The culture Minister in Baghdad has affirmed that the United States will return to Iraq some 17,000 archaeological treasures that date backs to 4000 years and were looted in recent decades in ‘unprecedented restitution.
The announcement follows days after the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met with US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC.
Hassan Nazim who is the Iraqi Culture Minister stated the Al-Kadhimi was set to take back the artefacts from ancient Mesopotamia on his aircraft while he returns to the country on Thursday. He added that this is the largest return of antiquities to Iraq. He further acknowledged the decision as ‘the result of months of effort by the Iraqi authorities in conjunction with their embassy in Washington’.
The ministry through a statement noted that most of these ancient pieces signify ‘the commercial exchanges during the Sumerian period’.
Reports suggest that Iraq’s antiquities were looted extensively during the decades of war and armed uprisings which were often carried out by the crime groups since the 2003 US-led invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.
As quoted by AFP news agency, Director of antiquities and heritage at the Basra Museum, Qahtan al-Obaid noted, “It is impossible to quantify the number of pieces that have been stolen from archaeological sites”.
As per reports, archaeological sites in the country were severely damaged and neglected. Around 15,000 pieces of antiques were stolen from Iraq’s only national museum in Baghdad.
Nazim in his statement expressed, “I hope that in the near future we will be able to recover the rest of our goods, especially in Europe.”
Looted artefacts
The US Department of Justice informed that among all the pieces, a 3500-year-old clay tablet with a sequence from the epic of Gilgamesh will be returned. This 3500-year-old piece was once placed in Washington’s Museum of the Bible.
However, it is not yet clarified whether the “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet’ would be among the 17,000 pieces which are scheduled to return by this week.
The rare fragment that recounts a dream sequence from the epic in Akkadian cuneiform script is one of the ancient artefacts belonging from the Middle East collected by David Green who is the billionaire owner of the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores.
The cuneiform tablet and seals were among the thousands of Iraqi origin artefacts which mostly dates back to 3000- 4000 years. These pieces were seized from Hobby Lobby and the Bible museum for repatriation to Iraq.
The Justice Department affirmed that these pieces were looted in Iraq and then these were traded illegally by the dealers in Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
In accordance with the Justice Department record, Hobby Lobby acquired the 15.2 by 12.7 cm tablet from a popular auction house for $1.67 million in 2014. This was originally bought to the US illegally in 2003 by a dealer who purchased it from a Jordanian trader of ancient Middle Eastern antiquities. Further, it was traded multiple times since then.
The Justice Department further noted that in 2014, Hobby Lobby planned to buy the tablet in New York, but performed the transactions in Oklahoma to ignore the sales taxes. The company then donated it to the collection of the Museum of the Bible.
As the tablet was seized in 2019, the Justice Department has issued formal ownership through forfeiture laws to enable its return to its rightful owners.
Jacquelyn Kasulis, acting US attorney of the eastern district of New York stated, “This forfeiture represents an important milestone on the path to returning the rare and ancient masterpiece of world literature to its country of origin.” She further added that the office is committed to combating the black market sale of cultural property and the smuggling of looted artefacts.
