Seidenspinner
4524
Can you imagine digging in your yard and unearthing a mosaic floor that is two thousand plus years old? An average gardener found this Roman treasure in his yard in Negrar, Italy.
Ultraviolet
What he's going to find now is the Italian authorities move in, literally take over his entire yard and prevent him from doing anything until they excavate. Since there's a back-log for this, the gardener could be looking at years before he regains the use of his property again.
According to rumour, these ancient Roman finds are not uncommon and more pragmatic property owners keep digging and keep …More
What he's going to find now is the Italian authorities move in, literally take over his entire yard and prevent him from doing anything until they excavate. Since there's a back-log for this, the gardener could be looking at years before he regains the use of his property again.

According to rumour, these ancient Roman finds are not uncommon and more pragmatic property owners keep digging and keep their mouths shut when they're done. Since it's an archeological find, it belongs to the Italian government, not the propery owner on whose land it was found. The same is true for artifacts and jewelry.
philosopher
You can blame that property owner's hassle on the Italian socialists. They even (mistakenly) think that all the Catholic churches, shrines, the Vatican, and the Pope are the property of the state.
Ultraviolet
I wouldn't personally ascribe this to socialism as much as totalitarianism. Egypt has similar laws governing antiquities. The UK, admittedly very socialist, does as well. It seems mostly just the government using its power for its own benefit by taking what it wants when it pleases. It's understandable why governments would feel rare and ancient items belong in a government-owned museum where …More
I wouldn't personally ascribe this to socialism as much as totalitarianism. Egypt has similar laws governing antiquities. The UK, admittedly very socialist, does as well. It seems mostly just the government using its power for its own benefit by taking what it wants when it pleases. It's understandable why governments would feel rare and ancient items belong in a government-owned museum where admission can be charged to see them and a bevy politically-connected academic flunkies can oversee the operation.

Here in the US, we have no such ancient history yet we still have a similar concept with "eminent domain."
philosopher
History is not a trash bin of meaningless errors to be cast into the memory hole of oblivion but rather it is the repository of noble qualities and virtues that give us our identity. Western civilization is what we are -Greco-Roman-Christian.