Federal agents confiscated a millennia-old Egyptian artifact in Memphis last week that was imported from Europe. US Customs and Border Protection said it had intercepted a shipment of a 3,000-year-old "canopic funerary covering" named after the god Emseti.
The agency says the item was sent from a dealer to a private buyer in the United States, Art News Paper reported.
Authorities have hired experts at the University of Memphis Institute of Egyptian Art and Archeology to determine the artifact's origins. The agency says the cap was likely produced between 1069 BC. Until 653 BC the cap, a size undisclosed by the authorities, was carved to depict the head of the funeral deity, Emste, whose role in Egyptian mythology is to protect the liver of a deceased person.
In a press release, customs officials said the artifact is protected under bilateral treaties on the import of antique materials. Authorities confiscated this provision under the 1983 Cultural Property Implementation Act Agreement.
According to the office's statement, the shipper, whose identity and location have not been revealed by authorities, provided "contradictory" data regarding the value of the item. It was later seized and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further examination.