Spanish Art Dealer Returns Carved Stones from Nabatean Temple to Jordan

Vine scroll frieze fragment from Period III Altar platform at Khirbet et-Tannur. Retrieved from theartnewspaper.com

Stone carvings that once adorned an altar devoted to a Nabatean goddess have been returned to Jordan. Art dealer Diego López de Aragón sought out Judith McKenzie, an expert in Nabatean culture from Oxford University who identified the origin of the carvings.

The stones had not been listed on any art loss register, and their exact provenance is unknown. McKenzie and López de Aragón initiated the complicated process of returning the carvings to Jordan, where other pieces of the temple are held by the Jordan Museum in Amman. 

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Summary by Caitlin Philippo.