CAIRO - Egypt will soon file an official request with US authorities to return a 3,000-year-old wooden coffin illegally smuggled out of the country more than a century ago, the country's top archeologist said yesterday.
In a statement, Zahi Hawass said the nearly 5-foot-long coffin was taken from Egypt in 1884 after it was stolen from a tomb in Luxor, an ancient pharaonic capital in southern Egypt.
Hawass said the ornamented coffin belonged to Pharaoh Ames of the 21st Dynasty, which ruled over Egypt from 1081-931 BC.
