Some objects in a trove of Persian, Sumerian, Assyrian and other
antiquities found last year in a truck could be from as early as 900
B.C., and the whole collection may be worth up to $690,000, Hungarian
police said on February 8, Associated Press reported.
Bronze artifacts, including a helmet,
small bells and horse tack, were likely from the grave of a high-ranking
military officer from Urartu, also called the Kingdom of Van,
corresponding mostly to parts of modern Armenia and Turkey, the
Bacs-Kiskun County police department said in a statement.(*)
Experts
said that that such a large assortment of objects had never been
recovered before from an Urartu grave and speculated that other
artifacts also taken from the grave, such as the officer’s weapons and
shields, may have been sold separately by the finders, said the report.
Police
have recommended that the 50-year-old Turkish driver, who said a man in
Istanbul paid him 300 euros ($320) to take the loot to Poland, be
charged with receiving stolen goods.
The haul is being kept for now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
"The Washington Post," February 8, 2017
--------------------
(*) Urartu was the first state that unified the Armenian Highland, with capital in Tuspa (current Van), from 860-590 a.C. Its territory included areas in the Republic of Armenia, Turkey, Persia, and the Republic of Mountainous Karabagh ("Armeniaca").
(**) It goes without saying that the Roman coins could not be found in the Urartian tomb ("Armeniaca").
No comments:
Post a Comment