Tuesday, May 09, 2017

The Polish army's archaeological collection

RECENTLY REDISCOVERED: Biblical Artifacts Collected by anti-Nazi Polish Soldiers Found in Israel. The thousands of items in the archaeological treasure trove, which sat for decades in Jerusalem's Old City, span from the second century B.C.E. to the early 20th century (Nir Hasson, Haaretz). The, uh, collected artifacts were kept in a basement in the Polish Embassy. The IAA gave permission for most of them to be taken to Poland to be exhibited there. International law required that the two cuneiform tablets and a fresco fragment not be moved abroad.

Yes, the artifacts were looted, but no one seems inclined to make a big issue of that now. These guys were fighting Nazis, after all. Sort of like Indy, only in real life.