Addis Ababa, December 8, 2022 (FBC) – France repatriates the 740 artefacts it borrowed from Ethiopia in the 1960s and handed them over to the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritages on December 8.
The artifacts are said to be between 10 thousand and two million years old.
The ceremony was held in the presence of Sophie Moal-Makame, Head of Cooperation, and Integrated Family Service Organization of the French Embassy in Ethiopia, and Abebaw Ayalew, the Director General of the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritages.
DG Abebaw, for his part, confirmed that the repatriated artefacts are animal fossils and tools made of animals’ and stone.
The artefacts were unearthed in Melka Kunture and Omo area by the French researcher Jean Chavaillon. The artefacts were loaned to France for further research in the 1960s, he stated.
Sophie Moal-Makame, for her part, stated that the number of recovered artefacts is 740, and 28 of them are animal fossils, according to ENAs’ report.
She said that Ethiopia and France will continue to strengthen their good cooperation in heritage issues.