France Returns Ancient Artefacts to Ethiopia
On Saturday, France began the process of returning approximately 3,500 archaeological artefacts to Ethiopia, which had been held by Paris since the 1980s for study. The handover took place at the National Museum in Addis Ababa, where French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot presented two prehistoric stone axes, called bifaces, and a stone cutter to Ethiopia’s Tourism Minister, Selamawit Kassa.
These artefacts are part of a collection that stems from excavations at the Melka Kunture site, a significant cluster of prehistoric sites located south of Addis Ababa. The excavation, which was led by a French researcher who passed away, took place over several decades.
The return of the artefacts is a significant step in the longstanding bilateral cooperation between France and Ethiopia in the fields of archaeology and palaeontology. Barrot emphasized that the artefacts, which date back between 1 and 2 million years, were never part of French public collections but had been stored for research purposes.
The artefacts will be fully delivered to the Ethiopian Heritage Directorate by Tuesday, where they will be properly housed. According to Laurent Serrano, culture advisor at the French embassy in Addis Ababa, this handover is technically considered a transfer rather than restitution, as the items were not part of French museum collections but were instead kept for scientific study.
