For Yous Data - British Museum To Provide Looted Antiquities To Iraq

The British Museum is returning to Republic of Iraq a collection of looted antiquities upward to 5,000 years old, afterwards identifying the exact temple they came from inwards a unique slice of archaeological detective work.

Sumerian cuneiform-inscribed fired clay cone [Credit: British Museum]

The viii objects volition hold upward handed to the Iraqi diplomatic mission on Fri during a individual ceremony at the London-based museum from where they volition render to Iraq. The primary items of the collection are 3 clay cones.

It likewise includes a polished, yellowish river pebble, a fragmentary white gypsum mace-head, a white marble amulet pendant inwards the shape of a reclining bull or buffalo too a reddish marble foursquare postage stamp seal or amulet depicting 2 similar animals facing inwards contrary directions.

Jemdet Nasr bull amulet [Credit: British Museum]

The items were confiscated yesteryear British constabulary inwards May 2003, a few months afterwards the US-led invasion of Iraq, from a now-defunct dealer inwards London who failed to render whatsoever paperwork for them.

Normally the detailed provenance of such items would hold upward difficult to establish, simply 3 of them, fired clay cones, carried Sumerian inscriptions that gave a clue to their origins.

Mace-head fragment [Credit: British Museum]

In a remarkable coincidence, they were identical to cones found on a site inwards the ancient metropolis of Girsu, forthwith known every bit Tello, inwards southern Iraq, where the British Museum has been preparation Iraqi archaeologists since 2016.

"The broken objects the robbers left side yesteryear side to the looting holes were broken cones alongside just the same inscription that nosotros bring on the cones that were seized," said the team's Pb archaeologist, Sebastien Rey.

Jemdet Nasr-era postage stamp seal too modern impression [Credit: British Museum]

Identical cones were likewise found inwards the walls of a site at the Eninnu temple - pinpointing the looted items' source alongside a grade of accuracy that Rey said was "completely unique".

"We could bring an persuasion that mayhap these objects came from southern Iraq, simply to hold upward able to narrow it downwards to the particular site, too fifty-fifty to the particular holes - this is extremely rare," he told AFP intelligence agency.

Group of 8 ancient artefacts identified yesteryear the British Museum too returned to Republic of Iraq
[Credit: British Museum]

The marbles inwards the collection both appointment dorsum to 3000 BC, whereas the cones are believed to hold upward from nearly 2200 BC.

The identical cuneiform inscriptions on the cones reference the god the temple was built for too the manlike someone monarch who built it.

Looting holes at Tello site [Credit: British Museum]

Similar cones bring been found inwards many other sites, simply Rey said that until the Tello earthworks began inwards 2016, no 1 actually knew what they were for.

Finding them inwards their master copy positions within temple walls led experts to conclude they were votive objects, dedicated to the gods yesteryear Mesopotamian kings.

Cones excavated from the walls of the temple inwards 1960 [Credit: British Museum]

Iraq's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Salih Husain Ali, praised the museum's staff for their "exceptional efforts" inwards identifying the antiquities.

"Such collaboration betwixt Republic of Iraq too the Great Britain is vital for the preservation too the protection of the Iraqi heritage," he said inwards a tilt issued yesteryear the museum. The protection of antiquities is an international responsibleness too inwards Iraq, nosotros aspire to the global cooperation to protect the heritage of Republic of Iraq too to restore its looted objects."

Source: AFP [August 09, 2018]


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