YEMENI ANTIQUITIES ALTERED TO LOOK JEWISH? So says the Yemen Observer about a cache of antiquities seized from an accused antiquities trafficker:

Smuggled antiquities court session delayed

The trial of Samir Hamad Jad Allah, a Jordanian man accused of trafficking and smuggling Yemeni antiquities, was postponed yesterday by the Secretariat Appeals Court. It was rescheduled for July 3 of this year. “The accused did not respond to the new report made by the Antiquities Department in Sana’a University,” said Judge Hamood al-Herbi. That report, made by experts at Sana’a University, examined a kilogram of old Yemeni gold and a number of stone and bronze pieces seized with the accused.

The report showed that these parts were extracted from a Yemeni cemetery or temple during an archaeological excavation, and that these pieces were tampered with. These pieces may date back to between prehistoric times and the Islamic century. This is indicated by the Mosnad line, which is a Yemeni pen marking used on a large number of those pieces. In addition to the monetary significance of the archaeological pieces, the committee said in the examination report that the archaeological group seized in the case is of an important and great history. The tampering with these objects has caused the loss of much important information from the location of the original graves, said the report.

The added decorations are related to the Jewish religion, such as the Temple of Solomon and the Hebrew lines. “Such action leads to distortion of the Yemeni heritages and flinging graphics elements which has nothing to do with the Yemeni civilization,” said Hisham al-Thawr, the antiquities specialist. Experts also had to examine the antiquities seized with the accused, at his request. Jad Allah refused to accept a previous report prepared by the General Authority for Antiquities, because he didn’t feel it was created by experts in the field. He demanded that the court form of a neutral committee specialized in the examination of the antiquities pieces.

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I don't recall hearing of this case before, although Jack Sasson's Agade list noted this general article on antiquities smuggling in Yemen last April. Does anyone out there have more information?