[CPProt.net] Israel: Thieves caught selling ancient human bones

[Museum Security Network / Cultural Property Protection Net (Ton Cremers)]

Thieves caught selling ancient human bones

Etgar Lefkovits, THE JERUSALEM POST  May. 22, 2005 

First the antiquities thieves sold stolen ancient burial boxes. 

Now, they are trying to sell the human bones inside them as well. 

Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Sunday that they had thwarted an
attempt by two Jerusalem Arab men to sell four Second-Temple ossuaries - and
the human bones inside them - to Israel's disaster victims' identification
organization for reburial. 

The 2,000 year old burial boxes, with Aramaic lettering on them, were dug up
from an ancient Jewish cemetery located on the edge of east Jerusalem
village of Issawiya, the head of the Antiquities Authority's anti-theft
division Amir Ganor said. 

The two Jerusalem Arab men, who are brothers, then allegedly contacted Zaka,
the disaster victims' identification organization, offering to sell the
ossuaries - and the bones in them - for $4000, he said. 

The organization is widely known for its pains-taking work in recovering
human remains in the wake of Palestinian suicide bombings for burial as
required by Jewish law. 

Zaka contacted law enforcement officials who, in conjunction with the
antiquities authority, arrested the two middle aged suspects during the
'deal.' 

The two, who have previous criminal records, have been released on bail.
They will face multiple criminal charges of antiquities and property theft,
Ganor said. 

In the meantime, the human remains unearthed from the cemetery are being
reburied by Zaka, while the ossuaries will be used as court evidence, he
added. 

About 300 archeology thefts are detected each year in Israel, with the
illicit antiquities trade on the black market in the country estimated to be
running in the millions of dollars a year. 

Despite the overall drop in violence in Israel, the number of antiquities
thefts has risen by more than 50 percent in the last year alone. 

In 2004 there were 314 reported cases of antiquities theft, compared with
fewer than 200 in 2003. 

The phenomenon of antiquities theft has taken on gold rush dimensions, with
an antiquities site now plundered every day on average. 

Earlier this month, a rare archaeological artifact dating back nearly two
thousand years which was stolen from an archaeological site in Israel was
intercepted in the mail en route to the US.