{"id":132497,"date":"2026-09-04T08:34:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T03:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=132497"},"modified":"2026-09-04T08:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T03:34:32","slug":"us-returns-ancient-sarcophagus-to-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/","title":{"rendered":"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BEIRUT(National Times)- The United States on Thursday announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York on Wednesday, ahead of their repatriation, the US embassy in Lebanon said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recovery \u201creflects the strong US-Lebanon partnership in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property\u201d, the embassy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salame said the fragments \u201cwere unearthed in the Tyre area during illegal excavations\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe fragments bear distinctive artistic, decorative and technical characteristics typical of workshops that produced lead sarcophagi in Tyre, which were among the city\u2019s active and prolific workshops in antiquity.\u201d According to the FBI, the antiquities \u201cwere stolen from illicit excavations in or around Tyre and were exported outside of Lebanon\u2019s borders\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The trade in looted antiquities is widespread in the Middle East. New York, one of the world\u2019s art capitals, is home to many wealthy collectors, galleries, and auction houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December 2017, three ancient artefacts were returned to Lebanon, including a bull\u2019s head of Greek origin that had been valued at $1.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Salame said the Tyre region \u201cis exceptionally rich in archaeological heritage\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEIRUT(National Times)- The United States on Thursday announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation. The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York on Wednesday, ahead of their repatriation, the US embassy in Lebanon [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BEIRUT(National Times)- The United States on Thursday announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation. The decorative, lead fragments were returned to the Lebanese consulate in New York on Wednesday, ahead of their repatriation, the US embassy in Lebanon [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T03:34:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-04T03:34:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-8-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/\",\"name\":\"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-8-2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-04T03:34:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-04T03:34:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-8-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Untitled-design-8-2.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/132497\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US returns ancient sarcophagus to Lebanon - Nation","og_description":"BEIRUT(National Times)- The United States on Thursday announced the return of Roman-era sarcophagus fragments to Lebanon that were looted from the southern city of Tyre and recovered by an FBI investigation. 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