BANGKOK, Jan 17 (TNA) – The US government has returned 46
pre-historic artifacts recalled from private American collectors and
Thai-Americans to Thailand.
Culture minister Vira Rojpojchanarat held an event to hand
over the artifacts to the Department of Fine Arts at the National Library on
Thursday.
The artifacts were given to the Thai Embassy in Washington,
D.C. and shipped to Thailand in December, he said, they would be kept by the
Department of Fine Arts at the National Geological Museum.
It was the second batch of ancient artifacts returned to the
country under the operation by a special panel seeking returns of national
treasure, he said.
In October last year, the US returned of 12 items to
Thailand.
Like the first batch, most of the items were believed to
have come from a prehistoric civilization of Ban Chiang, dating back more than
4,000 years, Vira said. Nineteen of them
were returned by American collectors and the rest by Thai-Americans in the US,
he added.
The panel has also overseen attempts to retrieve items that
were taken illegally from the country such as ancient Buddhist relics that have
been displayed in US museums. It has
been tracking artifacts, gathering evidence and presenting them to US
authorities to back the claims.
Ban Chiang which is in present day Udon Thani province is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.(TNA)
