The National Police has seized 12,000 archaeological pieces up to 100,000 years old in Caceres and has arrested a personarchaeologist by profession, as responsible for his alleged robbery. According to police sources made public this Saturday, the agents have intervened in an operation to recover what have finally been more than 10,000 objects of “great historical value” and that belong to a chronological arc “with a high scientific and economic interest”. Among the intervened pieces are Visigoth slates, fibulae, ceramic remains, thousands of coins, blades of Roman weapons and a revolver.
The detainee, police sources specify, has a degree in Geography and History, has participated in some archaeological prospecting and has published articles in specialized magazines. However, one of the particularities that the police collects regarding the detainee came to intervene on some valuable piece with “white putty and glue” improperly.
The investigation began when the agents specialized in Historical Heritage learned that the accused possessed a considerable quantity of slates of Visigothic origin with writing, drawing and numerals, presumably looted since “they were original materials and that belonged to a time in which few written references survive“. He also owned a multitude of coins.
The agents carried out the inquiries to locate this person in the town of Cáceres and carried out a search at his home, in which they found the blackboards and the rest of the archaeological pieces. Among the most valuable objects is a reddish-toned Visigothic slate with a text in Roman cursive in late ancient Latin plagued with contractions and the errors of its time. The translation tells of the theft of seven goats suffered by a woman named Terentia. Also among the most outstanding finds are a bell-shaped vessel dated between 2200 BC. C., a small box with seven pieces of surgical instruments from Roman times, a prehistoric biface, a Sephardic seal or a Lefacheaux revolver, among others.
