5,000-year-old looted mask returned to Iraq's museum

Hindustan Times ^ | September 23 2003 | AFP

[knighthawk]

Iraq's most cherished antiquity, the 5,000-year-old Warka Mask, was returned home on Tuesday after being looted during the anarchy that accompanied the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in April.

Captain Vance Kuhner said the mask was found after an intensive search by US troops and Iraqi police that led them to a farm just north of Baghdad where it was discovered buried under six inches of dirt.

"A tip-off came to the museum, we were given an address that led us to a juvenile, then an older man and eventually the culprit. Then it took a week of negotiations," Kuhner said.

"It's pretty much untouched. We believe it changed hands several times after its theft. It is still in excellent condition."

Also known as the "Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia," the 20-centimetre high limestone sculpture, dating from 3100 BC, depicts the head of a woman and was returned to Iraq's National Museum in a formal handover.

It was fashioned in the southern city of Warka during the Sumerian period, and was among the five most precious pieces still missing since the museum was sacked after the April 9 fall of Saddam Hussein.

Jaaber Kalil Ibrahim, Iraq's director general of antiquities, said about 13,000 pieces are still to be found, 32 of them of great value, out of 15,000 pieces stolen from the collection of 170,000 artifacts.

[RS]

"A tip-off came to the museum, we were given an address that led us to a juvenile, then an older man and eventually the culprit. "

This is a GREAT sign. A sense of identity might be returning to the Iraqi people - part of their NON-religious cultural heritage.

When we leave, hopefully we will leave them with a sense of unity - their former leaders kept them under foot by keeping the old hates bubbling - each blaming the other instead of Saddam.

[ruoflaw]

Thanks!