• It was smuggled  into the US through Germany in 2008
• It was given to the Houston Museum of Natural Science by a collector in 2013
• The 2.9-meter-long (9.5-foot-long) “Green Coffin” was used by a priest Ankhenmaat.

Sarcophagus from Egypt that was on display at a museum. In the United States has finally been sent back to Egypt.

Firstly the 2.9-meter-long (9.5-foot-long) “Green Coffin” was used by a priest Ankhenmaat.

Secondly this was during the Late Dynastic Period. which lasted from 664 BC to 332 BC.

Although it was stolen from the Abu Sir necropolis in north Egypt by a global network of art thieves.

Then it was smuggled  into the US through Germany in 2008.

It was given to the Houston Museum of Natural Science by a collector in 2013.

The sarcophagus was later returned to Egypt after an investigation that took several years. On Monday, US diplomats also held a ceremony in Cairo to give the sarcophagus back to Egypt.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Egypt’s Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa both went to the event.

Daniel Rubinstein, the US chargé d’affaires in Egypt, said, “Today’s ceremony shows how the US and Egypt have worked together for a long time to protect antiquities and preserve cultural heritage.”

Mr. Issa said that the return of the sarcophagus showed how hard Egypt works to get back stolen items.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said that an international group of  smugglers, took the Coffin. which was worth more than $1 million (£830,000), out of Egypt.

The network also sold the “Gold Coffin,” which was returned to Egypt in 2019.

The Stele of Pa-di-Sena, which was also from the Late Dynastic Period and was returned in 2020.  Also the five pieces that were taken from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City last year.

Though  US isn’t the only country that has recently given back artefacts to Egypt.

Meanwhile in 2021, Israel also gave back 95 artefacts that were brought into the country illegally or found for sale in Jerusalem.

Last month, a university in the Republic of Ireland said it was going to bring back a sarcophagus, mummified human remains, and canopic jars.

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