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Smuggled archaeological artefacts returned by France reach home
"Some 512 artefacts dating back to [the] second and third millennium BC[E], stolen and smuggled from Pakistan to France" have returned to Pakistan, the Foreign Office announced in a press release on Tuesday.
Customs agents at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport in 2006 had intercepted a parcel from Pakistan containing 17 terracotta pots addressed to a museum in the city, claiming they were more than 100 years old.
But an expert who examined them concluded they were artefacts dating back to the second or third millennium BC which had likely been stolen from burial sites in Balochistan.
Following an extensive investigation which lasted almost a year and involved a raid on the Paris gallery, investigators found a total of 445 items, some dating as far back as 4,000 BC, with an estimated value of $157,000.
Among the items were a series of beautifully-decorated pots, vases and jars, all painstakingly adorned with small, stylised motifs of animals, plants and trees.
There were also about 100 tiny ceramic figurines, as well as plates, bowls and goblets, all of which had been illegally shipped out of Pakistan for sale to dealers abroad.
“This is very, very important for us,” Abbas Sarwar Qureshi, head of the chancery at the Pakistani embassy where France's top customs official attended a formal handover ceremony, had said.
“Some of the items are 6,000 years old from the Mehrgarh civilisation,” he had told AFP, referring to an era that predates the Indus Valley civilisation which flourished around 3,000 BCE before mysteriously disappearing.
The Foreign Office stated that Pakistan’s Deputy Head of Mission Muhammad Amjad Aziz Qazi had thanked the Government of France, especially French Customs, the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture for their support and cooperation in completing the formalities for the restitution of the artefacts.
Comments (11) Closed
A time to celebrate!
Gordon D. Walker
Canada
Thanks a lot for your kind, ethical and great gesture.
Sad, now the future of these artifacts is uncertain in our museums no funds no expertise to take care of them.
Mehrgarh is the origin of dentistry. The books of dentistry contain the pictures of 9,000 years old human jaws excavated from Mehrgarh having cavity fillings by drilling in the teeth. There are also proof of sophisticated agricultural practices employed by Mehrgarh people during those times.
Evidence has been found of the world's oldest dentists, who drilled teeth to remove decay about 9,000 years ago. Treatment was carried out in an area of Mehrgarh what is now Pakistan, using tiny, flint-tipped wooden drills, that rotated at about 20 times a second
These items can be auctioned and will fetch quite a tidy price.
Keep them safe and on display also
Do you know who are the biggest plunderer of these historical artifacts from Pakistan ? Afghans. Yes the same that came to Pakistan as refugees and proceeded overseas, smuggled these priceless jewels to Europe and US. In UK, one of the biggest smuggler of these antiquities is an Afghan who has a network in France, Germany and Netherlands. Since drug smuggling is considered a major crime in many European countries, these Afghans have switched over to this business, plus easy access and easy.
@M. Saeed,
No wonder Mr Modi has some credence on what he said about stem cell and plastic surgery dating back to thousands of year.
At rthat time Gandhara was an ancient state in the Peshawar Basin. Gandhara was one of sixteen large conglomerations of urban and rural areas in ancient India. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its capital city was Pushkalavati. Later the capital city was moved to Peshawar by the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great in about 127 AD. _ So the pottery could predate the Kushan empire.
How about french chateaus bought by zardari. When are we getting those back?