WASGHINGTON (Middle East Eye) – United States officials have
returned a 2,700-year-old looted artifact to the Palestinian government in an official ceremony in Bethlehem.
The “cosmetic spoon”, which was carved from ivory between 800 and 700 BCE, was handed back by George Noll, head of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, to the Palestinian Authority’s tourism and antiquities minister, Rula Maayah.
In a statement, the U.S. office called the transfer a “historic event”, after the artifact was discovered during an investigation of data-x-items held by Michael Steinhardt, a prominent New York venture capitalist and ancient art collector.
Investigators seized 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70m from Steinhardt in 2021. He received a lifetime ban on collecting and buying more antiquities.
The cosmetic spoon was used to pour incense at rituals venerating the gods and the dead. A winged figure was etched on its side.
“This artifact is important as it acquires its real scientific and archaeological value in its authentic location,” Maayah said. Noll called it “an example of Palestinian cultural patrimony”.
According to U.S. investigators, the item dates back to the Assyrian civilization and was likely stolen from Al-Khalil, in the occupied West Bank.
However, the single artifact being returned to the Palestinians is a fraction of what might be owed to them.
Several other data-x-items that were found in Al-Khalil and in other areas of the West Bank are being returned instead to the Zionist regime.
As part of their conclusion, New York prosecutors said all 40 of the data-x-items illegally taken from the Palestinian territories should be returned.