Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities said Thursday that a limestone statue, one of the eight stolen Egyptian artifacts, was found and returned to the Egyptian National Museum, Xinhua reported.
The painted limestone statue of King Akhenaten, father of the boy King Tutankhamun, has been returned to the museum after missing for two week, as looters broke into the museum amid massive demonstrations that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.
According to the ministry's statement, the statue was returned by a professor at the American University in Cairo after one of his family members found it next to a trash area.
The statue was returned on Wednesday night to an archaeological committee, which asserted that they found the statue intact, except for the offering table, which was found separately inside the museum.
The committee also confirmed the authenticity of the statue, ensuring it was the real piece.
Tarek el-Awdi, director general of the Egyptian National Museum, said the statue, seven centimeters tall and erected on an alabaster base, will be subject to restoration process in order to be displayed in the National Museum's Amarna collection hall.
In another statement, the ministry announced that several archaeological sites have been vandalized. The ministry reported Thursday that the tomb of Hetep-Ka in Cairo's Saqqara area was broken into and the false door was stolen along with objects stored in the tomb.