Thelma Bishop, a British woman who returned a 4,500 year-old jug believed to be from the Bronze Age to Turkey, was received by the Culture and Tourism Minister Numan Kurtulmuş in Ankara yesterday.
The jug was bought as a souvenir by Bishop, who visited the ancient city of Ephesus in the 1960s and brought it back to Britain.
Bishop decided to return the jug to Turkey when she found out that it is a cultural property, through Adam Partridge Auctioneers and Valuers in Macclesfield, United Kingdom.
Jason Wood, a ceramic expert who helped Bishop in return process, accompanied her at the meeting with Minister Kurtulmuş. Bishop and Wood were invited by Culture Ministry and will spend a week there.
Kurtulmuş presented gifts to Wood and Bishop as a sign of gratitude for returning the artifact "no matter what its size is." Bishop said she was pleased to see the jug on display in a Turkish museum.
