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Friday, October 26, 2012

Looters strip Bulgaria of ancient treasures

This Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 photo shows golden coin depicting the portrait of Roman emperor Julian the Apostate (who reigned between 361 and 363 CE) and other bronze coins from the same period, part of some 5,000 Roman items put at disposal at the National History Museum in Sofia,Bulgaria. Located on the crossroads of many ancient civilizations, Bulgarian scholars rank their country behind only Italy and Greece in Europe for the numbers of antiquities lying in its soil. But Bulgaria has been powerless to prevent the rape of its ancient sites, depriving the world of part of its cultural legacy and also costing this impoverished Balkan nation much-needed tourism revenue. (AP Photo/Valentina Petrova)On the banks of the Danube, in the northwest corner of Bulgaria, lie the remnants of an ancient Roman settlement called Ratiaria, host to a priceless cultural heritage. Craters pockmark the huge site, evidence of a scourge threatening one of the world's great troves of antiquities: looters digging for ancient treasure to sell on the black market.



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