Met to return King Tut artifacts

NEW YORK, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Officials at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art say they will return more than a dozen King Tutankhamun artifacts in the museum's collection to Egypt.

Tut's burial chamber was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922 and 19 of the objects found there became part of the Met's collection between the 1920s and 1940s.

"These objects were never meant to have left Egypt, and therefore should rightfully belong to the Government of Egypt," CNN quoted Met Director Thomas P. Campbell as saying in a joint statement with the Supreme Council of Antiques of Egypt.

The small artifacts, which include sculptures and jewelry, are to be featured in the Times Square King Tut exhibit until January, and then will become part of an Egyptian exhibit at the Met before they are sent back to Egypt in June 2011 -- to be housed at the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza, scheduled to open in 2012, CNN said.