2023, we examine how content and context-related factors influence retweeting behaviour. Our findings reveal that tweets with positive sentiment and non-threatening language are more likely to be shared, contrasting with the common negativity bias observed on social media. Additionally, content authored by experts, particularly those with archaeological or historical expertise, is more frequently retweeted than content from popular figures lacking domain-specific expertise. The study also challenges the notion that pseudoarchaeology spreads rapidly and caution against overestimating its impact. Our results align with other studies on the spread of misinformation and “toxic” behaviour on social media, showing that the sharing of negative and hostile content by a vocal minority of users is mediated by other factors pertaining to the context of the communication. These insights underscore the nuanced dynamics of archaeology communication, emphasizing the importance of expert-led and positively charged narratives in engaging the public on social media.

There is a problem of the methodology here, only texts actually written to contain the hashtag #archaeology were considered. But the majority of discussion on social media has no such defining feature included by the author (it is not assigned by the application automatically when it senses that archaeology is being discussed). It cannot therefore be used to assess the entirety of the social media discussion with reference to the discipline, nor the interpretation of archaeological evidence. In particular, in the case of tweets in "English", a substantial portion of the archaeology content on social media will also be generated by artefact hunters and collectors (UK and USA - where both are common, socially acceptable and in the case of the UK, government supported). Yet in few cases will they be marked by an #archaeology hashtag. This would skew the authors' figures for the "professional" aspect (and dealers in archaeological artefacts?). I was puzzled by this: 

Our findings [...] challenge the notion that pseudoarchaeology spreads rapidly and caution against overestimating its impact".

Whoah. Is trhat really so? The conclusions need more vigorous testing using other labels ("Gobekli Tepe", "Giza", "Maltese Temples", "Megalithic", "ancient", "Clovis" [and "pre-Clovis"], "Younger Dryas", "Easter Island" for example)

Our results align with other studies on the spread of misinformation and “toxic” behaviour on social media, showing that the sharing of negative and hostile content by a vocal minority of users is mediated by other factors pertaining to the context of the communication.

The issue is that any mediation (really?) takes place OUTSIDE the echo-chambers that propagate and disseminate the negative and hostile content about "where archaeologists have got it wrong/are misleading the world/covering up the secrets", where there is little to no penetration. The authors seem not to have taken the context of discussions properly into account.

These insights{..] emphasiz[e] the importance of expert-led and positively charged narratives in engaging the public on social media.

So, this is where we get the main genres of archaeological outreach to the public through the media:

1) The ubiquitous posts: "look at this gorgeous... [glass bead, brooch, bit of coloured woollen fabric, etc...] / funny [phallic amulet or figure [tee hee], whimsical bronze mouse figurine, etc.].../ mysterious [Roman bronze dodecahedron, bâton de commandement/ percé, strange symbol in a graffito etc....]/ touching moment in time [fingerprints in ceramic vessel base, cat prints on a roman tile etc..], etc . [object-centric].

2) The infamous OTD ones beloved of Britain's Portable Antiquities Scheme, "on this day the emperor Squantius Maximus and his troops crossed the river at Rheims... here is a coin of Squantius Maximus". These embody a mixture of dumbdown as well as assumed superiority of the gatekeeper - exhibiting the artefact and (under the guise of benign educator) issuing some crumbs of ex cathedra wisdom for the forelock-tugging hoi polloi who did not have a classical education "like wot I did". [object-centric].


3) Then the trophy hunter, discoverer of this, the "biggest", "oldest", "best-preserved", most valuable/richly-decorated [= desirable] ones of these ever found... ["yeah, other museums have dodecahedrons, but OURS is the...."]. [object-centric].

4) continuing the "Discoverer" theme, we've cleverly/luckily found ("stumbled across") one of these [Roman villa, Hillfort, site with celtic metalwork/Slavic pottery etc] where nobody has ever found anything like that before or would never believe could be found here.

5) The spooky past wuuuuu [good Halloween story link] - "vampire grave", "were they buried alive?", a "witch bottle", "traces of mysterious rites".

6) Celebrity value. King Henry VIII's second cousin's personal seal matrix found in a field ("how did it get here? Perhaps [insert romantic speculation]") [often object-centric, and used to illustrate a history known from the written records].

7) An example of ... a thousand and one types of objects mentioned in the written records, and here, is an actual example of a [hawker's bell, Roman strigil, gaming dice, sherd with a gladiatorial scene, gem showing armour of the Homeric period, wadjet eye amulet etc etc...] [often object-centric, and used to illustrate a history known from the written records].

There are several more. The point is that NONE of them actually enlighten the reader on the nature of archaeology and its methodology(ies). The latter surely is the fundamental purpose of publoic education about archaeology - NOT simply lazily presenting it as merely digging up and making publicity/stories out of old things found. No matter how "positive". 

Collector JP Morgan

                  J.P. Morgan                

Every picture of collector JP Morgan published in his lifetime (and thus nearly every picture published since) was heavily retouched. This is what he actually looked like.

Illegal Metal Detecting in Butts Close: he got away with his lies

The scene, Butt's Close, Hitchin, North Hertfordshire

(Tony Riley FRIENDS OF BUTTS CLOSE AN OCCASIONAL NEWSLETTER June 2023)

[...] The Detectorist
Not the TV series, but a lone chancer on the Close. He had been approached, separately, by two Friends of Butts Close and he gave them lies about his having authorisation. NHC does not give permission to metal detectors on Council land, in common with almost all local authorities. I sent an email to you all on 5th May asking for any sightings. I did get a call, saw him operating myself, and called 999 to report ‘a crime in progress’. I was thanked for the information and the call was deprioritised – but the Police did contact NHC.
The Council has just two Environmental Crime Officers for the whole district, but one, David Furr, happened to be driving near the Close and advised the man that he did not have permission to operate there. He wouldn’t give his name, but he trudged off – and has not been seen since.

Metal Detecting may seem a fun and harmless hobby, and the organisations that promote it have careful Codes of Practice, but he obviously wasn’t following them. Further, he had been digging many holes to search for, identify or retrieve objects. He replaced the divots but these were not regrowing, and this was leaving shallow and potentially dangerous holes, hazards for adults and kids alike. Since he wasn’t following the Code of Practice there might also be doubt as to whether he would have reported anything relevant to the Local Finds Officer (Matthew Fittock, Verulamium Museum), which would be a loss to local archaeology. But for me there was one useful outcome. I found that there is a ‘Heritage Watch’ scheme, part of the Neighbourhood Watch initiative. I joined, and I now get regular updates from the Police on related (and alas unrelated) matters.

Hmm, so the Norgth Hertfordshire police 'watch', but don't do anything when they catch somebody acting antisocially and illegally?

Metal Detectorists in Russia

Sam Hardy has calculestimated that there are some 75,158 illicit detectorists in Russia (2016,pp. 217–19 but I believe a fresh estimate is coming) and I was looking at an anti-war Twitter ('X') exchange and this information came to mind. 

The tweet is this: 

Bricktop_NAFO @Bricktop_NAFO 
A Reminder For Russia.
Don't talk about Nukes so much when your population density looks like this.

2:53 AM · Jan 11, 2025 · 4,636 Views

followed by this:

Clair Cognizant @CarolynGarman5 · 4h
One big boom, one small boom; that's it. Light's out.

The consequences of nuclear war and the Mutually Assured Destruction do not bear thinking about. As one assumes the first strike would be an all-out attack by the madmen in the east (who at the moment almost daily recklessly threaten the west with it [RTV]), the fact that we could probably eliminate further threat and take the whole country back to the Late Bronze Age by a less environmentally damaging limited number of strikes is poor consolation.

Mutually Assured Destruction pic.twitter.com/s3yRul9hXe

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) September 14, 2024

A more down-to-earth conclusion if that this map probably represents where the metal detectorists are in the country. These areas are also the main centres of wealth of citizens (metal detectors are rather a luxury item for most hobbyists - though not professional looters). They are also what might be termed (or at least before the brutal Feb 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine when things changed) centres of western influence. Its where the main western shopping centres, services were based. 

So this is where the Russian archaeological heritage was being ripped up for the gratification of collectors. 

Hardy, S. A. 2016, ‘Black Archaeology’ in Eastern Europe: Metal Detecting, Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Objects, and ‘Legal Nihilism’ in Belarus, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Public Archaeology, 15(4):214–237, October, 2016.

"Viking silver pendant"

On an AncientArtifacts forum near you (jani.mccutcheon@uwa.edu.au   Jan 8 #102776):

Viking silver pendant 
Hi esteemed group. I am interested in buying this pendant for my daughter's birthday.  It is being sold by artemission. Does it look genuine to any experts here? I have no knowledge of these kinds of things. Thanks

The "experts" reacted by showing a (single photo of a) totally different type of pendant that it was claimed was authentic, because the seller is a "very friendly man and extremely knowledgeable expert.  I'll not comment on that second item beyond saying typologically that item is problematic and in terms of the surface condition... IMO it's a caveat emptor. 

As for Jani's lunula, because that's what this is, I am not at all a big fan of Artemission for a number of reasons. 

The type is not specifically "Viking" (but "Viking" sells well) but part of a horizon of silver items that occur singly and in hoards across a wide area of central and eastern Europe (with outliers in Scandinavia) going down the Volga in the central Asian area. My colleague Władek Duczko knows more than me about that. So not "Viking". 

But as lot of the ones on the market would have the granules cast - some are authentic ancient, the bulk are not. But this one is actual granulation. Somebody's put a lot of work into this one (and it IS a lot if you know the technique - look it up). That's a plus.

Typologically and stylistically it is OK. That's not a negative (its not a plus, as a copy could be a slavish copy, but there is nothing here about the type or - more importantly - style to raise an issue). [caveat, the granules might be a little on the large side and suspiciously even]

There are no pockets of pitting where two metals with different potential were in contact in the ground. No visible corrosion in the undercuts and recesses. So if it was there, it's been totally stripped out by harsh (electro-?)chemical methods. Or perhaps it was not there. That's a minus.

Its very shiny, but typically silver objects on the antiquities market tend to be - patina is not valued on silver or gold, they have to shine. Even if an already chemically-stripped object has tarnished from lying in a drawer untouched since the 1990s, dunking it in all sorts of nasty stuff will bring the shine back in a few seconds. So, not a minus (though I think collectors should value patinated ancient silver more).  

On the back you can see the metal structure has been altered by the granules on the other side and something has lightly etched out those differences. That might be a plus - see above. 

The loop and edges of the object show wear and damage. This could be artificial 'distressing', but doers look convincingly done/convincing. A plus. There is a "Westminster" group of really well-constructed fakes of early Medieval metalwork going round at the moment [seller: you KNOW who you are...] that tick all the boxes, but fall down on this one. The first ones were better but now they are getting sloppy. On stylistic grounds, I do not think this is a "Westminster" fake.

There is ZERO mention of any documentation of legal excavation (number of permit, landowner permission etc) or legal acquisition (most countries in the region have legislation vesting ownership of archaeological items like this in the state) or legal export (most countries in the region restrict this, there should be an export licence). No mention of any documentation explicitly clarifying the legal situation is a HUGE MINUS.

I would like this to be a fake, but this one ticks too many boxes. I think if the lady from the Australian educational institute wants to contribute to the looting of the European archaeology heritage  ("acquired in 1990s from an East European collection" apart from being orientalist, is NOT a provenance legitimating this item), she'd have what she's looking for. But personally 700USD could be better spent than on financing the looters and smugglers and the dodgy dealers (I think I know where this was obtained)  that rip up Europe's past so some doting mum can 'give that special gift' [oh and it might well have been obtained by grave-robbing, nice, eh?]. 

So, as always, caveat emptor. This one looks authentic... but has a highly shaky legal situation. 

I'd write this for Jani over there, but I am banned from using the AncientArtifacts forum. Their loss.

Syria: Return of an Exile

             .                                      

Joyce Hackel, ‘Thank God, the nightmare is over’: A Syrian returns home to Damascus to witness celebration and struggle' The World January 7, 2025

Amr al-Azm, an archaeologist and former professor at Damascus University, left Syria with his family in 2006. He recently returned to witness firsthand the celebrations and struggles that followed the abrupt departure of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. The World’s Carolyn Beeler speaks with Azm about what it’s been like to return. Interview here.
          

Damascus Museum Reopens a Month after Assad's Fall

                                     Museum reopens                            
        

 
AFP, 'Safe from looting, Damascus museum reopens a month after Assad's fall' France24.com 08/01/2025  

The national museum in Damascus reopened its doors on Wednesday for the first time since Islamist-led forces took control of the capital and ousted former president Bashar al-Assad. Remarkably, the museum and its collection remain intact.

On December 8, as Assad fled and rebel forces advanced on the capital, many soldiers and police loyal to the deposed government abandoned their posts. With security forces gone and checkpoints unmanned, looters took the opportunity to ransack the central bank, government ministries, and other public buildings.

The Museum's staff acted quickly to protect the collections.

"We firmly shut the museum's iron doors when we realized the situation had become unstable," said Mohamed Nair Awad, head of the national antiquities authority.

Despite the chaos, Awad and his team acted quickly, reaching out to the new authorities, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. "They sent fighters to protect the museum," Awad explained, adding that the intervention ensured its survival.

On Wednesday, members of the public strolled through the museum, marveling at its preserved collection—a poignant symbol of resilience amidst turmoil. The museum had been closed for six years during Syria's civil war, which broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, to protect its precious artefacts from violence or looting. It reopened in 2018, after Assad clawed back control of large swathes of the country.

Metal Detecting Advice in USA (The best Country in tha' World?)

Thread starter Damtheluck Friendly Metal Detecting Forum Dec 25, 2024 'Best neighborhoods are the worst neighborhoods

So though my research every town in south east texas and Louisiana old enough for silver are the hood. I dont want to get robbed or worse looking for coins. They have all the old curb strips, oldest parks, and abandoned lots. If you hunt in iffy areas is there a time of day you go? Any advice on protecting yourself? What's your experiences?

Diga:

I'm not certain my example is similar, but I've hunted a small city park that always has dozens of addicts that are known to be aggressive and even violent. I wore a yellow and red city worker's vest, and not once did an addict even come close to approaching me.

hoser

That's a shame. And it won't very soon that that condition might or will change. The only recourse is to hunt in numbers and possibly pack some heat.

MuddyMo

Probably better would be a good size pepper spray.

markinmichigan

The sketchy hood areas haven't always been that way. That's why we like to hunt those spots. Go out early in the morning, most hood rats are still sleeping off last nights fix. I'm going to hunt a closed high school in NE Detroit right now. I will be packing my Glock. Not too worried but I've been approached in a not so nice way in the past.

 So why not just hunt in the countryside? Ah... no SILVER coins there. 

Have a Look Over Their Shoulders: Free Artefact Hunting Magazines to Download and Reflect on

 

Loads of free Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting Magazines for free download, lots of disturbing articles and photos about looting in progress, from all over the world. Results For metal detecting | freemagazinespdf.com