The British Museum — which has been accused of stealing artifacts from other countries — said it fired a staff member accused of stealing gold and jewelry

• The British Museum said Wednesday it fired a staff member who stole gold and jewelry from the museum.
• The pieces dated as far back as the 15th century BC and have yet to be retrieved, per the AP.
• The British Museum has been accused of showcasing looted items taken during the British Empire's rule.

The British Museum, an institution accused of housing looting artifacts, fired a staff member on Wednesday who they said stole artifacts from the museum.

The staff member was accused of stealing jewelry and gold dating from the 15th century BC through the 19th century AD. The items were tucked away in a store room and not on display. The museum said in a statement that they are still trying to recover the items, according to The Associated Press.

"Our priority is now threefold: first, to recover the stolen items; second, to find out what, if anything, could have been done to stop this; and third, to do whatever it takes, with investment in security and collection records, to make sure this doesn't happen again,″ George Osborne, the museum's chairman, told the AP. "This incident only reinforces the case for the reimagination of the museum we have embarked upon." 

The British Museum did not immediately return Insider's request for comment. 

In recent years, activists have reinvigorated a debate around the British Museum's legacy of colonialism tied to its possession of artifacts taken from African countries, India, and elsewhere during the time of the British Empire's rule.

Since 2016, African and Indian activists have taken to social media to boost restitution campaigns with some success, forcing European and American art institutions to confront how they acquired the art in the first place, according to ARTNews,

Some elected officials in the UK, US, and Mexico have also explored changing laws that have restricted the repatriation of art objects, per ARTNews. 

Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson told the Guardian in 2019 that the British Museum, which houses 8 million artifacts, lays claim to the most looted artifact of any British museum.

Some of the noted artifacts include hundreds of bronze plaques dating from 13th century Benin, the Parthenon Marbles originating from Greece, and the Rosetta Stone, taken from Egypt. Many of the artifacts are behind closed doors or in storage rooms.

Governments in Africa have mounted restitution campaigns for decades, demanding that the British Museum and the British government return objects to their native sites. In return, the British Museum has labeled certain items as "contested objects." 

Last year, the British Museum returned dozens of the hundreds of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria following a request by the Nigerian government, according to ABC.