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美国把失窃文物归还泰国

The U.S. government on Wednesday returned to Thailand hundreds of ancient artifacts that federal authorities say were looted from an important archaeological site decades ago.

美国政府周三将数百件古文物返还给泰国。这批古件被权威部门认定是几十年前从一个重要的考古遗迹里洗劫来的。

In a ceremony at Thailand’s National Museum, Vira Rojpochanarat, the kingdom’s culture minister, accepted hundreds of artifacts from U.S. Charge D'Affaires W. Patrick Murphy, the highest ranking American diplomat¹ in the country.

在泰国国家博物馆举办的一个典礼上，泰国文化部长威叻·赫伯查纳从驻泰国的美国最高级外交官、临时代办帕特里克·墨菲的手中接受了数百件古文物。

The majority of the pottery², bronze items, stone tools, beads³ and sandstone molds were taken from the Ban Chiang UNESCO World Heritage site in northeast Thailand.

其中，大部分的陶器、青铜器、石器、串珠和砂岩模具是从被联合国教科文组织列为“世界遗产”的西北地区的班清盗窃而来。

The Neolithic⁴ settlement and burial ground was badly looted in the early 1970s.

这个新石器时代（公元前1500-900年）的定居点和墓地在1970年代几乎被洗劫一空。

“Of the artifacts returned to Thailand, we can say that the 554 pieces, most of them are priceless because they are dated to a pre-historic period," said Rojpochanarat.

文化部长威叻·赫伯查纳说： “我们可以说，这批还给泰国的554件文物中大部分都是无价之宝。因为他们的年代都可以追溯到史前时代。”

The collection was found during a raid on a Southern California museum in 2008 after a five year, undercover federal investigation⁵.

经过五年秘密的联邦调查，当局2008年对南加州一个博物馆进行突击查抄，发现了这批藏品。

Several people allegedly involved in a network smuggling⁶ antiquities⁷ from Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, face criminal charges.

一些涉嫌从泰国、柬埔寨以及缅甸走私文物的人面临刑事指控。

But the Bowers⁸ Museum in Santa Ana, California, agreed to return the items in its possession in exchange for none of its staff facing criminal charges.

加州圣塔安娜的宝尔博物馆（Bowers Museum）同意归还文物，但条件是，博物馆任何员工都不会受到刑事指控。

Most of the pottery vessels⁹ were damaged and cracked and the bronze equipment and tools had not been properly preserved, leaving many broken. But Thai preservation¹⁰ scientists say the objects are valuable and useful for academic purposes to study art forms and production techniques, including what materials and compounds were used by ancient settlers.

大多数陶瓷容器已经破损，青铜器和工具也没有被妥善保存，伤痕累累。但是泰国文物保护专家说，这些物件学术价值很高，可以用来研究古代定居者的艺术形式和制造技术，包括他们使用的材料。

According to Murphy, the U.S. has returned some 7,000 cultural artifacts to 30 countries, most recently in Cambodia and Mongolia.

美国临时代办墨菲说：“我们特别关心和重视这件事，为此努力了多年。现在，我们已经成功地把7000件文物还给了30个国家。我想提的最新例子是柬埔寨，我们得以归还了最重要的文物。还有蒙古国。”

The items returned Wednesday are among the first items to be returned to their homeland after raids on a total of four California art museums and two antiquities dealerships.

在对加州的四个艺术博物馆和两家古董经销商进行突击查抄后，这是第一批被归还的收藏品。

Authorities worry that many pieces of pottery and other artifacts from Ban Chiang — considered by many one of Southeast Asia’s most important prehistoric¹¹ settlements — will never be recovered.

但是权威人士担心，班清是东南亚最重要的史前定居点之一，那里的陶器和其他文物永远无法恢复了。