 The Lost of History is a shocking cultural manifestation of greed and ignorance. The trading and stealing of artifacts from the past is an overwhelming problem and one that has been apparent for thousands of years. Of course this won't completely stop, not entirely, but at least the fight is on to trace these historical artifacts and return them to where they belong. The Spanish Civil Guard along with Europol and the World Customs Organization joined forces in what was known as Operation Pandora. It's the third successful operation of the Pandora mission and they have just struck a major blow to this illegal and damaging practice. The seized hall which included 29 countries joining forces to seize 18,000 items led to the arrest of 59 people involved in the trafficking of cultural goods according to Europol. Among the culturally valuable items were an ancient Mesopotamian crystal cylinder seal, a 15th century Bible that had been stolen in Germany over 25 years ago along with 91 ceramic objects and 109 ancient coins from various cultures dating back 5000 years. Europol noted that the operation made heavy use of Interpol's stolen goods database and was partly carried out over a week when the 29 participating law enforcement agencies showed up at auction houses, private residences, galleries, museums, archaeological sites and key transnational ports of entry such as ports and airports to make arrest and collect trafficked items. This third Pandora operation is the latest in a sting of European sting operations to crack down on the trafficking of items of cultural value and historical heritage which has increasingly come to serve as a money laundering vehicle for organized crime as the antiques market has become increasingly valuable in the last two decades. In 2017 and early 2018 Europol helped carry out operations Pandora 1 and Pandora 2 which saw the netting of 3561 and over 41,000 artifacts respectively. In summer 2018 a consortium of European law enforcement agencies dispatched 250 officers to simultaneously search 40 houses across Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK and seized over 25,000 archaeological items, a small fraction of the massive proportion of lost, stolen and forgotten things from not only human history but also earth history which includes civilizations that have emerged separate to our own in the very remote and forgotten past. The Spanish Civil Guard and Bulgarian cops carried out a similar operation Sardica during which 30,000 artifacts some of which were forged were retrieved and 13 gang members arrested. Given that artifact trafficking largely takes place over the internet the Dutch police also helped coordinate a cyber patrol week. Most of the seized items were European in origin but Europol said that more than 30 came from countries across the Middle East and Latin America. The cultural items which are sold on popular auction websites included treasures stolen from archaeological sites in Bulgaria as well as forged goods meant to look like historical discoveries. The criminal gang had been operating mainly from Spain and illegally excavated and trafficked cultural goods besides manufacturing forged items. They set up fake user profiles on auction websites and overbid on the items among themselves to get a higher price known as shield bidding. Needless to say the suspects were arrested in Spain and Bulgaria. A shocking display of disregard for who we are and a complete hindrance in our understanding of the past. Also guys an absolutely remarkable bit of news breaking out of China of all places is set to make your jaw drop well maybe. Two fragments of bone found in eastern China that were painstakingly engraved and colored with ochre date to about 105,000 to 125,000 years ago archaeologists report in antiquity and just possibly they may have been made by the most enigmatic of archaic humans. In fact the decorative bone fragments are just the latest example of prehistoric etching. Ancient abstract forms have been found everywhere our ancestors set foot from Africa and Asia to Europe and Israel on cave walls, on bones and on shells. What they mean is anyone's guess yet while the definition of art is rather loose this may qualify as an early attempt to signify something that we can't even grasp within our own modern understanding. The marks on the bone fragments found in Henan province consist of parallel lines running perpendicular to the grain of the bone. They were not made accidentally unwittingly or incidentally through butchery. They did not result from dragging an animal corpse along the cave floor or curing it. Microscopic analysis concluded that the lines were carefully cut into weathered broken bones not made of fresh animal remains. So somebody around 115,000 years ago, give or take 10,000 years, purposely took broken bones possibly left over from a long forgotten meal and etched parallel lines on them using sharp stone tools. The archaeologists could even conclude that in one case the prehistoric artisan had taken particular care when making the first five parallel lines and then repeated the subsequent strokes presumably to deepen them and enhance their visibility. Whoever made the lean gene bone etching, they meant to do it. But if this is art, it isn't the earliest. That prize may go to a 540,000 year old perforated muscle shell found in Indonesia sporting engraved zigzag lines. Putting on that discovery in 2014, Leiden University biologist Josephine Jordanes said they looked at all possibilities but in the end we are really certain that this must have been made by an agent who did a very deliberate action with a very sharp implement. One thing is for sure guys and that's the fact that we just don't know. Therefore it's completely up for scrutiny what these lines are representing and we would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. So please comment below guys and as always, thank you for watching.