[wideminded]

Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. This article has some interesting description of a cuneiform library.

[chance33_98]

Experts described the archive as the world's least-studied large collection of cuneiform -- the oldest known writing on Earth -- a record that covers every aspect of Mesopotamian life over more than 3,000 years. The texts resided in numbered boxes each containing as many as 400 3-inch-by-2-inch tablets.

That's what cd burners are for. Scan em in, burn em, and if you lose the originals you still have memorex.

[nopardons]

This is more than probably propaganda/lies.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

I didn't read past your exerpt, but find it interesting that the pack journalists covering this "looting" story aren't reporting the whole story:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/895402/posts

[Centurion2000]

You mean to tell me that all this time no one has bothered to photograph or record the writing ?

Archeologists meet data storage and retrieval systems ..... data storage meet archeologists.

[Tripleplay]

Saadam's regime:

murdered people

raped women

imprisoned children

starved its own population

stole billions of dollars

But the media always says its the "looters" who destroyed the museums. It's as if the Bathe party had the right moral compass when it came to Art appreciation.

[The Other Harry]

Pinging...

[Ed_in_NJ]

FNC and others are reporting that a lot of these treasures (not nec. these tablets) are turning up in Paris.

[Caipirabob]

Hmmmm....cuniform archives that are thousands of years old or Freedom of Millions upon Millions of innocent people?

Why do these idiots always try to associate some sort of cost to Human Dignity beyond the battle to free them?

Freedom was already paid for with the blood of our dearest. Now millions of Iraqis are freed from the evil perpauted upon them by an insanely evil dictator. Triuphant over their newfound liberty, they are jubilant and dancing in the streets while destroying any trace of the evil left behind.

Now some idiot crawls out from under a rock and says "Hey...you broke that!"

[PBRSTREETGANG]

I remember Cuneiforms. Those were those plastic stick-ons we used to play with as kids, right?

[Jimmy Valentine]

I hope they find them. These tablets give details about life in Sumer and Akkad which hit their peak culturally about 4-5 thousand years ago.

Interestingly a very good collection of artifacts and also the staff who actually successfully began the translation of "Cuneiform B" are located at the Philadelphia Museum. Neat stuff; saw it on tour.

Regards,

[Fifth Business]

A couple points of clarification regarding the article.

First, we don't know how much of their 100,000+ cuneiform texts collection was looted or destroyed. The article makes it sound like the whole collection was pillaged. It is clear that there was some loss through destruction and pilfering, but it's unclear how much.

Second, the article makes it sound like cuneiform tablets were routinely baked after being inscribed. In fact, only a small percentage of cuneiform tablets were baked. Important texts were commonly baked, and many tablets have been baked unintentionally by ancient palaces being burned down. But the vast majority of tablets remain unbaked and are in very fragile condition. If not handled with great care, they will be destroyed.

Now I have a question for you all. Did the US military intend to or attempt to secure this museum upon entering Baghdad? A statement by the in-field commanding general on Thursday made it sound like they attempted to but couldn't because the enemy was literally entrenched on the museum property. But other information I've heard seems to contradict that. I'd like to hear the official story, instead of getting dismissive answers like Rumsfeld gave.

[PISANO]

As Colonel Hunt said, all of the priceless artifacts together are NOT worth ONE of our TROOPS life. Without a bit of hesitation I TOTALLY AGREE with him.

[vannrox]

the key word here is MAY HAVE.
There is no evidence that they are missing or that they have been destroyed, or that their pictures and descriptions have not been recorded.

[bmwcyle]

All memories of FAILED Culture

[jimbo123]

Why no outrage from the left when Sink Squirter Bill and Hitlery Rotten looted the White House of antique furniture and other historical items?

[woofie]

At least these things are priceless...what if they were worth real money?

[Black Agnes]

Meanwhile, Dr. Daniel Jackson is on suicide watch.

[Doc Savage]

It is all relative. How long do you think the USA will continue to be as we know it now? 100 years, 500 years, 1,000 years, 10,000 years? Yes they would be nice to have, but Priceless???

In the end the sun will eventually destroy our solarsystem in it's death throes and unless we have been able as a people to move on to another solarsystem in this galaxy or another, there will be nothing to indicate we ever existed? Priceless? I don't know.

[aristeides]

Since when is it news that something "may have" happened?

[Psycho_Bunny]

Well, no matter how you look at it, it sucks that this happened.  However, the tablets that were broken and left can be put back together and read....I mean, that's what archeologists do.

The tablets that were stolen will most likely - eventually - resurface.

Had we the choice between stolen intact, or broken and left on the floor, I would have chosen the latter over the former.

Either way, it's unlikely that much of the collection's information will be permanently lost.

Still....it does suck.  There's no getting around that.