Famous Dutch archaeologist Wim Deykman has been detained on suspicion of hiding bone remains believed to belong to the famous French musketeer d’Artagnan (Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as the Count of Artagnan, a French soldier who served as captain of King Louis XIV’s guard musketeers, and the prototype of the hero in A. Dumas's "The Three Musketeers").
The publication “PZC” reported this information citing the family of the scholar.
Soon after, the newspaper “De Limburger” wrote that the archaeologist was released after handing over the mentioned remains to official authorities.
According to the information, the remains include a shoulder bone and two teeth. Some time ago, a legal dispute arose between the parties regarding these remains. Since the skeleton fragments were discovered in the city of Maastricht, the local municipality demanded their immediate return to the state. However, Wim Deykman took the historical remains without permission and hid them in his home.
After this incident, relations between the Maastricht municipality and the archaeologist worsened sharply. Interestingly, in 2026, Deykman was awarded a knighthood "for his great contribution to the archaeology and heritage preservation of Maastricht."
During a sudden inspection conducted by the Heritage Prosecutor’s Office in May, the handover of the bone remains was demanded, but the archaeologist firmly refused. He stated that he entrusted the remains to a reliable person for safekeeping and that they are currently kept in a special safe.
It should be noted that the remains believed to belong to d’Artagnan were discovered in mid-March.//Oxu.az