Italian authorities have recovered precious 3rd century B.C. artifacts from an Etruscan necropolis looted by a couple of bungling tomb raiders in Umbria who stumbled across the haul on their land. The Etruscans flourished in central Italy around 2,500 years ago but were gradually assimilated into the Roman Empire. They left behind lavish tombs, pottery and statues but few written documents and patchy evidence of their daily lives. The artifacts, including eight urns, two sarcophagi and beauty accessories such as bronze mirrors and a perfume bottle still redolent of its original scent, are worth at least 8 million euros (US$8.5 million), Carabinieri art police said. They were found in Citta della Pieve, about 150 kilometers north of Rome. One sarcophagus contained the full skeleton of a woman in her 40s, while the urns were finely decorated with scenes from Greek mythology and female figures with still-visible red paint on their lips and gold coloring on their jewels. Police seized the loot from two entrepreneurs who had unearthed Etruscan burial chambers while excavating land they owned, Perugia chief prosecutor Raffaele Cantone told a press conference last week. They “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, the prosecutor said. The Carabinieri caught up with them after they posted pictures of their discovery on the internet in the hope of finding buyers, triggering investigations that included phone wiretaps, stakeouts and air surveillance drones. Police finally swooped on the suspects after one of them posted on Facebook a picture of himself with a looted artifact, Cantone said. The pair face charges related to theft and trading in stolen goods, and risk jail sentences of up to 10 years. (SD-Agencies) 意大利追回珍寶 盜墓賊手法“業余” 意大利翁布里亞的幾個笨拙的業余盜墓者在自家土地上偶然發現了伊特魯里亞人的墓地，發掘了一批公元前3世紀的珍貴文物，現在他們被警察抓住了。 大約 2500 年前，伊特魯里亞人在意大利中部繁衍生息，但逐漸被羅馬帝國同化。他們留下了奢華的墓葬、陶器和雕像，但鮮有文字記載，關于他們日常生活的證據也很零散。 意大利藝術警察說，這些文物至少價值800萬歐元（約合850萬美元），包括八個骨灰甕、兩個石棺和女性用品，例如銅鏡和一個仍然散發著香味的香水瓶。 這些文物是在羅馬以北約150公里的皮耶韋城發現的。 其中一個石棺里有一具40來歲婦女的完整骸骨，骨灰甕上則裝飾著精美的希臘神話場景和女性形象，她們嘴唇上的紅色顏料和珠寶上的金色顏料依然清晰可見。 佩魯賈市首席檢察官拉斐爾?坎托內上周在新聞發布會上說，警方從兩名盜墓賊手中繳獲了這些贓物，他們在挖掘自家土地時發現了伊特魯里亞人的墓室。 檢察官說，他們“與盜墓網絡毫無關系”，試圖在被盜藝術品黑市銷贓的方式“笨拙”且“業余”。 他們將文物的照片發布到互聯網上希望找到買家，然后警察就發現了他們，于是使用了電話竊聽、監視和無人機空中偵察在內的手段展開調查。 坎托內說，其中一人在Facebook上發布了一張和被盜文物的自拍后，警方最終鎖定了嫌疑人。 這兩人面臨著盜竊和銷贓的相關指控，或被判處長達 10 年的監禁。(Translated by Debra) | 