Archaeology is a political animal and we Irish know it well. However, it rarely has such direct potency as has been demonstrated by recent revelations about Italy's playboy PM. Apparently a secretly recorded tape of the prime minister showing a lady-friend around his gardens includes a section where he boasts about a number of Phoenician burials found during the construction of  a lake. A seemingly inoccuous revelation, but not when Italian law provides for a 1 year jail sentence for people who don't report archaeological finds.

Could archaeology oust a man seemingly immune  to attacks based on corruption, monopolisation of the media and sex scandals have failed? A classic case of the political classes ignoring archaeology at their peril!

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