August 25, 2014 DGAM announced recovery of a stolen sculpture
ASOR Syrian Heritage Initiative (SHI): Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria
Weekly Report 4 — September 2, 2014
Michael D. Danti http://www.asor-syrianheritage.org
“Theft from site museum. The perpetrators and the circumstances of the original theft and the sculpture’s recovery are currently unknown.
Cunliffe notes, “It has been suggested that at Palmyra government troops were involved [in looting], or at least complicit, as from their base in the ruins, any looting would theoretically have been visible to them, although this cannot be verified.”
The DGAM Annual Report 2013 states:
“Digs are spreading within the southeastern cemeteries area [of Palmyra] previously excavated in an attempt to open some of them. Furthermore, it is not possible, for the time being, to estimate the extent of the damage caused by these digs prior to carrying out detailed inspection as well as removing the dust covering those graves.”
In early 2014, the DGAM announced the recovery of large numbers of antiquities, including material from Palmyra.
“The DGAM has returned more than 4000 archaeological artifacts during the past year through confiscations carried out by the concerned bodies (the police, the customs, the governorate, the municipalities and other public bodies) in Damascus, Tartus, Palmyra, Homs, Hama, Deir ez-‐Zor, etc.
Furthermore, the concerned authorities returned a treasure containing 1600 silver-‐plated bronze coins, discovered in the region of al-‐Shaer mountain between Palmyra and Homs, in addition to tens of artifacts which were about to be smuggled since June 2013.””
Recent Destructions in Palmyra, Syria: Looting and Illegal Antiquities Trade
Andreas Schmidt-Colinet https://www.academia.edu
https://colorsandstones.eu/2022/05/19/relief-of-a-woman-palmyra-d-b/