In this November 2014 photo, Ban Chiang artefacts are displayed at the Bangkok National Museum as Patrick Murphy, the US chargé d’affaires to Thailand, officially hands over the items to Thailand yesterday. They were among more than 500 artefacts smuggled to the US decades ago. Another batch of looted Ban Chiang artefacts from a US museum have were returned this month. A US museum has returned to Thailand 83 ancient artefacts following an American government investigation found it had received looted cultural treasures.
Culture Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said he had been informed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, via the Fine Arts Department, that the artefacts from Mingei International Museum in San Diego, California had arrived at the National Museum's warehouse in Pathum Thani province.
Examining the returned items, the Fine Arts Department found they were prehistoric objects from archaeological sites in the Northeast, mostly Ban Chiang -- a Unesco World Heritage Site -- dated between 1,500 and 5,000 years old.