LIKE Indiana Jones, Dr David Gill delights in getting his hands on precious antiquities.
But while his movie counterpart is often seen plucking priceless artefacts from ancient tombs, Dr Gill does the process in reverse – and sends the relics back to where they came from.
The Welsh academic works across the world in persuading museums to return ancient artefacts to Egypt, Italy, Greece and other countries suffering a plague of history looting.
The 48-year-old, a reader in Mediterranean archaeology at Swansea University, most recently worked with two other experts to persuade London-based …

The Gaza Strip was conquered by empires that left behind fortresses, alabaster jewelry, and bronze weaponry. Now the impoverished Strip is trying to rein in the black market in ancient treasure and better preserve items often found by chance.

Archaeologists in Italy unearthed the remains of what they say may be an ancient temple with components inscribed with instructions for assembly. Ikea may not be so novel after all…

The Syrian Archaeological Expedition working at the site of Palmyra’s northern defensive wall (Central Syria) has unearthed tower tombs  close to the wall.
Head of Palmyra Antiquities Department Walid Asa’ad said Wednesday the square-shaped burial has a two-slab decorated stone gate. The doorway leads to the roof of the burial place through stairs.
The burial site includes a yard with several chambers; each contains six multi-storey tower tombs, he added. Asa’ad indicated that the site was a typical Palmyra ancient burial place, adding that the tower tomb was re-used as a defensive …

Nine megaliths in a remote part of Dartmoor, England, share features in common with Stonehenge, and may shed light on the meaning behind these prehistoric stone monuments, according to a report in the latest issue of British Archaeology.
The Dartmoor megaliths, which were recently carbon-dated to around 3500 B.C., could predate Stonehenge, but both sites feature large standing stones that are aligned to mark the rising of the midsummer sun and the setting of the midwinter sun. Yet another Dartmoor stone monument, called Drizzlecombe, shares the same orientation.
The ancient Brits were …