NEW RESEARCH FOR HELPING MISSING HITLER ART

New research is helping the hunt for missing art, largely amassed by Hitler, then re-stolen by desperate Germans in the closing days of the war. Chaos reigned in the bomb-ravaged streets of Munich on April 29, 1945. American troops were closing in. Hitler was a day away from killing himself in his bunker in Berlin. The Nazi guards who protected important buildings had fled.

Hungry crowds stormed the Führerbau, the Führer’s building. First they looted the food, the liquor and the furniture. Then they turned to the air-raid cellar, which was filled with art, climbing over piles of Panzerfaust anti-tank grenades to get at the paintings. “By the end of the second day,” Edgar Breitenbach, an art intelligence officer in the United States Army, wrote in a 1949 report “when the looting was finally stopped, all the pictures were gone.”

Institute for Art History in Munich has conducted the first comprehensive investigation into the fate of the art that was stored in the Führer’s building and the adjacent Nazi headquarters. A lot of it had been ferried there by dealers who scavenged for art across occupied Europe to help fill Hitler’s planned “Führermuseum” in Linz, his hometown. Most of those works were already stored in Austrian salt mines to protect them from bombings.

But the Munich buildings still held some 1,500 works, the researchers found, and at least 700 were looted in the two-day spree — many more than previously thought. Much of the art was already stolen property, having been confiscated by the Nazis from Jewish collections. Hundreds of the works stored there, for example, had been taken from the family of Adolphe Schloss, a French Jew who had collected the Dutch and Flemish old masters that Hitler revered.

In the aftermath of the looting, the authorities were able to recover almost 300 paintings, many in the weeks after the plunder. Some were found buried in a nearby potato patch. In 1948, 30 paintings were found in a house a few minutes’ walk from the Führerbau.

So far, the research has managed to find traces of some three dozen of the missing works. One is in the Fisher Museum of Art at the University of Southern California, which discovered 14 years ago that a painting in its collection had been looted from the Führerbau. The painting by Gerard Dou, “Still Life With Book and Purse,” entered the collection in 1964 as part of a donation by Armand Hammer, who had purchased it in New York in 1947. But its prewar ownership history, and the circumstances of how it went to Hitler, remain unclear.

One obstacle to the full restitution of works, even when they are found, is a principle of German law known as Ersitzung. It dictates that someone who acquires an item in good faith and possesses it for 10 years becomes the rightful owner. So in Germany, even in cases where the government seeks to restitute a work it has found, it can be difficult to dislodge it legally from a collector who bought it without knowledge that it was stolen.

In a case from 2017, the government tried to intervene when a portrait of two girls by Franz von Stuck that was destined for Linz appeared in a catalog for an auction in Cologne. The government persuaded the auction house to withdraw it from sale so researchers would have time to examine the provenance. But they found no evidence that the painting had been looted from a Jewish collection and the private collector held good title to the work under the Ersitzung rule. So the sale to another private collection went forward. Down the road, if it emerges that the work was indeed looted from a Jewish collector, experts say it may prove difficult to find again.

As the decades pass, it is certainly true that multiple transfers and legal complexities in varying jurisdictions make it increasingly hard to trace looted art and to resolve tangled questions of ownership.

NEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT DISCOVERED IN ISRAEL

Reuters reports that a 9,000-year-old settlement estimated to have covered dozens of acres of land has been discovered near Jerusalem.

As many as 2,000 to 3,000 people once lived at the site, according to researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Large buildings, alleyways, and storage sheds full of legumes and seeds have been uncovered.

Bones from the site suggest the residents kept sheep in addition to planting lentils and other crops. Arrowheads, axes, sickle blades, and knives have also been uncovered.

OLDEST REMAINS OUTSIDE OF AFRICAN RESET HUMAN MMIGRATIONS

A 210,000-year-old skull has been identified as the earliest modern human remains found outside Africa, putting the clock back on mankind's arrival in Europe by more than 150,000 years, researchers said Wednesday. In a startling discovery that changes our understanding of how modern man populated Eurasia, the findings support the idea that Homo sapiens made several, sometimes unsuccessful migrations from Africa over tens of thousands of years.

Two fossilised but badly damaged skulls unearthed in a Greek cave in the 1970s were identified as Neanderthal at the time. One of them, named Apidima 2 after the cave in which the pair were found, proved to be 170,000 years old and did indeed belong to a Neanderthal. But, to the shock of scientists, the skull named Apidima 1 pre-dated Apidima 2 by as much as 40,000 years, and was determined to be that of a Homo sapiens.

That makes the skull by far the oldest modern human remains ever discovered on the continent, and older than any known Homo sapiens specimen outside of Africa. Apidima 1 lacked classic features associated with Neanderthal skulls, including the distinctive bulge at the back of the head, shaped like hair tied in a bun.

Homo sapiens replaced Neanderthals across Europe for good around 45,000-35,000 years ago, in what was long considered a gradual takeover of the continent involving millenia of co-existence and even interbreeding.
But the skull discovery in Greece suggests that Homo sapiens undertook the migration from Africa to southern Europe on "more than one occasion", according to Eric Delson, a professor of anthropology at City University of New York.

Harvati said advances in dating and genetics technology could continue to shape our understanding of how our pre-historic ancestors spread throughout the world.

A RING SMUGGLED $145 MILLION IN ANCIENT ARTIFACTS

In a sweeping new criminal case, Subhash Kapoor, a former Manhattan art dealer the authorities describe as one of the world’s largest smugglers of antiquities, was charged Monday with running a multinational ring that trafficked in thousands of stolen objects, valued at more than $145 million, over 30 years.

Mr. Kapoor, 70, is currently jailed in India, where he has been awaiting trial on similar charges for nearly eight years. Before his downfall in 2011, he was widely feted in New York art circles for consistently obtaining remarkable items for sale and for his donations to museums. After his imprisonment in India though, federal officials referred to him as “one of the most prolific commodities smugglers in the world.”

Even though the general scope of Mr. Kapoor’s smuggling had been laid out in previous investigations, many details in the complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office were new, and jarring.
For example, officials revealed that 39 looted antiquities, valued at $36 million, are still missing. Officials said Mr. Kapoor had been able to hide those items, even after his initial arrest in Germany in 2011, by instructing employees to entrust the most valuable ones to his family members, who moved them to “an unknown location.”

So far, some 2,600 antiquities, valued at more than $107 million, have been seized from storage locations Mr. Kapoor controlled in Manhattan and Queens during a decade-long investigation, the authorities said. The smuggling ring harvested objects from Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Thailand, the complaint said, and it created false paper trails that gave the items a patina of legitimacy, then sold them globally for large profits to collectors, art dealers and museums.

Mr. Kapoor was charged along with seven co-conspirators, most of them overseas, who would also require extradition. Arrest warrants for all eight men were filed Monday in the Criminal Court of the City of New York, along with a painstakingly detailed complaint that reconstructed a smuggling scheme stretching back to 1986. Much of the evidence put forward by the authorities, including federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations, was based on tens of thousands of records seized from Mr. Kapoor’s former Madison Avenue gallery, Art of the Past.

Those records, officials say, included detailed logs of trips Mr. Kapoor made to India to meet with conspirators, often to see the objects he would ultimately acquire. The records also show how artifacts were secreted into the United States using false import documents; how many were then shipped to London to be cleaned and restored for sale; and how the conspirators created fraudulent invoices and provenance papers asserting the items had left their nations of origin legally.

Two of the accused co-conspirators were identified as restorers who enhanced the value of the pieces — often still marked by the dirt from which they had been dug up by hired thieves — and brought them back to life as treasures. Items said to have been smuggled by the ring and later sold include Hindu and Buddhist statues in stone and bronze that are considered national treasures.

Investigators said buyers included many museums around the world, among them the Toledo Museum in Ohio and the National Gallery of Australia. Often, Mr. Kapoor would briefly lend an item to a museum to bolster its legitimacy, telling his customers the object had been vetted by reputable experts, the complaint said.

For now, the objects are being held in secure storage by both federal and local investigators.
Mr. Lederman also said he does not know why Mr. Kapoor has been held in India without trial for so long.

Mr. Kapoor’s case has been a cause célèbre in India for years, in part because it illustrated the vulnerability of that nation’s ancient treasures, many of which were in remote, unguarded temples that were easy targets for thieves. “The scale and brazenness of the thefts is mind-blowing,” said S. Vijay Kumar, a private investigator from Singapore who has for years tracked many of the items Mr. Kapoor is accused of stealing. Mr. Kumar said he grew suspicious after noticing that Mr. Kapoor was selling so many rare Indian idols out of New York.

BENT PYRAMID OF 4TH DYNASTY SNEFERU NOW OPEN

Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities will organize the opening ceremony of the Bent Pyramid of the Pharaoh King Sneferu in Giza’s Dahshur archaeology area. The Bent Pyramid was one of the three pyramids built by King Sneferu. Its construction took about 14 years, and the pyramid rises from the desert at a 58-degree inclination, but the top section (above 47 meters) is built at the shallower angle of 55 degrees, lending the pyramid its very obvious ‘bent’ appearance.

The restoration works were carried out from the base of the pyramid to a height of approximately four meters. The stones were collected from around the pyramid and returned to their original places. The joints between the stone pillars, which were destroyed due to erosion, were also restored.

King Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, began the construction of his colossal pyramid in Maydum, but his architect Nefermaat found that Maydum did not have enough stones to build a huge pyramid. So this pyramid became a symbolic burial ground for the king, while his residence was transferred from Maydum to Dahshur, where he began to build the pyramid known as the Bent Pyramid. When the architect found that changing the angle might hinder the burial of the king should he die suddenly, he started constructing the Northern Pyramid, but Sneferu settled on being buried inside the Bent Pyramid and then turned the Step Pyramid in Maydum into a full pyramid.

OLDEST REMAINS OUTSIDEOF AFRICA RESET HUMAN MIGRATION

A 210,000-year-old skull has been identified as the earliest modern human remains found outside Africa, putting the clock back on mankind's arrival in Europe by more than 150,000 years, researchers said Wednesday. In a startling discovery that changes our understanding of how modern man populated Eurasia, the findings support the idea that Homo sapiens made several, sometimes unsuccessful migrations from Africa over tens of thousands of years. Southeast Europe has long been considered a major transport corridor for modern humans from Africa. But until now the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens on the continent dated back only around 50,000 years.

One of them, named Apidima 2 after the cave in which the pair were found, proved to be 170,000 years old and did indeed belong to a Neanderthal. But, to the shock of scientists, the skull named Apidima 1 pre-dated Apidima 2 by as much as 40,000 years, and was determined to be that of a Homo sapiens.

That makes the skull by far the oldest modern human remains ever discovered on the continent, and older than any known Homo sapiens specimen outside of Africa.

But the skull discovery in Greece suggests that Homo sapiens undertook the migration from Africa to southern Europe on "more than one occasion", according to Eric Delson, a professor of anthropology at City University of New York. Harvati said advances in dating and genetics technology could continue to shape our understanding of how our pre-historic ancestors spread throughout the world.

ORIGINS OF THE PHILISTINES FROM 12TH CENTURY IN ASHKEON

Sometime in the 12th century B.C., a family in the ancient port city of Ashkelon, in what is today Israel, mourned the loss of a child. But they didn’t go to the city’s cemetery. Instead, they dug a small pit in the dirt floor of their home and buried the infant right in the place where they lived.

That child’s DNA is now helping scholars trace the origins of the Philistines, a long-standing, somewhat contentious mystery. In accounts from the Hebrew Bible, the Philistines appear mostly as villainous enemies of the Israelites. But who were the Philistines, exactly? In the Bible, ancient cities like Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron were mentioned as Philistine strongholds.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars finally started to piece together a distinct archaeological record of Philistine culture. Excavations revealed that these cities saw the emergence of new architecture and artifacts at the beginning of the Iron Age, around 1200 B.C., signaling the arrival of the Philistines. Pottery found at Philistine archaeological sites, for example, appeared to have been made locally, but looked strikingly like wares created by Aegean cultures such as the Mycenaeans, who built their civilization in what is now mainland Greece. And the Bible mentions “Caphtor,” or Crete, as the origin place of the Philistines.

Now, researchers have extracted DNA from the remains of 10 individuals, including four infants, who were buried at Ashkelon during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. The results, which were published today in the journal Science Advances, suggest the Philistines indeed migrated to the Middle East from southern Europe.

The new study stems from a discovery in 2013 of a cemetery with more than 200 burials contemporary with the Philistine settlement at Ashkelon just outside the ancient city walls. The cemetery, which was used during the late Iron Age, between the 11th and 8th centuries B.C., was the first Philistine burial ground ever found. The archaeologists documented burial practices that were distinct from the Philistines' Canaanite predecessors and their Egyptian neighbors. For example, in several cases, little jugs of perfume were tucked near the head of the deceased. Finding Philistine human remains also meant there might be potential to find Philistine DNA.

Getting DNA from the newly discovered human remains at Ashkelon, however, proved tricky. The southern Levant does not have a favorable climate for the preservation of DNA, which can break down when it’s too warm or humid, says Michal Feldman, who studies archaeogenetics at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, and is the lead author of the new report. Nonetheless, the researchers were able to sequence the whole genome of three individuals from the cemetery.

To establish a baseline for the local genetic profile, the researchers also sequenced genomes from the remains of three Canaanites who had been buried in Ashkelon during the Bronze Age, before the alleged arrival of the Philistines. The team was also able to extract DNA from the remains of four infants who had previously been found in Philistine houses during excavations between 1997 and 2013. These children were buried in the Iron Age, in the 12th or 11th century, shortly after the Philistines supposed arrival in the region. The results showed that the four Iron Age infants all had some genetic signatures matching those seen in Iron Age populations from Greece, Spain and Sardinia. “There was some gene flow coming in that was not there before,” Feldman says.

The researchers interpreted these results as evidence that migration indeed occurred at the end of the Bronze Age or during the early Iron Age. If that’s true, the infants may have been the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the first Philistines to arrive in Canaan.

The findings are a good reminder, Feldman says, that a person’s culture or ethnicity is not the same as their DNA. “In this situation, you have foreign people coming in with a slightly different genetic makeup, and their influence, genetically, is very short. It doesn’t leave a long-lasting impact, but culturally they made an impact that lasted for many years.”

ROMAN ROAD & POSSIBLE MINE FOUND IN CORNWALL

Archaeologists have discovered a Roman road and possible ancient mine during excavations in Cornwall as they work to discover more about the history of the county.

As well as the possible mine they have discovered a Roman road, which would have served regular military traffic in and out of the fort. The excavation has revealed a rare glimpse of timber-built Roman military buildings constructed outside of the fort, as well as a series of rubbish and cesspits, indicating that the Roman army was also active outside of the fort's defenses.

The archaeologists have also found the remains of a medieval timber longhouse, suggesting the site was later occupied between the 8th and early 13th century but was then deserted. This explains why the parish church, originally built to be at the heart of a hamlet or village, is now isolated.

Dr. Smart said: "It has been wonderful working with so many of the local community to better understand the area's Roman and medieval past. We are very pleased to have found such a well-made Roman road and the possible mine workings have proved a real unexpected bonus. Whilst we still do not know their age, it is possible that they are from the medieval period."

No objects were found in the possible mine, making it hard to date when it was used. One of the deep pits cuts into the Roman road, so it is likely that they are later than the Roman military occupation of the area. Calstock Roman fort was discovered in 2007 as part of an earlier University of Exeter project to investigate medieval silver mining in Bere Ferrers, on the opposite side of the River Tamar, in Devon. Excavations between 2008 and 2011 provided evidence that it was constructed in around AD 50, and remained in use with a garrison of about 500 men for 30 years. At some point in the life of the fort a second defensive circuit was added to enclose and protect buildings outside of the fort, and this may point to a period of heightened threat.

The excavation has now finished but visitors to the site can find out more by reading an information board outside the parish cemetery, or at the project's website.

OPENING OF ANCIENT PILGRIMAGE ROAD IN ISRAEL

Senior American and Israeli officials attended the inauguration Sunday evening of the ancient Pilgrims’ Road, which served as the main thoroughfare for pilgrims walking from the Pool of Siloam, where they would ritually purify themselves on route to the Temple, during the Second Temple Period. The event comes after six years of painstaking archeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Director of the City of David and Israel Prize Laureate, David (Davidle) Be'eri stated "In ancient times, the Pilgrimage Road paved the way for tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the land of Israel and the four corners of the globe on their way to the Temple. Soon millions of visitors from Israel and abroad will be able to walk once again on those very same stones. The Romans thought they had brought an end to Jewish life in Jerusalem, but today nothing could be further from the truth. The Jewish people have returned to Zion and reestablished our united capital here in Jerusalem."

Yisrael Hasson, Director of Israel Antiquities Authority said: “The stepped road project is an integral part of the unearthing of ancient Jerusalem which was approved at a cabinet meeting. The plan seeks to look at the sites of ancient Jerusalem from a comprehensive governmental planning and budgetary perspective, which will create a structured and complete visitor experience through this unique space. We are currently in the second phase of the plan, which will be a total game changer. This entire endeavor is part of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s new vision to initiate new ways to showcase our national heritage and culture.”

Shaul Goldstein, Director of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority said: “It is extremely moving to walk on the road on which Prophets, Kings, Cohanim and the entire Jewish nation walked on to reach the Temple Mount in ancient times. It’s been said that these stones have a human heart. The City of David National Park has uncovered a lot, but there is still so much more to discover. Together with the Israel Antiquities Authority and the City of David Foundation we will continue to improve and develop the site for the good of the hundreds of thousands of visitors. In the near future we will also add Shaaraim –Khirbet Qeiyafa where David fought the enemy of his generation, the Giant Goliath.”