Italian art police on Friday seized 23 ancient artefacts during a raid on a house in Sicily belonging to two black market traffickers.
The haul, described by investigators as ''of inestimable archaeological and historical value'', included amphorae, oil lamps, statues and earthenware dating to between the sixth and third centuries BC.
Many of the confiscated works were stolen from Morgantina, an ancient Greek city that forms one of Sicily's most prestigious archaeological sites.
Police said the traffickers - an 80-year-old man and his 56-year-old son - belonged to a larger band that operated in the area.
Morgantina has suffered looting before: a fifth-century BC statue of Aphrodite, currently in the John Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, was one of the key pieces the last government fought to have returned to Italy in a crackdown on stolen artefacts in foreign museums.
In September the Getty agreed to return the statue in 2010.
