[MSN] Italian police have recovered artifacts from an ancient Greek temple dug up in southern Italy by a construction crew who had dumped or looted the prized pieces and begun to pour concrete over the ruins, authorities said Tuesday.

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Posted on Wed, Jun. 13, 2007 
Ancient Greek artifacts recovered



By ARIEL DAVID
The Associated Press
ROME -- Italian police have recovered artifacts from an ancient Greek temple
dug up in southern Italy by a construction crew who had dumped or looted the
prized pieces and begun to pour concrete over the ruins, authorities said
Tuesday.
After receiving information about the discovery during construction work on
a tourist resort on the coast of southern Calabria, police used helicopters
to locate the site, near the town of Crotone, last week, said art squad
officials from the Carabinieri paramilitary police.

More than 50 artifacts, including columns and mosaics, had been excavated
from the site and used to decorate a hotel complex nearby, while other
pieces had been placed in a dump to be reused as construction material.

When police located the site, workers were preparing to lay the foundations
of the resort hotel on the remaining ruins, said Gen. Giovanni Nistri, the
head of the art squad.

"It would have been the final tombstone for this temple," Nistri said at a
news conference in Rome.

Police identified two suspects for possible prosecution on charges of
failing to alert authorities about the find, damaging the site and illegal
possession of archaeological artifacts, Nistri said. The two were not
arrested.

Italy is full of archaeological treasures -- many undiscovered -- and
developers must report finds. Countless public and private projects have
been scrapped or delayed over the years as state archaeologists descended on
building sites, and it is not uncommon for developers to fail to report a
discovery and plow through ancient treasures.

The discovery of the Greek temple is of "extraordinary historic and artistic
value," and experts believe that it may be part of a larger ancient
settlement, the Carabinieri said in a statement.

The ruins are "one big puzzle" for scholars, as the area was previously
thought to be devoid of such important public buildings, said archaeological
superintendent Giovanni Guzzo.

The temple mixes two styles of Greek architecture -- the austere Doric and
the more graceful decorations of Ionic. It was probably built between the
fourth and third centuries B.C. by the Bruzii, who lived under Hellenistic
influence, which at the time extended across southern Italy, Guzzo said.

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