A US citizen has returned an artefact to Pakistan after realising that it could have been sourced through “illegal excavation,” The Guardian has reported.

The relic was one of 19 antiquities repatriated to four countries by John Gomperts, who inherited them from his grandmother.

The Guardian said that Mr Gomperts, a resident of Washington, decided to return the antiquities after reading another story by the same paper about the repatriation of looted antiquities. The report added 12 objects were repatriated to Greece, four to Italy, one to Pakistan, and two to Cyprus. However, no other detail of the artefact was given.

The collective worth of the pieces was up to £80,000, The Guardian said.

After taking his siblings on board, Mr Gomperts returned the antiquities as he realised they could have come as a result of illicit excavations because his family had no history of collecting artefacts.

“It seemed like the right thing to do … I read stories on repatriation and I thought: we have these pieces that are 2,500 years old from other countries; we should explore whether we can give them back,” The Guardian quoted Mr Gomperts as saying.

The report added that he reached out to senior field archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, Prof Christos Tsirogiannis, for advice, before returning the artefacts.

Last month, the US government repatriated 46 artefacts to Pakistan, including a $1.1 million Buddhapadha.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022