The nearly 800 pieces “of exceptional rarity and inestimable value” date as far back as the sixth century BC, according to the Carabinieri police force’s tutela patrimonio division in charge of protecting cultural heritage. The finds including stelae, amphorae and other works, which came from clandestine excavations in Puglia in Italy’s southeast.

The investigation began in 2017 after a state archaeology lab in Puglia noticed in European art catalogues that decorative elements from a Daunian funerary stele belonging to the collector resembled those found within a fragment in a southern Italian museum.