US returns illegally removed sarcophagus to Egypt

One of the largest wooden pharaonic sarcophagi ever discovered, smuggled out of Egypt and until recently on display in a US museum, was returned on Monday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri announced.

There are two types of sarcophagi: those of royal remains and those of nobles. This one belonged to a nobleman,” said Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Shukri and Waziri spoke at a press conference at the Foreign Ministry broadcast on Egyptian television.

The sarcophagus, 2.94 meters long and 90 centimeters wide, with its face painted green, dates to the late Pharaonic period, some 2,700 years ago, and was discovered in central Egypt.

In a decade, the country has managed to recover more than 29,000 pieces of stolen antiquities that were later sold outside of Egypt.

In addition, he has also announced several important discoveries in recent months, mainly in the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo.

In 2021 and 2022, more than 300 sarcophagi and 150 bronze statues were unveiled, many dating back more than 3,000 years.

Egypt hopes that these new discoveries will reactivate tourism, badly affected by the covid-19 pandemic, a sector that employs two million people and generates more than 10% of the country’s GDP.