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A collection of 48 Egyptian cultural artefacts was handed over to Egyptian government representatives during a repatriation ceremony held by the FBI in Los Angeles on Friday.
An investigation by the FBI's Art Crime Team determined that all artefacts had been illicitly trafficked from Egypt, reported CBS News.
The items, which include carved figures, amulets and tomb equipment, date from the Pharaonic, Roman and Coptic periods.
The FBI said the original suspected trafficker is now dead.
The artefacts were returned after their most recent possessor contacted the FBI following research that raised questions about how the items had entered the United States.
An analysis found no records showing that the artefacts had been lawfully removed from Egypt.
Ambassador Hossam Eldeen Aly, consul general of Egypt in Los Angeles, thanked the US government for returning the artefacts.
"These handed-over artefacts represent an integral part of the history and cultural heritage of Egypt and its people, and we are very glad and honoured to bring those home," he was quoted as saying.
The repatriation comes under a 2016 cultural property agreement between Egypt and the United States that restricts the import into the US of certain archaeological and ethnological materials from Egypt.
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