Guardia Civil's unexpected find during a Santa Pola investigation

GUARDIA CIVIL officers recently noticed a pottery amphora in a Santa Pola property during a routine investigation.
Suspecting it was Roman, they asked the homeowne, who was present at the time, to hand it over.  He did so immediately, explaining that he had been unaware of its value.
The Guardia Civil’s Policia Judicial unit, equivalent to the CID, contacted Santa Pola’s museum, where archaeologists identified it as First Century AD Roman pottery, produced in southern Spain.
The regional government has now been notified and meanwhile the amphora remains in the museum. As Guardia Civil sources explained afterwards, archaeological finds are state property and cannot be legally bought or sold.