US returns 9 stolen artefacts to Jordan

Jordan has recovered 9 stolen artefacts from the United States, further advancing efforts to combat antiquities trafficking from the Middle East.

According to the Jordan News Agency (Petra), the handover conducted today consisted of stone animal statues from the Stone Age, tombstones, a human statue, a bronze jug and a copper altar.

The artefacts were recovered from a collector of antiquities in New York in a joint operation by the US Department of Homeland Security, the New York Homeland Security Investigations Office and the New York District Attorney’s Office in cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

Present at the handover in the General Department of Antiquities building in the Jordanian capital, Amman, were the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Nayef Al-Fayez, and the American Ambassador n Amman, Henry Wooster. The Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, Matthew Bogdanos, was also present.

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Al-Fayez said that “the cultural and human heritage is considered a heritage for all of humanity and is not restricted to one group over another.” US Ambassador Wooster also hailed the event as “historic”, saying that it falls within the framework of a bilateral agreement between the two countries to combat antiquities smuggling.

He stated that “the return of the stolen artefacts to Jordan is an important historical event, as it is the first group of Jordanian antiquities to be restored, in implementation of the terms of the cultural heritage protection agreement concluded between the United States and Jordan in 2019.”

The return of the artefacts comes at a time when Washington – and other western countries – has been returning numerous stolen and smuggled antiquities to the Middle East in recent years. Last year, it returned over 17,000 artefacts to Iraq, as well as a Gilgamesh tablet.

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