NEW YORK, NEW YORK—Reuters reports that the United States repatriated 30 looted artifacts to Cambodia in a ceremony attended by Cambodia’s U.S. ambassador Keo Chhea. Federal prosecutor Damian Williams explained that all of the items had been sold to U.S. museums and private collectors by an antiquities dealer who created false provenances for them in order to conceal their illegal origins. The artifacts include a tenth-century sandstone sculpture of Skanda, the Hindu god of war, riding on a peacock, and other ancient bronze and stone statues. To read about Khmer fire shrines built across Cambodia's Angkor Empire, go to "The Pursuit of Wellness: Rest."
U.S. Repatriates Looted Artifacts to Cambodia
News August 9, 2022
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