Ammon News - Jordan has recovered 9 pieces of antiquities that were trafficked to the United States, including Neolithic stone animal statues, a copper stone altar, tombstones, a human statue and a bronze jug.

The prized items were retrieved from an antiquities collector in New York by the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations Office and the New York District Attorney's Office, in cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

In remarks during a ceremony at the Department of Antiquities to hand over the artifacts, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Nayef Al-Fayez stressed the deep Jordanian-US relations, mainly in combating trafficking in cultural property, and the role of all parties and international partners in this respect. He also thanked the US team for the restoration of the antiquities, which were part of a reactivated bilateral agreement in this domain.

The minister also commended local institutions for their efforts to preserve cultural heritage, which is considered a heritage for the entire humanity.

For his part, US Ambassador Henry T. Wooster told the ceremony that returning the stolen artifacts to Jordan is an important historical event, as it is the first Jordanian collection of antiquities to be restored under the agreement on the protection of cultural heritage, which was signed by the two countries in 2019.