Crossroads Roundup: Bizarre Tales of Art Theft, Prehistoric Chefs, and Paleolithic China

Our favorite stories on art, archaeology, folklore, and more from this past week.

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Theodosius Arrives at Ephesus, from a Scene from the Legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus. Artist Unknown, ca. 1200–1210. Via the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This week, accusations of art theft and the harboring of stolen works – the drama in the art world continues.

Oddly enough, I came across numerous tales of art theft this week. Something must be in the air.

The first was an accusation from the Lumière sur le Patrimoine association of Paris, which claimed that several U.S. museums were harboring stained-glass windows from Rouen Cathedral that were stolen sometime between 1911 and 1931. The photo above of the 13th century stained-glass window, Theodosius Arrives at Ephesus, is one of the contested windows—currently owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The two other museums in question are the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania and the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts.