Italy stated Monday it experienced recovered from a Belgian collector hundreds of illegally collected archeological finds relationship as far back as the sixth century BC, truly worth 11 million euros.

The approximately 800 parts “of exceptional rarity and inestimable price”, such as stelae, amphorae and other works, came from clandestine excavations in Apulia in Italy’s southeastern suggestion, according to the Carabinieri law enforcement in charge of cultural heritage.

The investigation commenced in 2017 just after a state archaeology lab in Apulia observed in European artwork catalogues that decorative components from a Daunian funerary stele belonging to a “rich Belgian collector” resembled these discovered inside of a fragment in a southern Italian museum.

That flat stone slab from Daunia — a historic region of Apulia — in the assortment of the Belgian collector was missing a piece in its centre.

An formal in just the restoration lab recognized that the piece in the museum’s collection concluded the style of a protect and a warrior on horseback that was missing on the stele.

“Through the training course of the look for, a veritable ‘archaeological treasure’ was recovered, consisting of hundreds of Apulian figurative ceramic finds and other Daunian stelae, all illegally exported from Italy, which were being then seized in Belgium,” read through a assertion from police.

Italy was capable to repatriate the will work after all the lawful appeals of the collector were dismissed, police said.

Moreover stelae, the selection incorporates vases painted with red figures, amphorae, black glazed ceramics, and quite a few terracotta collectible figurines. The pieces date again to involving the sixth and 3rd generations BC.