U.S. returns parts of queen’s temple, ancient gold coin and other rare smuggled artifacts to Egypt, officials say

Sarcophagus lids, a Greco-Roman portrait and fragments of what is believed to be a temple of Queen Hatshepsut were among 25 rare artifacts returned to Egypt from the United States, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said Monday.

The pieces — spanning centuries of Egyptian civilization — were handed over following a three-year recovery effort by Egypt’s consulate in New York, the New York District Attorney’s Office and U.S. security agencies, the ministry said in a news release.

The collection includes wooden and gilded sarcophagus lids dating back more than 5,500 years, parts of a temple believed to belong to Queen Hatshepsut and a Greco-Roman mummy portrait from Fayyoum — a southern city renowned for its distinctive Greco-Roman art.

The trove also features intricately crafted jewelry from around 2,400 years ago, a granite foot fragment dating back to the Ramessid dynasty, during the peak of Egypt’s power, as well as small ivory and stone figurines.

A rare gold coin dating back over two millennia to the reign of Ptolemy I — one of Alexander the Great’s generals and founder of ancient Egypt’s last royal dynasty — is also part of the collection.

The ministry released five images of the artifacts on social media.

The antiquities were seized in separate investigations beginning in 2022 and were held at Egypt’s consulate in New York until their return to Cairo on Sunday, according to the ministry’s statement.

Officials did not reveal exactly how the artifacts left Egypt or how they surfaced in the U.S.

However, such thefts are not uncommon. During the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak, looters ransacked museums and archaeological sites in the chaos, spiriting away thousands of priceless pieces.

Many of those artifacts later appeared on the international market or in private collections.

Egyptian authorities say they have succeeded in bringing home nearly 30,000 artifacts over the past decade.

In 2023, an ancient wooden sarcophagus was returned to Egypt after U.S. authorities determined it was looted years ago.

The year before that, a stone sculpture that arrived in Memphis, Tennessee, was discovered to be a centuries-old artifact from Egypt. The artifact was confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers.

In 2019, a stolen ancient Egyptian coffin that ended up being sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for $4 million was given back to Egypt.