Looted ‘green coffin’ - at least 2,000 years old - returns to Egypt from Texas museum

An ancient sarcophagus was returned to Egypt after it was stolen from an archaeological site near Cairo and spirited away to the United States over a decade ago, officials said.

The 9.5-foot-long sarcophagus, known as the green coffin, dates to the Late Dynastic Period, which stretched from 664 to 332 B.C, and it belonged to a priest named Ankhenmaat, according to a September news release from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. in New York.

“This stunning coffin was trafficked by a well-organized network that has looted countless antiquities from the region,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in the release. “We are pleased that this object will be returned to Egypt, where it rightfully belongs.”

Over a decade ago, the Dib-Simonian network, a notorious trafficking organization, obtained the coffin after it was stolen from Abusir al-Malaq, an archeological site in Northern Egypt, officials said.

Following its theft, the green coffin was then smuggled through Europe and into the United States in 2008, according to officials.

Valued at $1 million, the ancient coffin was sold to a private collector and loaned to the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, where it sat on display until it was seized by authorities last year following an investigation which proved it had been illegally obtained, officials said.

A spokesperson for the Texas museum told McClatchy News that the museum coordinated the return with authorities, relinquishing the coffin in September 2022.

The sarcophagus, which is made of wood and covered in hieroglyphics, was handed over to the Egyptian government in a ceremony on Jan. 2, according to a news release from the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

“Today’s ceremony is emblematic of the long history of cooperation between the United States and Egypt on antiquities protection and cultural heritage preservation,” American Ambassador to Egypt Daniel Rubinstein said in a Jan. 2 news release.

The coffin will be transported to the Egyptian Museum in Tahir for maintenance and restoration, Egyptian officials said.

The Dib-Simonian network, the group that looted the green coffin, is also responsible for trafficking another ancient Egyptian coffin and stele, in addition to five other artifacts seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, officials said.

An investigation into the antiquities smuggling syndicate led French officials to charge the former director of the Louvre with fraud last year, according to Le Monde, a French newspaper.

The investigation into the group remains ongoing, the newspaper reported, citing French officials.