The U.S. Repatriated Seven Ancient Artifacts to Egypt

Seven artifacts were recently returned to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in partnership with various U.S. and Egyptian government organizations. Shaaban Abdel Gawad, director of the Antiquities Restitution Department and head of the port’s antiquities unit, said the items were smuggled out of the country in separate cases and from different periods. The news was first reported by Egyptian news outlets Alam online.

Five of the items involved were originally smuggled out of Egypt in 2017 (two mummified fish and a falcon head from the Ptolemaic period) and 2018 (a bronze amulet, a basalt scarab and a carved face of Seth, the ancient Egyptian god of deserts, storms, chaos, violence and foreigners).

Two other items – a painted wooden funerary statue and a carved stone head – were given to the Egyptian Embassy in Washington by an unnamed U.S. citizen who believed the items should be returned to Egypt.

The returned artifacts were handed over to Ambassador Wael Nagar, Assistant Minister for Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a special ceremony, during which he reiterated Egypt’s commitment to the recovery of smuggled cultural property in accordance with national heritage laws and agreements with other countries.

In November 2021, the United States and Egypt renewed a memorandum of understanding aimed at “bilateral cooperation to combat trafficking in archaeological artifacts and artifacts.”