Egypt State Information ServiceCulture Minister Farouk Hosni has decided to put recently restored stolen antiquities from the United States at the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo.
Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Dr Zahi Hawwas said that the 79 ancient artifacts date back to 3,900 - 3,600 B.C.
Egypt received in 2006 a tip about the sale of the artifacts to a U.S. antiquities dealer in the Maadi district.
The dealer, identified as Edward George Johnson, managed to smuggle them out of Cairo Airport but was arrested by US federal authorities following a demand from Egypt.
Investigations showed that Johnson had used his diplomatic status to illegally ship the artifacts he had acquired in Egypt to the U.S., in violation of Egypt's export laws, diplomatic protocol as outlined in the Vienna Convention, and U.S. law for smuggling the artifacts into the country.
Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge of possessing and selling stolen antiquities.
Johnson was an active duty Chief Warrant officer in the US Army assigned to the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt in 2002.
He brought the items to the U.S. and sold them to a dealer claiming that they were family property dating back to the early 20th century.
He was sentenced in September 2008 to 18 months probation and was ordered to make restitution to the antiquities dealer to whom he sold the artifacts.
Ambassador Hussein Mubarak, Consul General for Egypt in New York, said Egypt is grateful to the US government for the repatriation of the Egyptian stolen artifacts.
US authorities work to identify and return items of cultural and historical value to their countries of origin under the Cultural Heritage Program.
In 2007, the US government returned an antique vessel in the form of an alabaster duck to the Egyptian government.
The vessel, which is over 4,500 years old, had been stolen from the Egyptian Antiquities Inspectorate in 1979.
The above excavation photograph shows other vessels from Maadi in the context in which they were discovered.
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