Morocco gets back 250M-year-old fossil species from US

RABAT, Morocco

Morocco on Friday announced it has gotten back three fossil remains of three different species, dated back to 250 million years ago, from the US.

Moroccan Culture Minister Mehdi Bensaid said the announcement of the repatriation of the fossil species was during this week’s US-Morocco Law Enforcement Seminar for Countering the Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property.

The event at the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in the capital Rabat was also attended by US Ambassador to Morocco Puneet Talwar, who handed over the three fossil species to the Moroccan government, according to Bensaid.

The three fossils are reportedly a Mosasaurus skull, Basilosaurid jaw, and Cetacean whale vertebra.

Bensaid stressed the need to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries to enhance cooperation in the field to counter illicit trafficking in cultural property.

Morocco is seeking to repatriate its cultural heritage through signing deals with various countries.

In 2017, Morocco managed to block a planned auction in Paris of a 66-million-year-old marine dinosaur skeleton which was originally discovered in the city of Khouribga, central Morocco.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara