The Jordanian authorities have recovered 620 artifacts from Israel through US mediation after 44 years of captivity, a senior official reportedly announced on September 27. The treasures, most of them date back to the early bronze age, were discovered by the Jordanian Department of Antiquities in early 1960’s in southern Jordan Valley, according to the acting head of the Department Fares Hmoud. The artifacts were later loaned to an American archaeologist at the Albright Institute of Archaeology in Jerusalem for further research but Israel seized the treasures when it captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967, the official said.
The issue was raised by Jordanian archaeologists during a meeting of US institutes and centres of archaeology in Atlanta last year. “Since then, a series of contacts between the Jordanian Department of Antiquities and the Albright Institute, also involving the Jordanian Embassy in Israel, has led to the release of the artifacts,” Hmoud said. Jordan is also still involved in at least two other archaeological disputes with Israel, according to Jordanian officials. In March, the Jordanian government said it was seeking the recovery from Israel of about 70 ancient Christian codices which were discovered by a Jordanian Bedouin in a cave in northern Jordan between 2005 and 2007 and were later smuggled to Israel.