For nine years, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and Israel’s Ministry of Heritage have been working together to preserve the history of the Jewish people and their ties to the land of Israel.PaleoJudaica covered all of the stories mentioned in the article as they came out. For the ancient coins seized from a West Bank checkpoint, see here. For the half-shekel coin excavated in February, see here. For the 2014 Cave of Skulls looting, see here and for the scroll fragments subsequently excavated there, see here and links. For the Cave of Horror scroll fragments discovered in 2021, see here and links. The Neolithic basket comes up in some of those links too.By excavating sites throughout Israel, the iaa’s Theft Prevention Unit, directed by Dr. Amir Ganor, has been able to prevent looters from stumbling upon and stealing ancient artifacts; the specialized unit also works to prevent illegal excavations. Ganor told Archaeology magazine that his crew is “a special police for antiquities.”
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