BANGKOK — A private American collector has returned a dozen ancient artifacts to Thailand as the Southeast Asian country presses for other treasures that were taken abroad to be given back.
Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said the artifacts were given by Katherine Ayers-Mannix to the Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C., which shipped them back to Thailand.
The items are believed to have mostly come from a prehistoric civilization dating back more than 4,000 years that was centered on Ban Chiang, in what is now Thailand’s northeastern province of Udon Thani.
Vira, speaking Thursday at a news conference in Bangkok, said Thailand is seeking the return from museums in the United States of other items that were taken illegally from the country, and has been gathering evidence to back its claims.
Thai officials have been tracking artifacts such as nine ancient Buddhist relics that are on display at the Norton Simon Museum in California, as well as 17 other relics on display at the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii. He said 14 out of the 17 items in Hawaii have been confirmed to have Thai origins, and that information has been forwarded to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of Thailand’s quest to have them returned.