The idea of discovering a buried treasure is appealing to just about everyone. Who wouldn’t want to just dig down somewhere and find an ancient trove of gold and jewels? You’d be instantly rich. For a very long time, this was how the world at large viewed the situation. If it’s buried underground no one really owns it, right? But that’s not really how things work. In many cases, these ancient relics that are being dug up belong to the government of the country from which they’ve been taken. The country of Egypt is perhaps most famous for suffering this fate as tomb raiders for decades now have pillaged the country of its ancient history. But they aren’t the only ones. There are many cases of ancient relics that have been purloined over the years.
10. Pompeii’s Curse
Not every ancient relic is stolen by an Indiana Jones-style archaeologist or roving gangs of miscreants. Just look at the Canadian woman identified only as Nicole. 15 years ago she visited Pompeii. At the site, famous for being destroyed by a nearby volcano in a way that nearly perfectly preserved the entire town, Nicole snatched a few mosaic tiles and pottery shards for her own personal collection. This was very much against the law, but she felt like she wanted some souvenirs from the ancient city.
Fast forward to the year 2020 and Nicole put the items in an envelope and mailed them back to the Italian government. The envelope had a Canadian stamp but no return address. There was also a note inside apologizing for being young and dumb. She also pointed out the relics which supposedly caused her 15 years of bad luck.
Nicole attributed her theft of the relics to a series of unfortunate events that plagued her and her family. From financial woes to being diagnosed with breast cancer not once but twice she felt that Pompeii had cursed her for taking the items. All of this was detailed in the note that she included when she sent the package back to Italy. Ironically, this is not the first package the Italian government has received from someone who took items from Pompeii, nor is it the first time someone sent them back after claiming they felt they were cursed. This has apparently happened hundreds of times already and will likely continue.
9. The Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is so famous that there’s a piece of software named after it. Arguably one of the most famous exhibits in the British Museum, it was key in helping researchers learn how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Because the stone features the same decree written in three different styles of writing including hieroglyphs, ancient Greek, and demotic which was the native language of the Egyptian people, it serves as a blueprint for translating ancient languages.
The stone was discovered in 1799. Napoleon had been campaigning through Egypt at the time, the stone fell into British control after Napoleon’s defeat in 1801. Much of the ancient items the French had unearthed were taken by the British as part of the Treaty of Alexandria. By 1802 the stone was in England.
From here the story typically goes on to detail the historical significance of the stone and how it was translated, how it was used to understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, and how it essentially opened up Egyptology as a section of archaeology. What is most often overlooked is the fact that this was stolen from Egypt. It’s still in the British Museum and it still stands as one of the most important historical finds of all time.
Egypt has called on England to return the Rosetta Stone numerous times over the years however, it seems unlikely at this point that England will ever concede that it was stolen in the first place and give it back. But at least one archaeologist working in a museum in Egypt says that there is still an upside to an item of such historical significance being on display outside of Egypt. It’s good propaganda for Egypt and a good advertisement to get people who are interested in the subject to actually visit the country and see more of the history firsthand.
8. The Elgin Marbles
The British Museum in London houses many Greek sculptures better known as the Elgin Marbles. These date back to the 5th century and many of them were removed from the Parthenon at Athens before being shipped to England sometime between 1799 and 1803. Thomas Bruce, the 7th Lord Elgin, was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during that time and that is who was occupying Greece from 1458 until the 1820s.
Greece understandably considers these artworks to be stolen property. They actually have a space open for them in the Acropolis Museum in Athens where the rest of the collection is housed. The British Museum, on the other hand, feels that nothing was stolen and the artwork was legally obtained by Lord Elgin back in the day after he agreed with the leaders of the Ottoman Empire.
Because each side believes they own the art, there doesn’t seem to be much headway in getting them situated. Greece does seem to have the moral high ground here since it was not any kind of Greek official who would have permitted Lord Elgin to have the art in the first place, but the British Museum doesn’t see it that way.
7. The Bust of Nefertiti
Nefertiti was an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal wife of the Pharaoh Akhenaten. She lived from 1370 to 1330 BC. The two of them oversaw a religious shift in the country that dropped for the pantheon of multiple gods and saw the people begin to worship one single God, Aten. It was a period of great wealth and prosperity in Egypt and it’s also believed that Nefertiti herself ruled Egypt after her husband’s death.
The bust of Nefertiti was discovered in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt. Unlike some ancient relics which were taken with misplaced authority, Borchardt knew he didn’t have the right to the bust but he stole it anyway, smuggling it out of the country in 1913.
The German government claims that the bust was not taken illegally and it was part of Borchardt’s share of what he found. Egypt has long disagreed and has wanted it back since the 1920s but has so far been unsuccessful. As recently as September of 2020 Egypt has tried to get Germany to return the bust. The country agreed to return several other artifacts, but not Nefertiti.
6. Great Zimbabwe Bird
Although geographically Zimbabwe has existed for a long time, by that name the country has only existed since 1980. Previously it was known as the country of Rhodesia, named for Cecil Rhodes who claimed the country under Imperial Rule and was responsible for colonialism in Zimbabwe.
When Zimbabwe was able to achieve independence once again the country made a special point of tracking down the Great Zimbabwe Birds. There were eight of these soapstone statues originally which come from the ruined city of Great Zimbabwe. Built by the ancestors of the Shona sometime in the 11th century, the massive city covered 1,800 acres. Among the ruins were eight soapstone sculptures of birds. The birds themselves are about 16 inches in height and they were mounted on columns that were three feet tall.
The birds are only partially designed to look like birds. They feature some human attributes, one of them even has lips. They have human appendages and their exact purpose has never fully been determined. They may represent Kings of old or totemic animals. Regardless of their past meaning, they are unique to Zimbabwe. No one has ever found anything like them anywhere else. And for that reason, they were adopted as national symbols of Zimbabwe and are even featured on its flag.
Unfortunately, only two of them remained in Zimbabwe. After Cecil Rhodes and others took over the country, many of the birds were displaced. Four of them ended up in South Africa and another was taken there by Cecil Rhodes himself to Cape Town.
When Zimbabwe achieved independence, South Africa returned the four birds that it had. In 2003, Germany returned a piece of one that they had. And as of 2020, there was only one bird at large. It was still housed in South Africa. The one from the private collection of Cecil Rhodes. After Rhodes’ death, he bequeathed his estates to the South African government. Today it’s a museum and it still houses the last bird. As to why the South African government has refused to return this final bird? No one knows.
5. Geronimo’s Skull
Geronimo was a famous Apache medicine man. He had a knack for military strategy and frequently led raids against Mexican and American forces in the late 1800s. After he was captured, Geronimo was held as a prisoner of war and he died in the year 1909 after more than 20 years in Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Geronimo’s story should have ended there, but it did not. There’s long been a rumor that members of the Skull and Bones Society were stationed at Fort Sill. The Order of Skull and Bones is one of those secret societies that is associated with Yale University. According to the story, Skull and Bones members dug up Geronimo’s grave and stole his skull and some personal artifacts. They took these remains to New Haven, Connecticut and they were stored in the Skull and Bones Society Clubhouse in secret.
Members of the Skull and Bones Society take their secrecy pretty seriously. That said, a writer claims to have found a letter dating from 1918 that confirmed the theft of the bones and their being stashed somewhere inside the Skull and Bones Society tomb.
Descendants of Geronimo filed a lawsuit against the society as well as Yale University and members of the United States government including Barack Obama. They demanded the return of Geronimo’s remains as the man himself wanted to be buried on Apache lands in New Mexico.
To this day there is probably far too much mystery around Geronimo’s remains to ever know for sure what happened to him. At least one native rights organization says that Geronimo’s remains have already returned to New Mexico. And of course, the Skull and Bones society would never admit that they had it even if they did.
4. Priam’s Treasure
Few countries have suffered more from robbers and plunderers than Turkey. It’s been estimated that over 200,000 items have been stolen from dig sites in Turkey and made their way to various museums throughout Europe including prominent ones such as the Louvre in Paris as well as the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and the British Museum in London.
Because so many different cultures over the years had established civilizations in Turkey, you can find artifacts from the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, Hittites, Phrygians, and so on. This led to competing archaeologists from different countries essentially raiding the country to get as much as they could for their own museums.
Among the many relics that have gone missing over the years are the treasures of King Priam. This consisted of a large quantity of gold, copper, and other artifacts that were discovered by German archaeologists. Arguably the most famous piece is the gold diadems and assorted pieces known as the Jewels of Helen which consists of 8,750 gold rings, buttons, and other objects. The treasure was discovered in 1873 at the site of the ancient city of Troy. It was then smuggled into Berlin and now exists in Moscow’s Pushkin Museum where it has been on display since the Soviet troops stole it from the Germans in 1945.
Ironically, Germany has demanded the treasure back from Russia claiming they own it. But of course, Turkey is claiming the same thing since Germany stole it from them to begin with. The Russian government claims that is war reparations and that they earned it.
3. Sarah Baartman
Most of the ancient relics that have been stolen over the years have been just that, relics. But one of the saddest and most unusual cases of an ancient artifact being stolen relates to the tale of Sarah Baartman.
Sarah Baartman was thought to have been born in South Africa back in 1789. She had been a servant in Cape Town when she signed a contract with an English ship surgeon named William Dunlop. Baartman was illiterate and likely had no idea what she was signing at the time. The contract stated that she would travel with them to England and take part in shows. Whether she realized it or not, she had just signed up to be part of a freak show.
Put on display as the Hottentot Venus, Baartman had a condition known as steatopygia. The condition is characterized by a prominent buildup of fat in the buttocks. So, this woman was paraded around Europe as some kind of trophy that the colonists had brought back with them. It was a cruel mix of racism and exploitation and after she died, her skeleton, her brain, and even her sexual organs were on display in a Paris Museum.
Although the British Empire had supposedly abolished the slave trade in the early 1800s, slavery itself was not something that had stopped. The people who employed Sarah Baartman were prosecuted for holding her against her will but they were not convicted. She had actually testified on their behalf. To this day no one knows for sure whether she was fully aware of her situation or not. Regardless, she died at the age of 26 from what was described as an inflammatory and eruptive disease.
Fortunately, this story has a bit of a happier ending than some of the others. In 1994 Nelson Mandela requested the repatriation of Sarah Baartman’s remains. They were returned, along with a plaster cast that has been made of her body. In 2002 she was buried back home in South Africa.
2. The Mummy of Ramses I
Identifying ancient relics can be difficult sometimes. Especially in the case of ancient Egyptian mummies. Identifying who is who is not always easy and occasionally leads to surprises. Such was the case when researchers in Niagara Falls discovered that they had the body of Ramses I. Not only that, he’d been sitting there since the 1860s until he was finally identified in 1999.
Ramses I was an Egyptian pharaoh and a fairly significant member of the royal line. A Canadian researcher just happened to notice that the mummy looked kind of familiar. The facial structure reminded her of some other royal mummies so they did some tests and, sure enough, he turned out to be the Pharaoh.
The Mummy had been purchased by the son of the museum’s founder when he had gone to Egypt in the early 1800s to pick up antiquities. No one involved had any idea who he was at first. Once the Canadians discovered that he was the Pharaoh, the process of having him repatriated began. Currently, the Pharaoh is back on display in the Luxor Museum in Egypt.
1. Koh-i-Noor Diamond
One of the most famous diamonds in the world is set into the crown of Queen Elizabeth. The Koh-i-Noor diamond hails from India and became part of the British crown jewels in the mid-1880s.
Before the 1700s, pretty much every diamond in the world came from India. Gemstones were abundant in India so much so that you could fish them out of river sand rather than go digging for them in mines.
The first written record of the Koh-i-Noor diamond comes from 1628. Mughal ruler Shah Jahan made himself a jewel-encrusted throne inspired by King Solomon’s from the Bible. After 7 years of construction and four times as much money as was put into the Taj Mahal, there were two giant gems set into it. The Timur Ruby and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The diamond was the crown of the throne in the head of a giant gemstone peacock.
In 1739, Nader Shah invaded Delhi and stole the Peacock Throne along with so much treasure it took 700 elephants, 4,000 camels, and 12,000 horses to take it all the way. For the next 70 years, the diamond made its home in Afghanistan where it changed hands frequently thanks to various battles. By 1813 it was back in India again in the hands of Ranjit Singh, a Sikh ruler.
After Singh’s death, control of the diamond passed through several hands until it ended up in the control of Duleep Singh. British colonists had already taken a firm hold in India and had set their sights on the diamond years earlier. In Duleep, they saw a chance to get what they coveted so dearly and forced him to sign the diamond over along with all claims to sovereignty in an amendment to the Treaty of Lahore. How’d they do that? Duleep Singh was only 10 years old.
The diamond was sent to England and became the property of the Queen, after which it was added to the crown jewels. Locals were unimpressed because it looked like a glass bauble. So Prince Albert had it recut to look more brilliant, reducing it in size by half in the process.