One of Ancient Egypt’s largest sarcophagi has been returned to Cairo by the United States

A sarcophagus of 2,700 years ago it is finally returned to its homeland. On Monday 2 January, the Egyptian authorities announced with great fanfare the return of one of the largest wooden sarcophagi of Ancient Egypt, so far exhibited in a US museum. During a press conference on the precious relic, the director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri, he explained that it is a sarcophagus belonging to “a nobleman” of the Lower Egyptian period. Nicknamed the “green sarcophagus” due to the color of the face paint on the wood of the coffin, it measures 2.94 meters in length and 90 centimeters in width.

This restitution is the result of an investigation conducted jointly by Egypt and the United States over more than two years. According to Al Jazeera, Manhattan authorities traced the looting of the sarcophagus three months ago. The antiquity was stolen from the Abu Sir necropolis north of Cairo before being brought to the United States via Germany in 2008, the district attorney said Alvin Bragg. According to US press reports, the sarcophagus has been on display at the Houston Museum of Natural History since 2013.

17 other artifacts reported to the United States

“This magnificent coffin was tampered with by a well-organized network that looted countless antiquities in the region,” he said. According to him, the culprits are part of a network of thieves who looted a previous coffin, which has long been on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The piece, covered in gold, was returned in 2019. “We are delighted that this object has been returned to Egypt, where it rightfully belongs,” said Prosecutor Bragg. The foreign minister Sameh Shukri he hypothesizes that the thickness of the sarcophagus “induced looters to steal the lid of the sarcophagus without the base”. He then praised the international investigation that led to the return of antiquity to a country determined to “protect the [suo] heritage”.

During the press conference, authorities mentioned 17 other artifacts recently recovered in the United States. In ten years, Egypt has recovered some 29,300 antiquities illegally stolen from its borders. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, over 100 have been returned to Cairo in 2022, including some from the United States, New Zealand and France.