Stolen goddess figurine from Catalhoyuk returns to Türkiye

                                                 

A Mother Goddess figurine, dating back 9,000 years, discovered in the 1960s during excavations at the ancient site of Catalhoyuk, has now been brought back to Türkiye and is on display in Konya. The figurine had been illegally taken by looters from the Catalhoyuk site in the late 1960s (the circumstances are not reported) and had been smuggled abroad to become part of the Shelby White collection in the United States (the circumstances are not reported, presumably a dealer was involved, no?). After a long and difficult process and through the diligent efforts of Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, it was successfully repatriated from the United States (no circumstances of why it was made a long process once the object was spotted are reported, did White kick up a fight?). Claire Voon noted in 2022 when objects were seized from this collection: "An ongoing investigation into White's collection expects to see more objects repatriated in the future", this seems one of them. How many more were there? 

References
Koray Erdogan, 'Stolen goddess figurine from Catalhoyuk returns to Türkiye' Turkiye Ttoday Nov 14, 2024

Claire Voon, 'Looted antiquities returned to Turkey and Italy were seized from New York home of Met trustee Shelby White' The Art Newspaper 2 December 2022 .