Hair and funeral cloth from mummy of Ramses II returned from France

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Pan of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo 2. Various of tourists outside museum 3. Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawas and Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny looking at the recovered hair samples and traces of resinous materials from King Ramses II 4. Various of recovered materials 5. Hosny holding up bag containing sample 6. Various of recovered materials 7. Close up sign in English: ''Samples of hair and traces of resinous materials of King Ramses II's mummy which were analysed under scientific work in Paris in 1977. When found for sale on the internet, the Egyptian Embassy put the official procedures to return them.'' 8. Recovered materials 9. Photographers taking pictures of materials 10. Wide of press conference 11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Zahi Hawass, Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities: "It seems that all these samples were taken legally from Egypt, because when they (the team of French scientists tasked with treating the royal mummy 30 years ago) came to Cairo here to take the mummy of Ramses II, they (originally) wanted the mummy of Merneptah and the Egyptian government did refuse to give them the mummy of Merneptah and they gave them the mummy of Ramses II. And they took samples from the mummy of Merneptah. The illegal thing that happened was that the professor who did the study took the hair samples and put it at his home and this is how his son began to sell this hair to the public. We have to thank the French government by cooperating with us, and we have to say that this is maybe very important pieces to return." 12. Exterior shot of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo STORY LINE Locks of 3,200-year-old hair from the pharaoh Ramses II were unveiled at the Egyptian Museum on Tuesday, returned to Egypt after being stolen 30 years ago in France, and put up for sale on the Internet. The hair samples were displayed alongside pieces of linen bandages and 11 pieces of resin used in the mummification of Ramses and his son Merneptah. Photographers crowded round the display case as Egypt's culture minister and antiquities chief showed off the returned items. The unveiling of the recovered materials was attended by Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny and Zahi Hawass, Head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. The theft of the items was discovered when the pieces of hair were put up for sale on a Web site last November, allegedly by a French postman, Jean-Michel Diebolt, who gave the hair a price tag of 2000 euros (2,600 US dollars). Diebolt is the son of a French researcher who examined the 3,200-year-old mummy when it was brought to France in 1976 for treatment to stop the spread of a rare fungus. Diebolt is being investigated in France for allegedly possessing stolen goods. Hawass told reporters that while the samples were legally taken from Egypt, Diebolt's father kept the samples at his home, which is how they came to be in his son's possession. "The illegal thing that happened was that the professor who did the study took the hair samples and put it at his home and this is how his son began to sell this hair to the public," he said. Egyptian antiquities officials travelled to Paris early last week to retrieve the stolen items. Hawass thanked the French government for its co-operation said the retrieval of the items was made possible by the strong diplomatic relations between Egypt and France. Hawass, has pressed several countries for the return of Egyptian antiquities and has sought, without success, the return of such finds as the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, the bust of Nefertiti at Berlin's Egyptian Museum and a pharaonic mask at the St. Louis Art Museum. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/485728129fea8f5ea06cc5f84671c4e6 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork