Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Looting arrests at a Bar Kokhba-era site

APPREHENDED: ANTIQUITIES THEFT FROM SECOND TEMPLE PERIOD PREVENTED IN CENTRAL ISRAEL. Security guards at Erez Crossing prevent smuggling of rare relics (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).
Three Arab men who attempted to loot gold coins from the archeological site of the Second Temple period’s bloody Bar Kokhba Revolt have been arrested by investigators from the Israel Antiquities Authority Robbery Prevention Unit.

Uzi Rothstein, an inspector from the unit, said he spotted one of the suspects during a routine afternoon patrol last Monday at the 2,000-year-old site, which is called Beit Shana and is located between Modi’in and Kibbutz Sha’alvim.

[...]
There weren't any gold coins to loot, but the suspects are still in trouble. Technically the Bar Kokhba revolt took place a couple of generations after the end of the Second Temple period.

The article also notes this:
In a separate incident on Sunday at the Gaza border’s Erez Crossing, security forces prevented a Palestinian man attempting to enter Israel from smuggling in several antiquities from Egypt, including a signet ring from the Bronze Age, ancient coins from the Hasmonean period and an ancient statue.
There is a photo of the seized objects.