Lebanon will receive today a collection of lead coffin pieces linked to the ancient city of Tyre, Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh announced. The artifacts were discovered in sales catalogs issued by Arte Primitivo, a company specializing in the sale of antiquities, and are being returned to Lebanon through Lebanese Consul General in New York Talal Daher.
Salameh said the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate General of Antiquities, had followed up on the smuggled artifacts with US authorities and the FBI, leading to the recovery and repatriation of the pieces.
He said the artifacts have distinctive artistic, decorative and technical features typical of the workshops that produced lead coffins in Tyre, which were active on a large scale during antiquity.
The lead panels feature similar relief decorations made using molds, suggesting that they may have been produced during the same period and possibly in the same workshop. Salameh said the pieces can also be compared with similar artifacts discovered in an intact Roman hypogeum, or underground tomb, in the town of Dabaal, about 14 kilometers southeast of Tyre.
Salameh stressed the importance of the recovery, noting that Tyre, which has recently suffered extensive destruction, is one of Lebanon’s areas richest in archaeological heritage. He said available evidence indicates that the coffin pieces originated in the Tyre area and were removed during illegal excavations.
“Protecting Lebanese cultural property and combating its smuggling and illegal trade is a national responsibility,” Salameh said, stressing that every artifact removed from Lebanon illegally represents a loss to the country’s national heritage.
He added that the Ministry of Culture and the Directorate General of Antiquities would not compromise in carrying out their duties and would work to recover any artifact proven to have been taken out of Lebanon illegally.
Salameh said the Ministry of Culture, through the Directorate General of Antiquities, had followed up on the smuggled artifacts with US authorities and the FBI, leading to the recovery and repatriation of the pieces.
He said the artifacts have distinctive artistic, decorative and technical features typical of the workshops that produced lead coffins in Tyre, which were active on a large scale during antiquity.
The lead panels feature similar relief decorations made using molds, suggesting that they may have been produced during the same period and possibly in the same workshop. Salameh said the pieces can also be compared with similar artifacts discovered in an intact Roman hypogeum, or underground tomb, in the town of Dabaal, about 14 kilometers southeast of Tyre.
Salameh stressed the importance of the recovery, noting that Tyre, which has recently suffered extensive destruction, is one of Lebanon’s areas richest in archaeological heritage. He said available evidence indicates that the coffin pieces originated in the Tyre area and were removed during illegal excavations.
“Protecting Lebanese cultural property and combating its smuggling and illegal trade is a national responsibility,” Salameh said, stressing that every artifact removed from Lebanon illegally represents a loss to the country’s national heritage.
He added that the Ministry of Culture and the Directorate General of Antiquities would not compromise in carrying out their duties and would work to recover any artifact proven to have been taken out of Lebanon illegally.
