JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—Anti-antiquities-theft inspectors spotted an oil lamp on top of a pile of dirt while on patrol at Horbat Siv, a Roman-Byzantine site in central Israel. It turned out that the lamp had been brought to the surface by a porcupine digging a burrow. Further investigation revealed that the “relentless digger” had uncovered other ancient objects as well. “It often happens that porcupines dig their burrows at the site of archaeological digs…he skillfully throws the dirt aside, and with it whatever archaeological findings are in his path,” Ira Horovitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority anti-theft unit told The Jerusalem Post. “The IAA calls on all porcupines to avoid digging burrows at archaeological sites and warns that digging at an archaeological site without a license is a criminal offense,” he joked. For more, see "Critter Diggers."
