Easter Island is celebrating the return of one of its stolen moai statues, a living spirit of the ancestors tasked with protecting the Rapa Nui people.
Famous Artifacts Countries Want Back Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
By Debra Kelly/Feb. 2, 2021 12:53 pm EDT
All the big museums do it: They exhibit artifacts from other countries. But how many museums actually have a right to do so?
It s a difficult question to answer. In 2013, New York s Metropolitan Museum sent two statues back home after they were presented with evidence that they d been stolen from a Cambodian temple. That s great, but according to The Verge, proving that something was definitely looted, stolen, or otherwise taken illegally is tough, even though the Archaeological Institute of America suggests that up to 90 percent of classical and certain other types of artifacts have ended up in museums under shady circumstances.