France to return some 3,500 archaeological artifacts to Ethiopia

France has begun to return to Ethiopia about 3.5 thousand archaeological artifacts, which Paris has held for almost 40 years for study. This was reported by Barron's newspaper on November 30.

"French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot handed over to Ethiopian Tourism Minister Selamawit Kassa during a visit to the national museum in Addis Ababa two prehistoric stone axes called bifas and a stone cutter," the newspaper informed, adding that the tools are samples of nearly 3,500 artifacts from excavations.

"These artifacts, which are between 1 and 2 million years old, were found during excavations that have been going on for several decades at a site near the Ethiopian capital," Laurent Serrano, cultural adviser at the French embassy, told the newspaper.

It is specified that the artifacts, which are currently stored at the French embassy in Addis Ababa, will be fully delivered to the Ethiopian cultural heritage office as early as Tuesday.

"This is a transfer, not restitution, as these objects were never part of the French state collections," Serrano added.

Earlier, on Nov. 25, treasure hunters in Poland discovered rare coins from the time of the Holy Roman Empire, the value of which can be estimated at about 500,000 zlotys. According to archaeologist Piotr Duda, for Poland this is the largest find of this kind.