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Italy has been on a campaign to recover looted artifacts, using the courts and public shaming to compel museums and collectors to return them, and has won back several important pieces.

The items returned Tuesday were either spontaneously turned over to U.S. authorities or seized by police after investigators noticed them in Christie's and Sotheby's auction catalogues, gallery listings, or as a result of customs searches, court cases or tips. One 17th-century Venetian cannon was seized by Boston border patrol agents as it was being smuggled from Egypt to the U.S. inside construction equipment, police said.

U.S. Ambassador John Phillips joined Italy's carabinieri art police to show off the haul. It included Etruscan vases from the Toledo Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 17th-century botany books from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and a manuscript from the 1500s stolen from the Turin archdiocese in 1990 that ended up listed in the University of South Florida's special collections.

"Italy is blessed with a rich cultural legacy and therefore cursed to suffer the pillaging of important cultural artifacts," Phillips said, adding that Interpol estimates the illicit trade in cultural heritage produces more than $9 billion in profits each year.

Police said several of the items were allegedly sold by Italian dealers Giacomo Medici and Gianfranco Becchina, both convicted of trafficking in plundered Roman artifacts. After the objects were recovered, Italian authorities confirmed their provenance.

Police stressed that most collectors and museums willingly gave up the artifacts after learning they had been stolen. The Minneapolis museum director contacted the Italian culture ministry after reading an article about one suspect piece, police said.

Phillips praised the collaboration between Italy's police and U.S. Homeland Security and border patrol agents. He also said the U.S. had returned more than 7,600 objects to over 30 countries and foreign citizens since 2007.

Author: Nicole Winfield | Source: The Associated Press [May 26, 2015]

The Egyptian-style pyramid-shaped tomb of Gaius Cestius, an Augustan era general, reopened to the public this week following an extensive restoration initiated in March 2013. Japanese fashion mogul Yuzo Yagi who funded the project said "It is extraordinary to return it to the white city like [it was] two thousand years ago. It was a great job with an incredible team led by two women", referring to Rita Paris and Maria Grazia Filetici, Italy's archaeological superintendency directors who oversaw the project.

The 120 foot-high pyramid, according to Paris, was constructed in 330 days, made of white Carrara marble. The 21st century restoration of the 2000-year-old tomb took a cumulative 327 days, 75 days less than projected.

Yagi donated two million euros to the innovative internal and external restoration that required a mix of traditional and non-tradition conservation in areas such as vegetation removal, marble facade protection, marble panel stabilization and damage prevention, and a handicap-accessible entrance ramp.

The restoration was much needed after centuries of wear and tear, which included, as Paris detailed, the tomb's incorporation into the 3rd century AD walls, looting in the Middle Ages, mid-17th century restoration, and use as a meeting spot in the 19th century.

Present at the invitation-only inauguration was Umberto Vattani, president of the Italy-Japan Foundation, cultural and foreign affairs undersecretaries Francesca Barracciu and Benedetto Della Vedova, Rome Cultural Heritage superintendent Francesco Prosperetti, and Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino.

Barracciu said that the restoration was "a brilliant best practice that strengthens our belief that the public and private collaboration is a way to go again with more determination. And since last July's Art Bonus, we are very confident ".

When asked if Yagi would finance future heritage projects in Italy, the fashion mogul said "we have a long list of aid to Japan, for the tsunami-affected areas. But I would be happy to return in the coming years".

Author: Erica Firpo | Credit: ANSAmed [April 21, 2015]

The historic underground tunnel linking the Colosseum with its gladiatorial training barracks could be restored thanks to a $1.7 million donation from the Kuwait government.

“We are in talks with Kuwait, one of several countries that has shown an interest in investing in Rome’s cultural heritage,” a spokesman for the city council said.

The Ludus Magnus, also known as the Great Gladiatorial Training School, is located a few hundred yards from the arena and was the largest facility in Rome.

Thousands of gladiators lived and trained there for more than 650 years until the middle of the 6th century when gladiatorial shows came to an end.

Today, the ancient remains lie neglected and littered with rubbish.

The Kuwaiti donation will renovate the area where gladiators would suit up for battle and collect their weapons before walking through the torch-lit tunnel and out into the arena, in scenes famously recreated in Ridley Scott’s blockbuster Gladiator starring Russell Crowe.

“For many years the area around the gladiator school has been rather forgotten, and impossible to visit. We hope to make some significant improvements and restructure the whole zone,” a city spokesperson said.

First built by Emperor Domitian between 81 and 96AD, the barracks were at least two storeys high and included a practice area where gladiators would put their combat skills to the test.

Remains of the site were discovered in 1937 but are thought to be from the second phase of building during Emperor Trajan’s reign from 98AD.

Author: Kate Mead | Source: Yahoo News [June 05, 2015]

The pyramids at Meroe, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, are rarely visited despite being a UNESCO World Heritage site like those in Egypt. Sanctions against the government of longtime President Omar al-Bashir over Sudan's long-running internal conflicts limit its access to foreign aid and donations, while also hampering tourism.

The site, known as the Island of Meroe because an ancient, long-dried river ran around it, once served as the principle residence of the rulers of the Kush kingdom, known as the Black Pharaohs. Their pyramids, ranging from 6 meters (20 feet) to 30 meters (100 feet) tall, were built between 720 and 300 B.C. The entrances usually face east to greet the rising sun.

The pyramids bear decorative elements inspired by Pharaonic Egypt, Greece and Rome, according to UNESCO, making them priceless relics. However, overeager archaeologists in the 19th century tore off the golden tips of some pyramids and reduced some to rubble, said Abdel-Rahman Omar, the head of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum.

On a recent day, a few tourists and white camels roamed the site, watched by a handful of security guards. Sudan's tourism industry has been devastated by economic sanctions imposed over the conflicts in Darfur and other regions. Al-Bashir's government, which came to power following a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989, has struggled to care for its antiquities.

Qatar has pledged $135 million to renovate and support Sudan's antiquities in the last few years. But Omar said Sudan still receives just 15,000 tourists per year.

Author: Maggie Michael | Source: The Associated Press [April 26, 2015]

Palmyra is the last place anyone would expect to find a forest of stone columns and arches. Travellers in the 17th and 18th centuries were repeatedly astonished by what they saw: a vast field of ruins in the middle of the Syrian desert, roughly half-way between the Mediterranean coast and the valley of the River Euphrates.

For anyone visiting, however, the key reason for the site's prosperity is immediately apparent: ancient Palmyra sits at the edge of an oasis of date palms and gardens.

It was as a watering place on a trade route from the east that Palmyra's story begins, and the very name Palmyra refers to the date palms that still dominate the area (the origin of its Semitic name, Tadmor, is less certain; a derivation from tamar - date palm - is favoured).

Palmyrene power

For such a remote city Palmyra occupies a prominent place in Middle Eastern history. From modest beginnings in the 1st Century BC, Palmyra gradually rose to prominence under the aegis of Rome until, during the 3rd Century AD, the city's rulers challenged Roman power and created an empire of their own that stretched from Turkey to Egypt.

The story of its Queen Zenobia, who fought against the Roman Emperor Aurelian, is well known; but it is less well-known that Palmyra also fought another empire: that of the Sasanian Persians.

In the middle of the third century, when the Sasanians invaded the Roman Empire and captured the Emperor Valerian, it was the Palmyrenes who defeated them and drove them back across the Euphrates.

For several decades Rome had to rely on Palmyrene power to prop up its declining influence in the east.

Unique attributes

Palmyra was a great Middle Eastern achievement, and was unlike any other city of the Roman Empire.

It was quite unique, culturally and artistically. In other cities the landed elites normally controlled affairs, whereas in Palmyra a merchant class dominated the political life, and the Palmyrenes specialised in protecting merchant caravans crossing the desert.

Like Venice, the city formed the hub of a vast trade network, only with the desert as its sea and camels as its ships.

Even so, archaeology has revealed that they were no strangers to the sea itself.

Palmyrenes travelled down the Euphrates to the Gulf to engage in seaborne trade with India, and even maintained a presence in the Red Sea ports of Egypt.

The wealth they derived from the eastern trade in exotic goods they invested in imposing architectural projects in their home city.

The well-preserved remains of edifices such as the great sanctuary of the Palmyrene Gods (generally known as the Temple of Bel), a grand colonnaded street and a theatre stand to this day.

Historical threat

What has been excavated has revealed a vibrant Middle Eastern culture with its own distinct sense of identity.

The Palmyrenes were proud to adorn their buildings with monumental writing in their own Semitic script and language rather than relying exclusively on Greek or Latin (which was the norm elsewhere).

Palmyra developed its own artistic style, and its own take on Classical architecture. Decorative patterns on its buildings and its inhabitants' styles of dress speak of widespread connections with east and west.

Chinese silks have been found adorning mummies in Palmyrene tombs. Theirs was a cosmopolitan culture with an international outlook.

Yet we still know comparatively little.

Only small parts of the site have been excavated. Most of the archaeology lies just beneath the surface rather than deeply buried, and it is particularly vulnerable to looting.

Like other sites in Syria Palmyra has undoubtedly been plundered during the present conflict. But given the track record of ISIS in Iraq there are reasons to fear systematic looting and destruction should Palmyra fall into their hands.

If that happens, a major chapter in Middle Eastern history and culture will be yet another casualty of this tragic conflict.

Author: Prof Kevin Butcher | Source: BBC News Website [May 15, 2015]

The Italian agreement

The excavation, led by a team of American and Canadian archaeologists from the American Institute of Roman Culture, is bringing back to light an upper-class Roman home, or domus, from the fourth century A.D, as well as 2,000 year-old mausoleum, both located in Ostia's Parco dei Ravennati.

The site had been closed during the winter but when archaeologists visited it a few days ago, they got a nasty shock.

"“When we re-opened the dig site we found that some serious damage had been done,"” the team of scholars told Il Messaggero.

But this was not just everyday vandalism. The number '666', the widely recognized symbol for the Antichrist, had been carved into the site numerous times and the area was littered with birds' feathers and the remains of bonfires. “

In addition to the spooky remnants of occult rites the site was also full of junk.

“"During the winter people had been sleeping out here and had left all sorts among the ruins,”" the archaeologists said.

Bottles were strewn across the ruins and the vandals had even removed some iron poles, perhaps as part of some mysterious ritual.

Source: The Local [July 10, 2015]

The ancient Jewish town of Bet She'arim reached its zenith in the 2nd-4th centuries CE. The inhabitants of Bet She'arim hewed grand tombs deep within the hill, with rock-cut burial chambers and stone coffins (sarcophagi). The rooms and the sarcophagi feature an abundance of carved reliefs, inscriptions and wall paintings. Stone-carved doors, which imitate the style of wooden doors, were fashioned to close some of the caves.

In the third century CE, Bet She'arim became a renowned Jewish center due to the presence of the spiritual leader Rabbi Judah Hanasi, head of the Sanhedrin. The Roman authorities, who supported his leadership, gave him much property, including an estate at Bet She'arim. Rabbi Judah moved the Sanhedrin from Shefar'am to Bet She'arim, and towards the end of his life to Zippori. He was buried at Bet She'arim in 220 CE, garnering fame for its cemetery in the Jewish world throughout in the talmudic

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority noted that the site is the oldest and most densely populated cemetery in Israel, and one of the most crowded burial sites in the Roman world, similar to the catacombs in Rome. "This is the most important ancient Jewish cemetery, and it contains a wide variety of architectural burial styles, containing a varied wealth of Classical Oriental Roman art, combined with folk art, with hundreds of inscriptions in four languages - Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Palmyric."

Last year, Beit Guvrin was declared a World Heritage Site. Other sites previously added to the prestigious list were the Nahal Me’arot Nature Reserve, the Baha'i holy sites in Haifa and the Western Galilee, the Incense Route and its Nabatean towns, the biblical tels of Megiddo, Hazor and Be'er Sheva, The White City of Tel Aviv, Masada and the Old City of Acre. The Old City of Jerusalem and its walls were the first Israeli heritage site declared by UNESCO, in 1981.

Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [July 05, 2015]

"The fact of the matter is that physical weathering, deterioration and damage to marble and other architectural stones present a serious problem for the preservation of sculptures, monuments and buildings," said Luzin.

David: A sculpture made from Carrara marble

Before its relocation in Galleria dell'Accademia, David, the "Giant", was  symbolically displayed in the political heart of Renaissance Florence, the Piazza della Signoria. Over a period of almost three centuries, the statue was exposed to the action of weather, historical events and inappropriate restoration works. These coexisting factors prevented the appropriate preservation of a masterpiece that, already at the time of its creation, was regarded as challenging by many artists—due to the presence of taroli, imperfections of the marble.

Today David is in a highly stable condition but still presents a contemporary scientific challenge from a conservation point of view. Researchers are monitoring marble cracking of the 4.3 metre David with a system of sensors that record vibrations, rotations and environmental conditions. [1] Conservationists monitor the sculpture because it is thought that even small mechanical impacts and small temperature variations are detrimental to marble.

Geologically marble is formed by the alteration (metamorphism) of limestone under high temperature and high pressure. The metamorphic process causes a complete recrystallization of the original rock into an interlocking mosaic of calcite and/or dolomite crystals with very specific mechanical behaviour.

Carrara marble, the stone used by Michaelangelo in sculpting David, was  one of the most popular types of marble in the world because of its beauty and high lustre. For centuries it was quarried from the Apuan Alps in Tuscan Italy.

The popularity of Carrara marble was due in part to the wide range of varieties available (statuary, flowered, veined, brecciated, bardiglio, etc.), to the constancy of its quality, scarcity of defects, large size of single blocks that could be extracted, excellent physical and mechanical characteristics, and long-lasting strength and beauty." [2]        

However the suitability of marble from the Carrara area of Italy for buildings and artworks has been questioned because of 'spectacular bowing behaviour' of marble slabs on numerous modern buildings including the Amoco building in Chicago and the Grand Arche de la Defense in Paris.

A study of Carrara marble by a group of investigators led by Luzin have confirmed that microstresses caused by temperature variation and the thermo-mechanical properties of the marble itself help explain the deterioration. Co-investigators are Dimitry Nikolayev of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Moscow and Siegfried Siegesmund of theUniversity of Göttingen in Germany.

The investigators were interested in the different environmental conditions that influence marble deterioration and had to reproduce factors known to be important to the process of deterioration. Temperature effects were among those known to cause mechanical stress.

Luzin and collaborators used non-destructive neutron diffraction to confirm that thermally-induced microstress from a single thermal exposure can cause microcracking in the marble and therefore be responsible for weathering and deterioration of the marble [3].

"Neutron diffraction is a useful tool and a non-destructive method to investigate the texture, phase composition and spatial and orientation dependence of strain in a bulk marble sample," explained Luzin.

Although the commercial use of statue-grade Carrara marble is no longer allowed, an exception is made for restoration works and scientific research. Freshly cut marble from a quarry in Carrara, Italy was used for the testing.

"Although not easy, stress measurements in geological materials, such as marble are feasible and provide valuable characterisation," said Luzin.

He explained that the challenges are related to the need to measure two phases with sufficient accuracy. It is necessary to use a large gauge volume because of the coarse grain microstructure and longer measurement time in order to capture very delicate effects of microstress in calcite and dolomite—which are also very weak neutron scatterers.

The neutron high resolution powder diffractomter, Echidna, determined the amount of each phase in two cube samples of marble. In one sample, the dolomite comprised a volume fraction of 28 per cent  and in the other it was 18 per cent, which is not surprising given the highly visible non-uniform distribution of dolomite in the marble.

The Kowari diffractometer was used to produce pole figures, graphical representations that   capture the preferred crystallographic orientation (texture) of the calcite and dolomite. "A weak crystallographic texture in both phases was confirmed in the neutron diffraction experiment," said Luzin.

The stress experiments were carried out using the Kowari diffractometer in a specially designed sample environment unit in order to control temperature. "We took measurements of the calcite and dolomite phases at room temperature and at 80° C."

Using a technique to measure the stiffness of an elastic material, the researchers were able to accurately measure the accumulated damage after a thermal exposure that could be unambiguously attributed to microcracking.

"Evidently, a significant change in microstress caused micro-cracking in the marble sample due to temperature changes," said Luzin.

Although exaggerated temperature might not be relevant to real daily and seasonal temperature variation, smaller, more numerous natural temperature variations during long periods of time might result in even greater accumulated damage. There are historical examples of sculpture which deteriorated into a pulverised state after a century of exposure to temperature variation.

"We have a responsibility to try and preserve great works of art and architecture with non-destructive techniques and nuclear technologies give us the means to do this. Hopefully David and other important monuments can be preserved in the centuries to come," said Luzin.

References

[1] Giovanni Pascale, Filippo Bastianini, Roberto Carli, "Monitoring Marble cracking in the David by Michaelangelo Proc. Art'11, 10th Int. Conf. on Non-Destructive Investigations and microanalysis for the diagnostics and conservation of cultural and environmental heritage, Florence, April 13th-15th, 2011, NDT44

[2] Stephano Merlino Paolo Orlandi "Carraraite and zaccagnaite, two new minerals from the Carrara marble quarries: their chemical compositions, physical properties, and structural features" American Mineralogist, Volume 86, pages 1293–1301

[3] 310.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.777.148. Luzin, V; Nikolayev, D and Siegesmund, S, Temperature Induced Internal Stress in Carrara Marble, Mater. Sci. Forum 777, 148-154 (2014)

Source: Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) [June 22, 2015]