US returns another 47 artifacts to Thailand

The United States has returned an additional 46 historical artifacts to Thailand with some estimated to be up to 4,000 years old.

Bangkok (NNT/VNA) - The United States has returned an additional 47 historicalartifacts to Thailand with some estimated to be up to 4,000 years old.

Most of the 47 itemsare from Baan Chiang and include earthenware, tools and carving utensils. The ages of items range between 1,800 and 4,000 years with 19 of thempreviously held by a US citizen and 27 held by a Thai residing in the US.

The artifacts werereturned through the work of the Thai Historical Artifacts RetrievalCommission, which is a joint body of officials from the Ministry of Culture andthe Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The haul was second such success afterthe commission secured the return of an initial 12 items from the US in October2018. 

Minister of Culture Weera Rojpojanarat chaired a ceremony to receive theartifacts, remarking that efforts will continue to bring all of Thailand’shistorical items home.

The Thai Fine ArtsDepartment is to catalog the items and place them on an inventory of stateproperty as well as carry out maintenance and restoration where needed. The artifacts will be kept at the National Museum’s central archive inPathumthani and will only be considered for display after thorough study.-NNT/VNA

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