Iraq repatriates 3,200-year-old artefact from UK

A Babylonian cuneiform kudurru (boundary stone) which was looted from Iraq on March 19, 2019 sits on a cushion at the British museum in London. – The kudurru which was seized at London’s Heathrow airport in 2012 was handed over to representatives of the Iraq embassy today at the British museum. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP/Getty)

Iraq’s foreign ministry yesterday said it had returned a 3,200-year-old carved Babylonian stone tablet from the United Kingdom (UK).

The ministry’s spokesperson, Ahmad Al-Sahaf, said in a statement that the artefact was handed over to the Iraqi culture ministry, adding that it was recovered following “Iraqi diplomatic efforts to preserve the heritage of the civilizations of Mesopotamia.”

The stone tablet, Al-Sahaf pointed out, was seized during a foiled attempt to smuggle it into the UK at London’s Heathrow airport.

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Following the overthrow of the former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, some 15,000 archaeological pieces of the country’s treasure-trove – date back to the Stone Age through the Babylonian, Assyrian and Islamic periods – were stolen or destroyed by looters across Iraq.

Several countries and organisations were reported to have responded to Baghdad calls for the return of its ancient monuments, which were looted during the 2003 US-led invasion on Iraq.

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