Science: Scientific Tomb-Robbing

In the scrubby, rolling country northwest of Rome lies rich archaeological pay dirt, but the worthwhile pockets are as hard to hit as producing oil wells. Some of the underground tombs left by the Etruscans who lived there 2,500 years, ago still contain priceless art treasures, while others, robbed centuries ago, are not worth the trouble and expense. When a modern, authorized graverobber (archaeologist) finds a tomb and digs laboriously into it, he often finds only dust and broken crockery. Last week Amateur Archaeologist Carlo Lerici was proving that modern scientific techniques can...

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