Archeology in brief - The Best from Greece

Posted on: 30/Oct/2011 - PART of a Roman wall in Pompeii’s ancient ruins has collapsed, authorities said last week, a year after a gladiator house in the site crumbled and embarrassed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government.

Archeology in brief

Wall collapse in Pompeii renews worries for site

PART of a Roman wall in Pompeii’s ancient ruins has collapsed, authorities said last week, a year after a gladiator house in the site crumbled and embarrassed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. A chunk of the exterior of a perimeter wall in the Porta Nola area crumbled overnight after bad weather in the area, Pompeii’s archaeological superintendent department said in a statement. The collapse involved a roughly four-metre-by-two-metre portion of wall in an area that is less frequented by tourists. The damage was “limited and contained”, the statement said. The latest episode comes after four other collapses last year at the 2,000-year-old Roman ruin - including that of the “House of the Gladiators” - exposed growing decay at the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in AD79.

The collapses and subsequent accusations of neglect and mismanagement of the site helped trigger a no-confidence vote against Berlusconi’s culture minister in January. The minister, Sandro Bondi, survived that vote but resigned in March. Berlusconi himself is hanging on for survival as a worsening debt crisis and an unpopular austerity plan add to the premier’s own legal troubles and sex scandals. The Unesco world heritage site has been hurt by poor maintenance and a lack of funds for years. The city, once home to about 13,000 people, was buried under ash, pumice, pebbles and dust by the force of an eruption equivalent to some 40 atomic bombs. It was undiscovered for almost 1,700 years until excavations began in 1748.

Libya’s ancient heritage at risk of looting

LIBYA’S ancient treasures have so far largely survived civil war intact, but with the death of Muammar Gaddafi they could be at greater risk than ever from looters and unrest, the UN cultural agency said last week. Speaking at a conference on safeguarding Libya’s heritage, Unesco chief Irina Bokova warned delegates that death of Muammar Gaddafi could herald a risk to Libyan treasures just as thousands of archaeological pieces vanished after the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. “We know perfectly well that in a period of great instability that sites are threatened the most by looting,” she said, adding that Unesco had alerted art dealers and neighbouring countries to be on the look out for illegal trafficking.

Conquered by most of the civilisations that held sway over the Mediterranean, Libya has a rich legacy that includes five sites on Unesco’s World Heritage List, such as the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna and the ancient Phoenician trading post of Sabratha. According to a fact-finding mission that went to Libya in September to assess the damage inflicted from the seven-month conflict, many of the country’s accessible treasures have survived unscathed thanks in part to Unesco providing the Nato-led alliance with geographic coordinates of key cultural sites. “Risks remain, because the situation is not yet stabilised. We saw in other cases - like in Iraq or Afghanistan — that it’s the post-conflict (period) that is the most dangerous. Because when there are a lot of weapons, a lot of armed forces and a lot of instability, that’s when the looting begins,” said Francesco Bandarin, Unesco’s assistant director-general for culture. In Iraq, thousands of archeological pieces were stolen after American forces seized Baghdad in 2003 and only some of them were later recovered with the help of the international police agency Interpol. (Reuters)

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Accommodation Business Culture & Arts Entertainment Food & Drink General Greek Gastronomy Media Products Recreation Sea Tourism Shopping Sports Tourism Travel	Archeology in brief Posted on: 30/Oct/2011 - PART of a Roman wall in Pompeii’s ancient ruins has collapsed, authorities said last week, a year after a gladiator house in the site crumbled and embarrassed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. Archeology in brief Wall collapse in Pompeii renews worries for site PART of a Roman wall in Pompeii’s ancient ruins has collapsed, authorities said last week, a year after a gladiator house in the site crumbled and embarrassed Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government. A chunk of the exterior of a perimeter wall in the Porta Nola area crumbled overnight after bad weather in the area, Pompeii’s archaeological superintendent department said in a statement. The collapse involved a roughly four-metre-by-two-metre portion of wall in an area that is less frequented by tourists. The damage was “limited and contained”, the statement said. The latest episode comes after four other collapses last year at the 2,000-year-old Roman ruin - including that of the “House of the Gladiators” - exposed growing decay at the ancient city buried by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in AD79. The collapses and subsequent accusations of neglect and mismanagement of the site helped trigger a no-confidence vote against Berlusconi’s culture minister in January. The minister, Sandro Bondi, survived that vote but resigned in March. Berlusconi himself is hanging on for survival as a worsening debt crisis and an unpopular austerity plan add to the premier’s own legal troubles and sex scandals. The Unesco world heritage site has been hurt by poor maintenance and a lack of funds for years. The city, once home to about 13,000 people, was buried under ash, pumice, pebbles and dust by the force of an eruption equivalent to some 40 atomic bombs. It was undiscovered for almost 1,700 years until excavations began in 1748. Libya’s ancient heritage at risk of looting LIBYA’S ancient treasures have so far largely survived civil war intact, but with the death of Muammar Gaddafi they could be at greater risk than ever from looters and unrest, the UN cultural agency said last week. Speaking at a conference on safeguarding Libya’s heritage, Unesco chief Irina Bokova warned delegates that death of Muammar Gaddafi could herald a risk to Libyan treasures just as thousands of archaeological pieces vanished after the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. “We know perfectly well that in a period of great instability that sites are threatened the most by looting,” she said, adding that Unesco had alerted art dealers and neighbouring countries to be on the look out for illegal trafficking. Conquered by most of the civilisations that held sway over the Mediterranean, Libya has a rich legacy that includes five sites on Unesco’s World Heritage List, such as the Roman ruins of Leptis Magna and the ancient Phoenician trading post of Sabratha. According to a fact-finding mission that went to Libya in September to assess the damage inflicted from the seven-month conflict, many of the country’s accessible treasures have survived unscathed thanks in part to Unesco providing the Nato-led alliance with geographic coordinates of key cultural sites. “Risks remain, because the situation is not yet stabilised. We saw in other cases - like in Iraq or Afghanistan — that it’s the post-conflict (period) that is the most dangerous. Because when there are a lot of weapons, a lot of armed forces and a lot of instability, that’s when the looting begins,” said Francesco Bandarin, Unesco’s assistant director-general for culture. In Iraq, thousands of archeological pieces were stolen after American forces seized Baghdad in 2003 and only some of them were later recovered with the help of the international police agency Interpol. (Reuters) Back to the Culture Overview Homepage Share	Mykonos Rhodes Crete Aegina Kefalonia Ios Book Online Mykonos Rhodes Crete Aegina Kefalonia Ios
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