PHOTO of objects dug up in Iraq; can anyone identify?

[MississippiMan]

Wondering if anyone can identify these things? Dug up recently in Iraq.

Click here for high-rez

[MississippiMan]

Yeah, that's my thought too, that they look like storage tubes. In the even-larger version I'm looking at here, it's also obvious that the two tubes are also resting inside a tray of sorts.

The curious question, of course, is why they were buried.

MM

[fso301]

Some type of missle storage tube is my first guess.

[OneTimeLurker]

Architectural drawings?!

[ChadGore]

The last piece of Dr Bulls super gun ?

[Dog]

In the high rez photos there is writing on the right hand tube at the bottom of the photo.....it is cut off.

[Dog]

They looks like some sort of plastic cases..... wonder what are the metal straps are used for.

[Fifth Business]

Kudurru from the Kassite period.

[Fifth Business]

Forgot /joke. You never know....

[DarthMaulrulesok]

It's hard to get a sense of scale. If buried we can safely assume weapon or weapon component of some sort. The tube appears to be a shipping/storage container. So:

1. Missile or missile component (motor, warhead, complete system?

2. (less likely) machine tools, blueprints?

3. Special artillery rounds/rockets?

[MississippiMan]

Upon closer examination, it's obvious that the tubes are metal, covered in plastic. Part of the plastic has broken off the cap of the foremost tube. As for the writing on the end, there's a square and a circle. The square has .50 in it. Can't tell what else.

MM

[Toskrin]

Look like containers for something. I think they are designed to lay flat with the word "TOP" facing the sky, as it is doing. They are not supposed to stand on end - "TOP" would be upside down. The white straps look like crimping-type latches. Unlatch it and maybe slide the contents out the end? Since it was buried, some sort of missile or rocket.

Where did you get the pictures?

[Dog Anchor]

French profiteroles

[bvw]

I guess there about 25-30 feet long, with some sort of handling brackets abuout 1/3rd from each end. Not super heavy, given the brackets -- could be missile bodies. Doubt that it's a fluid tank because then the brackets would be heavier.

[luvbach1]

Chem/bio weapons?

[Steel Wolf]

How recent are these photos, and how did you come by them?

[sd-joe]

Certainly looks like storage and shipping containers. Looks well built with a lot of features.

Bands and handles for easy lifting.

The word "TOP" in ENGLISH is provocative. Why English, and why is position important?

I would guess that they are about 20' long.

Would be nice storage for rockets, but who knows.

[Lower55]

These seem to have been placed in this hole, not dug from it. IMHO

[solzhenitsyn]

You're not pulling our legs, are you? Why are the two cylinders so clean? Why is there no dirt between them? Who'd have dug them up, cleaned them off, and placed them back into the trench? Judging from the size and shape of the trench, it looks more like a photo of the two objects being buried, not being dug up. I'd expect a little more digging around them and a less symmetrical, perfectly-fitted trench, if someone had just excavated them there without prior knowledge that they'd be there, and their dimensions.

[railsplitter]

Using the plastic, shadows, peebles, etc. as a reference/scale... tube ends appear to be about the size of a fully inflated basketball... about 12 inches across... using this measurement as a scale, the length appears to be about 10-12 feet long...

[solzhenitsyn]

Beat me by half a minute! That's what I get for being wordy.