The "Green Coffin," an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus, was given back to Egypt. The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences in the United States had the 2.9 m (9.5 ft) long "Green Coffin" on exhibit. The wooden sarcophagus was used by a priest by the name of Ankhenmaat during the Late Dynastic Period, which lasted from 664 BC to 332 BC, according to the BBC.
The repatriation is a part of the Egyptian government's efforts to halt the trafficking of its stolen antiquities, according to the Independent. 5,300 stolen artefacts from all across the world were successfully brought back to Egypt by Cairo officials in 2021.
A global network of art traffickers stole the priceless sarcophagus from the Abu Sir necropolis in northern Egypt. In 2008, it was brought into the US illegally through Germany, NDTV reported.
The top of the sarcophagus is brightly painted.
The US charge d'affaires in Egypt, Daniel Rubinstein, presented it to the Egyptian government at a ceremony that followed a news conference on Monday.
The sarcophagus was turned over more than three months after the Manhattan District Attorney's Office concluded that it had been stolen from the Abu Sir Necropolis, which is located north of Cairo. According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, it was smuggled into the US in 2008 via Germany, the Independent reported.
"This stunning coffin was trafficked by a well-organized network that has looted countless antiquities from the region," Mr Bragg said at the time. "We are pleased that this object will be returned to Egypt, where it rightfully belongs."
According to Mr Bragg, the same network illegally removed an Egyptian coffin covered in gold from the Metropolitan Museum in New York. For roughly $4 million, Met acquired the sculpture in 2017 from a Parisian art dealer. In 2019, it was returned to Egypt.