The wooden cover, which would have held a mummy in the past, had been cut in half, likely by smugglers who needed to fit the artifacts into a suitcase.
Image: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
-
Why Is the Penis Shaped Like That?
Why do testicles hang the way they do? Is there an adaptive function to the female orgasm? What does it feel like to want to kill yourself? Does “free will”...
Read More »
Two decorated covers of coffins that once contained mummies have been seized by Israeli authorities, authenticated and dated to thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt.
Inspectors of the Unit for Prevention of Antiquities Robbery found the artifacts while checking shops in a marketplace in the Old City of Jerusalem. The inspectors confiscated the items under suspicion of being stolen property.
The ancient covers are made of wood and adorned with "breathtaking decorations and paintings of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics," says the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Researchers examined the covers with carbon dating — which looks at a radioactive form of carbon in a sample to determine its age — and other tools, finding the artifacts are authentic. They dated one of the covers to the period between the 10th and eighth centuries B.C., considered the Iron Age, and the other to between the 16th and 14th centuries B.C. (Late Bronze Age).
The researchers aren't sure exactly how the wooden covers made their way to Israel. However, the covers had been sawed into two parts (causing irreparable damage), suggesting smugglers needed to conceal the items in a standard-size suitcase, according to the IAA. Robbers may have plundered the ancient tombs in the Western Desert in Egypt; afterward, individuals may have smuggled the wooden covers from Egypt to Dubai, and then through another European country before ending up in Israel.
These types of covers typically hold a sarcophagus made of palm wood that contains the embalmed remains of a person — a mummy. Officials aren't sure what happened to the sarcophagi or the mummies. [Gallery: Amazing Egyptian Discoveries]
The confiscated antiquities highlight what is a seemingly vast black market for mummies and other antiquities. Though exact numbers are not known, some have suggested the market reaches the billions of dollars. In fact, smuggling mummies dates back to medieval times, when Egyptian mummies were ground up into a powder that was thought to have medicinal properties.
To prevent illegal antiquities smuggling like this, a new law in Israel, which is expected to eliminate loopholes that have allowed laundering of stolen Egyptian artifacts from other countries, will take effect on April 20, according to the IAA.
"The new regulation will provide us with the tools in order to prevent the importation into the country of antiquities that were stolen or plundered in other countries, thus enabling us to thwart the international cycle of robbery and trade in stolen archaeological artifacts," Shai Bar-Tura, inspector in charge of overseeing the antiquities trade on behalf of the IAA Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, said in a statement.
The newly confiscated wooden artifacts are currently being held under climate-controlled conditions in laboratories of the IAA in Jerusalem.
- Top 10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead
- Gallery: Scanning Mummies for Heart Disease
- Image Gallery: Egypt's Great Terrace of God
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
See what we're tweeting about
2 Comments
Add Comment"the covers had been sawed into two parts (causing irreparable damage)"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe thieves and their prospective buyer probably had no understanding of how the value is ruined by that kind of damage. The older coffin has a heritage line linking it to the time of the Valley of the Kings, and the more recent coffin has a claim to fame with a possible Tanis connection (hint: Indiana Jones).
Amazing discovery. Return it to Egypt.
This article illustrates that Egyptian antiquities theft is not about "value" but ownership by wealthy buyers of rare and irreplaceble historical artifacts, for display in private "museums" in hidden rooms or cellars of estates.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suspect that experts would have been called to attach the pieces and perform expert "restoration" for the wealthy buyer. Tragically on that note, I suspect these artifacts are cut into smaller parts for transport in even carry-on bags, then assembled like a jigsaw puzzle and expertly restored (like restoring a priceless oil painting that was ripped), for people willing to pay a Pharoah's ransom for the exclusive viewing privilege.
These wealthy people are sick and must be stopped at all costs, or nothing is sacred in historical artifacts.