Spanish authorities last week found hundreds of five-thousand-year-old archaeological artifacts and bone fragments in two houses in Alicante province. Two people are being investigated.
A Guardia Civil investigation began in November after police received information about a house in the small village of Cada de Corgos that allegedly contained ancient bones. A search confirmed the claim, revealing bone fragments that a local archaeologist determined to be four to five thousand years old.
The owner of the house and the antiquarian justified the possession of the artefacts by inheritance by claiming that they had received the artefacts after the death of a family member, but as there was no document regulating them, the police deemed the artefact collection illegal. Cooperating with authorities, the man also pointed in the direction of a second settlement in the neighboring city of Denia, where police would eventually find 350 archaeological artifacts, from Bronze Age mills to Roman looms and Phoenician amphorae. Like nearly 200 bone fragments.
“One of the largest illegal private collections”
The discovery made in the scope of the operation, dubbed “Osarium”, was considered “one of the largest illegal private collections in the province of Alicante”, police released photos of the seized millenary artefacts on Friday. About a thousand small tiles belonging to ancient Roman mosaics, as well as iron grenades and artillery shells from the 18th century.
The Guardia Civil found several notebooks containing handwritten notes, believed to have been made by a deceased family member, documenting the exact location where the items were found, which will help experts date and value the stored items. Archaeological Museum of Denia.
Two people involved in the case (the owners of the two houses) are under investigation and may answer to the charges of misappropriation of property of artistic, historical, cultural or scientific value.
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