pilfering

[Minimalist]

Yeah....of course they have a lot of laws in Italy but enforcement is a tad erratic.

[stan]

It ain't just Italy...

This paragraph from ARCHAEOLOGY is also worth reading:

The 1970s saw the continuing pillage of archaeological sites in Italy and elsewhere, as well as an increasingly organized movement to halt the trade in illegally unearthed artifacts. In 1970, UNESCO had passed its landmark cultural property convention, which bound member nations to fight the "illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership of cultural property." Italy ratified the convention in 1978, effective the following year, and the United States followed suit in 1983. In the late 1970s, a handful of American museums adopted acquisition policies to discourage the collecting of looted antiquities; the University of Pennsylvania Museum's 1978 policy, for example, states that the museum will not acquire "any materials known or suspected to be illegally exported from their country of origin." Around the same time, an American court ruled in United States v. McClain that antiquities dealers could be subject to criminal prosecution under the National Stolen Property Act for knowingly trafficking in artifacts from countries (like Italy) whose laws claim national ownership of cultural patrimony. But many museums and private collectors continued to buy, relying on dealers to provide enough of a paper trail so that they could claim to have acted in good faith, and counting on the fact that with multiple possible countries of origin for many kinds of artifacts, it would be difficult for any one country to lay a legally persuasive claim to any particular piece.

[Tech]

Continuing with Italy

The Trial in Rome February 6, 2006


In courts and behind closed doors, Italy is aggressively staking its claim to antiquities. ARCHAEOLOGY asked Andrew L. Slayman, who covered this story in his 1998 pieces "The Looting of Italy" and "Geneva Seizure" to bring it up to date. Slayman will report on major developments in the story this spring.

http://www.archaeology.org/online/features/italytrial/

[Minimalist]

I guess that's better than Israel where the trials are about the forging of artifacts.

[Guest]

The symbol of the modern city of Volterra, Italy - a community that originated in the Etruscan era before 600 bce - is a haunting statue called "The Shadow of the Night." It depicts a boy or young man - and is unusually elongated and thin. The statue was picked up by a wandering tourist from a trash heap - and so found its way to the world.

Apparently the trash heap was contemporary rather than of ancient origin. Virtually nothing is known of this statue, including whether it actually originated in Volterra. The style and materials at least suggest the artwork was of Etruscan make.

A copy of this ethereal work from the ancient past taunts me from the sofa end table. While no one should encourage random collection of artifacts, or plundering of archaeological sites, I remain yet grateful for the hiker who rescued this gem from a heap of dross.

[stan]

I agree...and the tourists did the responsibe thing, turning it over to the authorities instead of stealing it.

Guest, could you cite a URL for an image of this sculpture?

[Guest]

One of the sites to see a photo and read very *little* about the statue and its recovery is:

<http://www.comune.volterra.pi.it/englis ... metru.html>

This site about Etruscan art seems to debunk the story I was told of the statue's origins:

<http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/mishkin/lombra/etruscan.html>

This is about an exhibit of Etruscan art that included the statue:

<http://www.italia-online.com/mc/Etruscans.htm>

For the record, the version of the story I heard about the statue was that it was found by a tourist in a trash heap outside of Florence, and carried to Volterra. This was in documentation that accompanied the replica, brought as a gift by relatives who had visited the city during a trip tracing the last days of a family member killed in WWII combat just north of Volterra.

The very brief comment from the second link above indicates a very different version, but at the moment I have not located more detailed treatment. This is a bit odd, for Volterra literally reveres this statue. The city even hosts an extremely serious creative competition for music, theater, prose composition and other work stimulated by the theme of the statue. A civic panel of high honor is named every year as the "patrons" of the statue.

[stan]

Thanks for this information, Guest.
It is a remarkable piece.
Maybe the modern sculptor, Giacometti was
influenced by it.

[Minimalist]

From Today's News....and interestingly on point.


http://reuters.excite.com//article/2006 ... GS-DC.html

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two men who stole Native American rock carvings from a Nevada mountainside dodged punishment when a U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday prosecutors did not properly document the value of the carvings.

[stan]

Another example of government lawyers blowing their case.

[Minimalist]

You don't always get the best and the brightest working in the DA's office.

[Rokcet Scientist]

You don't always get the best and the brightest working in the DA's office.

Don't overrate them, Bob.