Spanish Archaeologist Sentenced to Prison

“A significant discovery was believed to have been made when a series of nearly 300 ostracas (ceramic pieces) with words engraved in Latin , Basque, and Egyptian hieroglyphs were discovered on the site. Eliseo Gil, the excavation director, once boasted that their discovery would “rewrite the history books”.” – Stephen Sorensen (Feb. 4th, 2020)

I wrote an article on February 4th, 2020 (Spanish Archaeologist Facing Prison Over Hoax Accusations) about a case that had recently started pertaining to the renowned archaeologist Eliseo Gil. I hadn’t heard anything about it for awhile until last night, when I heard that a verdict had been reached on Wednesday, June 10th, 2020.

Eliseo Gil was found guilty and was convicted of forgery and fraud. He was sentenced to be in prison for two years, three months and 23 days. He and of his two accomplices, that being Rubén Cerdán, are also €12,500 required to pay €12,500 the provincial authorities in Álava because these authorities helped fund the original excavations.

The ruling of the court was that the artifacts had been manipulated “with contemporary incisions that were intended to suggest they contained inscriptions or markings of the same age as the objects themselves, and that they possessed a historical and cultural value of which they were devoid”.

“…one of the greatest falsifications or manipulations relating to archaeological materials from the Roman world” – The Basque police officer who led the investigation.

My original article on this (linked above too) has a lot more details about the background and start of the case, so check that out if you’re interested in learning more about what happened here.

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