Update on return of Iraqi museum loot

The bulk of the missing items remain missing, but it seems that some items are coming back -- and that the offer of reward money is helping:

More than 100 items looted from Iraqi museums have been handed in to US-led coalition forces, according to the American military. They are said to include priceless manuscripts, a 7,000-year-old vase and one of the oldest bronze bas-relief representations of a bull. . .

In a statement, US Central Command in the Gulf state of Qatar said: "Iraqis started to return the items after coalition forces began urging local residents to return any artefacts taken during the looting in Baghdad. One man returned a chest filled with priceless manuscripts and parchments to a nearby mosque, a local pianist returned 10 pieces including a broken statue of an Assyrian king dated to the 9th Century BC and one of the oldest recorded bronze bas-relief bulls [this also reported here]. And after some negotiation, a man arrived with 46 stolen antiquities, then with eight more pieces, and finally with a 7,000-year-old vase."

Posted by David on April 29, 2003 10:45 PM