The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday handed over 76 Ban Chiang artifacts returned from the United States by American donors to the Fine Arts Department.
The Foreign Ministry displays 76 artifacts from Ban Chiang that were returned to Thailand by US donors. They were handed over to the Fine Arts Department on Wednesday. (Photo by Panumas Sanguanwong)
Ministry spokesman Manasvi Srisodapol said the Thai consul-general in Los Angeles had been contacted in 2011 by five US citizens who said they wanted to return the artifacts to Thailand. He had thanked them and accepted the offer.
They include Benjamin R. Snidecor, a former US State Department official once based in Thailand who possessed 23 pieces, and Robert Rochien, who returned three pieces inherited from his father. His father worked as a US official in the kingdom before moving to other posts.
The others are Anitra Bascon Wirtz from San Diego, who gave back 29 pieces once owned by her father, Gary Buck from San Francisco, who had one piece, a legacy of his father, and Richard Douglas, who had 20 pieces, inherited from his mother.
All the artifacts are believed to be between 1,500 and 5,000 years old.
Ban Chiang is an archeological site in Nong Han district, Udon Thani, listed as a Unesco world heritage site in 1992.
Wednesday’s handover brought the total number of returns from other countries to 263 pieces since 2001.
The Fine Arts Department plans to exhibit all of them at the National Museum early next year.