Ancient African artifacts seized at Paris airport

French customs officials say they have seized more than 650 ancient artefacts smuggled from Mali in one of the largest such finds at a Paris airport.

Described as an "archaeological treasure", the objects were thought to be on their way to private US buyers.

Experts say most of the items are from the Neolithic period, but some may be up to one million years old.

The artefacts are thought to have been taken from archaeological sites on the edge of the Sahara desert.

The 669 items - 601 stones and 68 bracelets - were confiscated on 19 January at Charles de Gaulle airport and included axe heads, flintstones and stone rings. . .

This type of traffic was unheard of a few years ago, an airport customs official told the AFP news agency. . .

French customs officials made two similarly large finds of archaeological items from Niger in March 2004 and December 2005.

Posted by David on February 3, 2007 8:47 PM