US returns sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon

BEIRUT

The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York.

The United States on Sept. 3 announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation.

The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York on Sept. 2, ahead of their repatriation, the US embassy in Lebanon said.

The recovery “reflects the strong U.S.-Lebanon partnership in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property,” the embassy said.

Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the fragments “were unearthed in the Tyre area during illegal excavations.”

“The fragments bear distinctive artistic, decorative and technical characteristics typical of workshops that produced lead sarcophagus in Tyre, which were among the city’s active and prolific workshops in antiquity.”

According to the FBI, the antiquities “were stolen from illicit excavations in or around Tyre and were exported outside of Lebanon’s borders.”

UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, added Tyre to its World Heritage in Danger list in July.

The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York.