News: Tutankhamun Artifacts Return to Egypt

We all know that “gentleman explorers” could be a bit grabby back in the day, back when exporting an artifact or five wasn’t such a customs nightmare. Many of those priceless artifacts recovered from ancient temples or hidden pyramids have ended-up in museum collections around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
 
But this week, The Met and Zahi Hawass of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt have announced that those artifacts pertaining to the tomb of Tutankhamun held by the museum in New York will be permanently returned to Egypt in 2011:
 
“All of these small-scale objects, which range from study samples to a three-quarter-inch-high bronze dog and a sphinx bracelet-element, can be attributed with certainty to Tutankhamun’s tomb, which was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings.”
 
In total, 19 objects will be returning to Egypt where they will be displayed in a new museum in Giza, scheduled to open in 2012.