Italian Police Arrest ‘Clumsy’ Tomb Raiders Who Allegedly Posted Stolen Etruscan Artifacts on Facebook

Italian authorities have recovered several rare Estrucan artifacts from the third century, after inexperienced tomb raiders reportedly posted a picture with the stolen goods on Facebook.

According to a statement from Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the artifacts come from an ancient cemetery in the central region of Umbria. Among the items recovered are funerary objects, including four bronze mirrors, a perfume bottle and a bone comb. Police also reclaimed multiple sarcophagi, and one still had a complete skeleton of an adult woman inside.

The Estrucan civilization was based in central Italy and flourished centuries before the rise of Rome. The culture is celebrated for its art, architecture, religion and style—with many crediting Etruscans with the invention of the toga. Eventually the culture was absorbed into the Roman Republic.

In addition to the funerary object, officials recovered bronze vessels used for banquets, and eight ancient urns decorated with art and inscriptions. Texts from this time are rare, so ancient Etruscan inscriptions are key to learn more about the people. The urns have images depicting ancient battles, hunting scenes and myths like that of Achilles and Troilus.

Officials claim the items once belonged to an influential Etruscan family that lived around the third century B.C.E. Reuters’ Alvise Armellini reports that police say the objects are worth over $8.4 million and were set for illegal sale on the black antiquities market.

According to Perugia Chief Prosecutor Raffaele Cantone, the alleged looters “had nothing to do with the world of practiced tomb raiders and were clumsy and amateurish in the way they tried to access the black market for looted art,” per the Greek Reporter’s Luis Mendoza.

Last April, after officials discovered pictures of the stolen items circulating on the illicit art market, they began to dig into the case. Investigators worked with a professor from the University of Rome Tor Vergata to help find the burial site where the objects came from. They have concluded that the artifacts were buried in Citta della Pieve, a small town north of Rome. The burial site was first uncovered in 2015 by a farmer who was plowing land in the area.

Officials tapped the phones of the suspected robbers and were able to home in on their primary suspect—a local business owner with property near the ancient site. At one point, they also found a picture of one of the suspects with an artifact on Facebook, per Retuers.

Italian police have charged two people with crimes relating to theft and trading stolen goods. According to the Ministry of Culture statement, the whole investigation has resulted in one of the most important discoveries of Etruscan antiquities that has ever come from police work.

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.