Archaeologists
have discovered that crime - particularly fraud and counterfeiting - are not
new types of human activity. They can now prove that these underhanded dealings
have been happening for millennium.
The
evidence comes from 2 archeological sites in Spain; La Molina cave and the Cova
del Gegant cave. At La Molina, 10 people were buried with goods that included
pottery, bone awls, objects carved from ivory and amber beads. This site dates
back to the 3rd millennium BC.
At
the Cova del Gegant, an estimated 19 people were buried, dating from the 2nd
millennium BC. These people were accompanied by pottery and ornamental beads
made of lignite, coral, amber, shell and gold.
The
amber beads tricked many archaeologists, but tests revealed that not all of
them were real amber. Some of the ‘amber’ beads found at Cova del Gegant were
found to be pieces of mollusk shell core coated with pine resin, and these were
mixed in with real amber beads. The fake amber beads from La Molina were seeds
coated with resin. Apparently this type of surface coating effectively emulated
the translucence, shine and color of amber. In fact, similar methods of
imitating turquoise in the Levant have been identified from the 6th millennium
BC.
People
started to trade commodities thousands of years ago in Europe. Amber was highly
valuable and was used by leaders to cultivate an image of power and wealth.
Some amber was brought to Spain from the Baltic Sea, but another trade route
was through Sicily, which also supplied ivory, Alpine jade and cinnabar.
So
why create fake amber beads? Perhaps there wasn’t enough real amber to fill the
demand for it. Perhaps the traders - or their suppliers - saw a way to make ‘a
fast buck’. And although the exotic goods buried with these people showed that
they could afford the real thing, perhaps their survivors saw no reason to
waste all the real, expensive stuff by burying it forever.
I
heard it said once that ‘counterfeiting’ was the oldest profession, save one.
At the time, I thought that was an overstatement. Maybe I was wrong.
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