An archivist at the New York State Library has been accused of stealing hundreds of artifacts and documents and selling some of them. Lawyer and history buff Joseph Romito of Virginia spotted an item on eBay that he knew was supposed to belong to New York and he alerted the authorities. 

Here’s an overview of the raids carried out by 500 FBI agents at several southern California art museums. Two dealers in Asian and Native American artifacts are suspected of smuggling antiquities, selling them to museums and collectors, and running a tax scheme to benefit their customers.  In response, officials at San Diego’s Mingei International Museum try to explain the museum’s connection to one of the artifact dealers snagged in the FBI’s sting operation. As Paul Apodaca, a curator at the Bowers Museum, said, “All of these people are supposed to be sophisticated people with understanding of the art and culture world. So can people claim ignorance in a situation like that?” The New York Times has also taken a crack at this scandal. This article runs with the photograph of art dealers John and Cari Markell with the Dalai Lama. 

A Byzantine-era mosaic made of glass tiles was uncovered in Caesarea in 2005, and has been restored to its “original state,” according to Poseph Patrich of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “It’s a unique find, a piece of art,” he added. 

Archaeologists spell out excavation dangers to “untrained privy diggers” in this article in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Collapse, disease, and legal troubles are numbered among the risks. 

Three 1,000-year-old temples were uncovered on an island in India’s Betwa River. Two large statues have been found, and archaeologists are looking for the third. They think the temple complex was probably a pilgrimage site in antiquity.  

Ground-penetrating radar will be used at the Paul Revere house in Boston. City archaeologists want to know everything they can before renovations begin at the nearby Lathrop Place, built in 1835. “It’s just an added dimension, additional information that can be considered when planning,” said Ellen Burkland. 

Southern Illinois University Museum will return a “bronze cat object” dating to 300 B.C. to Egypt.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, January 28, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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