Chronicle (1966)

The Plunderers: Treasure Trail (1975x1)

: 08, 1975

The treasure trail 'is the murder of man's history and it's a tragedy.' History is murdered in the search for buried treasure, not just gold and silver, but fractured pots and broken statues, the highly saleable relics of past civilisations. Meet curators, smugglers, dealers and indignant archaeologists anxious to preserve intact the evidence of the past. Controversy continued with the announcement by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, of the million dollar purchase of the Euphronios Vase - the so-called 'hot pot'. The trail leads from New York to the Etruscan hills in Italy, to meet tomb robbers, policemen and a man who fakes pots for a living. Re-aired 15 December 1975, 3 September 1987