WASHINGTON, D.C.—CBS News reports that Steve Francis of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security handed over gold ingots, a skull, and a gold coin to French officials during a ceremony at the Washington, D.C. residence of the French ambassador, Philippe Etienne. Research into the history of the objects has shown that the ingots were looted from the Prince de Conty, a ship that sank near the Breton coast in 1746 on a return trip from China. They were recovered from an auction in California. The skull, taken from catacombs in Paris, was recovered from an antiquities dealer in Texas. Discovered as part of a larger Roman cache of artifacts in 1985 off Corsica’s Gulf of Lava, the gold coin and other items were sold without official permission. “It is unacceptable that cultural property can be stolen and trafficked, and this is one of the mutual priorities between the United States and France,” Etienne commented. For more on archaeological finds from France, go to "Bronze Age Map," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2021.
