Showing 2 results for the tag: Nature.

July 16, 2012

Cuts to government budgets threaten the security of Greece’s archaeological sites

Posted at 12:51 pm in Greece Archaeology, Similar cases

More coverage of the problems of looting & neglect that the current financial crisis is causing for many of Greece’s archaeological sites.

From:
Nature

Cuts leave Greek heritage in ruins
Austerity measures damaging archaeological research.
Leigh Phillips
20 June 2012

The economic and political turmoil in Greece is not just jeopardizing the country’s economic future, it is also having a devastating effect on the country’s rich cultural past, according to archaeologists in Athens.

Last month, the Association of Greek Archaeologists warned that the economic policies dictated by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund would cause “the destruction of both our country and our cultural heritage”. The austerity measures intended to cut government debt have forced the state archaeological service to slash staff numbers by more than 10%, with a further 35–50% reduction possible. Research and excavations are being abandoned. Museums that can no longer afford to pay for security are being plagued by armed robbers. And organized criminals are exploiting the chaos in an explosion of illegal digs and the trafficking of illicitly procured antiquities.
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June 16, 2009

Traces of paint discovered on Parthenon Sculptures

Posted at 12:34 pm in British Museum, Elgin Marbles

This isn’t really a particularly new discovery, as on some fragments in Athens the original patterning is still clearly visible & numerous other articles have covered it in the past.

From:
Nature

Published online 15 June 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.574
Traces of paint confirmed on Parthenon sculptures
Pristine white marbles were once a riot of colour.
Alison Abbott

Researchers have confirmed that the sculptures on the triangular gables of the Parthenon temple in Athens were originally brightly painted.

Conservation scientists at the British Museum in London used a non-invasive technique to reveal invisible traces of an ancient pigment known as Egyptian blue. The team says that this is the first definitive evidence that the two-metre-high sculptures were not pristine white, as they appear today, but were precisely painted — as most sculptures from antiquity once were.
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