Peter Campbell

How did hundreds of antiquities end up in a London warehouse? These sleuths are on the case. National Geographic Explorer Peter Campbell provides an inside look at the early stages of a heritage crime investigation.

National Geographic goes behind the scenes with @petercampbell.bsky.social as part of an OSCE investigation into the seizure of some 200 Cambodian, Bactrian, and Gandharan antiquities that were "roughly removed" from archeological sites.

www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

Over the years, I wrote parts of two books there and we had film production meetings there. Right after the COVID lockdown I had the place almost entirely to myself. 265 years is a good run though.

Caffè Greco 1760-2025. One of the oldest coffee houses in Europe has closed, which served historical figures such as Goethe, Byron, Hans Christen Andersen, Sitting Bull, Mark Twain, John Keats, Gogol, and more. It was a mainstay of my Rome tours with the British School at Rome, and to meet friends.

Half of the Tiber survey team in Rome for planning the next phase.

Thanks!

Can I ask if this takes into account eustatic and isostatic sealevel change?

Alleged head of Egyptian antiquities trafficking ring leaves France amid ‘breakdown’ in criminal investigation Serop Simonian was allowed to leave Paris and return to his hometown of Hamburg following a French magistrate’s decision that was subsequently overturned on appeal

Serop Simonian of the alleged Dib-Simonian trafficking network is on the lam after French authorities released him amid a sprawling investigation of his role in trafficking looted Egyptian antiquities to institutions including the Met and Louvre Abu Dhabi.

www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/03/27/s...

Thanks Andrew!

In Rome for the Underwater Archaeological Missions in the Mediterranean conference in the beautiful Instituto Centrale del Restauro. Many brilliant colleagues presenting on missions that span the Mediterranean- and all in memory of our colleague Sebastiano Tusa.

The OSCE Heritage Crime Task Force ran another training workshop in Poland this week. Investigators from around Eastern Europe gathered to learn investigative techniques and forensic evidence collection for heritage crimes. Another impactful workshop for the OSCE.

Thrilled to announce that myself and colleagues have created Heritage Crime Investigations Inc to provide bespoke training workshops and forensic kits for heritage managers, police, and military. We’ve hit the ground running with consultancies for a number of institutions. heritagecrime.com

Brilliant! It’s a good gig.

Roads less travelled: we are visiting the remote atolls of the Seychelles - Saint-Francois, Assumption, and Astove. Accessing these locations with PONANT is a special opportunity as they are home to endangered species and fascinating archaeology. #ponant #explorersclub

Another OSCE Heritage Crime Task Force training workshop is in the books: this time tackling underwater heritage crime. Big thanks to our hosts in Portugal, good to see the task force and Portuguese archaeologists again!

Johns Hopkins archeologist discovers ‘humanity’s earliest-known’ alphabet A Johns Hopkins University archeologist and his team are credited with discovering “humanity’s earliest-known alphabetic writing.”

JHU archaeologist’s discovery of earliest alphabet. www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...

As we approach the Winter Solstice, here's what Stonehenge looked like in the 16th century.

BL Add MS 28330; Lucas De Heere, Corte Beschryvinghe van Engheland, Schotland, ende Irland; 1573 CE-1575 CE; England (London); f.36r

Thanks Nigel!

A full week of Birthdays ahead at Past Preservers, starting off with our expert, Underwater Archaeologist, Dr @petercampbell.bsky.social!
Happy Birthday Peter!

That’s very sad news

I love a bad archaeology movie! I just rewatched Timeline (2003). This is going on the list.

The Blogs: Sotheby’s Samaritan 10 Commandments and the Antiquities Market: Caveat Emptor From the blog of Chris Rollston at The Times of Israel

TOI on Sotheby's "10 Commandments" sale: "the story the sellers (or forgers) tell is almost always a tall tale, which has been spun so as to convince the buyer that some inscription is ancient and that it was pulled from the soil of some archaeological site."

blogs.timesofisrael.com/sothebys-sam...

I don't know about archaeology, but in paleontology, it's not uncommon for peasant farmers to forge significant fossils (typically by carving new features into a fossil, or sticking two fossils together) for financial incentive.

A Danish museum agrees to return a bronze sculpture looted from Turkey A Danish museum has agreed to return the bronze head of a Roman Emperor to Turkey. The sculpture was among thousands of artifacts looted from Turkey and sold to American and European museums. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on Dec. 3, 2024.)

Here's me doing my favorite thing last week: talking about the looting (and return!) of the Bubon bronzes, a story I have been researching, writing, and speaking about since 2012. www.npr.org/2024/12/08/n... 1/5

Approximately 1500 years old. Agreed- I’m concerned by the drill marks and weathering, but without closer inspection it is just speculation that it could be a modern metal drill bit.

Yes this case is a great parallel! And I also had a reaction to the term “peasant” - as an archaeologist whose practice is all based around fishers and farmers, I’ve seen first hand their brilliant knowledge of landscape and history.

How the runes went from Hassela to Minnesota The Kensington Runestone, which was found in the Swedish settlements of Minnesota in 1898 by the immigrant Olof Ohman, is perhaps the world’s most famous and co

Another case of a forgery made by "an ordinary peasant" (and sorry, but that kind of statement reeks of elitism) is the Kensington rune stone, made in the 19th C madina in the 19th in Minnesota by a Swedish immigrant:
www.raa.se/in-english/h...

Good question - we don’t know for sure. The assumption comes from the fact that usually when a stone carver made the effort to prepare the surface of the stone and then carve the inscription, they would also dress the edges.

When Art Isn't Real by Andrew Shortland | Paperback | Cornell University Press How an initially valueless object becomes worth hundreds of millions. And vice versa.The art world is a multi-billion-dollar industry which captures world headlines on a regular basis, for both good.....

I’m afraid there isn’t a review of motivations for forgery, so one would need to read individual cases. This recent book presents several such cases in a single volume, which makes for easier comparison- www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9789462...

2,500-year-old shipwreck and anchors discovered off coast of Sicily A shipwreck dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries B.C. was discovered earlier this year off the coast of Sicily, Italian officials said.

2,500-year-old shipwreck and anchors discovered off coast of Sicily - CBS News
www.cbsnews.com/news/2500-ye...

Its a fascinating case and lets hope it is in fact a previously unknown inscription. However, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I wish our Georgian colleagues the best in this study- additional fragments from an in situ context would be the best way to authenticate the find.