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Italy Looks for Man Seen Carving Graffiti into Colosseum

FILE - 06 October 2016, Italy, Rome: An exterior view of the Colosseum in Rome. Photo: picture alliance / dpa
FILE - 06 October 2016, Italy, Rome: An exterior view of the Colosseum in Rome. Photo: picture alliance / dpa
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Italy Looks for Man Seen Carving Graffiti into Colosseum

FILE - 06 October 2016, Italy, Rome: An exterior view of the Colosseum in Rome. Photo: picture alliance / dpa
FILE - 06 October 2016, Italy, Rome: An exterior view of the Colosseum in Rome. Photo: picture alliance / dpa

Italy’s culture and tourism ministers have vowed to find and punish the tourist who was filmed carving his name and that of his apparent girlfriend in the wall of the Colosseum in Rome, a crime that in the past has resulted in hefty fines.
The Associated Press said that the video of the incident went viral on social media, at a time when Romans have already been complaining about hordes of tourists flooding the Eternal City in record numbers this season.
Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano called the graffiti — “Ivan+Haley 23” — carved into the almost 2,000-year-old Flavian Amphitheater “serious, undignified and a sign of great incivility.” He said he hoped the culprits would be found “and punished according to our laws.”
Previous cases of tourists scrawling on the Colosseum have resulted in fines of up to $20,000.
Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche also said she hoped the tourist would be sanctioned “so that he understands the gravity of the gesture.” Calling for respect for Italy’s culture and history, she vowed: “We cannot allow those who visit our nation to feel free to behave in this way.”
In 2014, a Russian tourist was fined 20,000 euros ($25,000) for engraving a big letter ‘K’ on a wall of the Colosseum, given a summary judgment and a suspended four-year jail sentence.
The following year, two American tourists were also cited for aggravated damage after they carved their names in the monument.

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'Spectacular' Viking Burial Site Discovered in Denmark 

A Moesgaard Museum conservator holds a Viking Age ceramic bowl discovered at a Viking Age burial site in Lisbjerg, a village seven kilometers north of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
A Moesgaard Museum conservator holds a Viking Age ceramic bowl discovered at a Viking Age burial site in Lisbjerg, a village seven kilometers north of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
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'Spectacular' Viking Burial Site Discovered in Denmark 

A Moesgaard Museum conservator holds a Viking Age ceramic bowl discovered at a Viking Age burial site in Lisbjerg, a village seven kilometers north of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, on June 13, 2025. (AFP)
A Moesgaard Museum conservator holds a Viking Age ceramic bowl discovered at a Viking Age burial site in Lisbjerg, a village seven kilometers north of Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, on June 13, 2025. (AFP)

In an accidental find, a 10th-century burial site believed to have belonged to a Viking noble family has been discovered in northern Denmark, packed with a "spectacular" trove of ancient objects, a museum announced Tuesday.

The discovery came when pearls, coins, ceramics and a box containing a gold thread were unearthed during construction work near Lisbjerg, a village located seven kilometers (four miles) north of Aarhus, Denmark's second-largest city.

Archaeologists found the site contained around 30 graves dating from the second half of the 10th century, when the famous King Harald Bluetooth reigned, said the Moesgaard Museum in Aarhus.

According to the museum's archaeologist Mads Ravn, the graves are most likely linked to a noble family from the Viking Age -- which lasted between the eighth and 11th centuries -- whose farm was discovered less than a kilometer from the burial site in the late 1980s.

"This could have been one of Harald Bluetooth's earls or stewards," Ravn told AFP.

Ravn noted that the king, who introduced Christianity to what is today Denmark, tasked nobles with managing certain regions.

Researchers also discovered some human remains, such as teeth and bones, at the site.

"People basically took what was important to them into the grave because they wanted to transfer it to the other world," the archaeologist said.

One of the graves, which scientists believe belonged to an important woman, contained a box filled with decorative objects and a pair of scissors.

The "magnificent" box is a remarkable find, according to Ravn, with only a few having been discovered before, including one in southeastern Germany.

"It's very rare, there's only three of them we know of," he said.

The excavations at Lisbjerg are due to be completed this week, after which experts will begin a thorough analysis of the objects recovered.

Wooden objects in particular should help them accurately date the burial site.

As a royal and commercial center, Aarhus was one of Denmark's most important cities during the Viking Age.