Home from the range

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

A large number of pre-historic artefacts stolen from a Maadi storehouse have returned to Egypt, as Nevine El-Aref reports.

After touring around various American states, 79 pre-dynastic artefacts, including plain stone reliefs, ceramic and alabaster pots, and jewellery made of shells, is back home. The items are now being restored at the Egyptian Museum laboratory with a view to being placed on display at the museum's temporary exhibition hall before they are taken back to the Maadi storehouse from where they were taken six years ago.

The artefacts were handed over to the Egyptian consul-general in New York, Hussein Mubarak, at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York office.

"When [the military officer] stole these items from Egypt, he robbed a nation of part of its history," Peter J Smith, head of the New York customs office, was quoted as saying. "The repatriation of the Maadi artefacts reunites the people of Egypt with an important piece of their cultural heritage."