Ancient Tablets Obtained by Hobby Lobby Back in Iraq | Government and Politics – Illinoisnewstoday.com

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September 23, 2021
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COLLEEN LONGAP communication Washington (AP) — A 3,500-year-old clay tablet, found in the ruins of the ancient Mesopotamian king’s library and plundered from an Iraqi museum 30 years ago, has finally returned to Iraq. The $ 1.7 million cuneiform tablet was discovered in 1853 as part of a collection of 12 tablets in the rubble

COLLEEN LONGAP communication

Washington (AP) — A 3,500-year-old clay tablet, found in the ruins of the ancient Mesopotamian king’s library and plundered from an Iraqi museum 30 years ago, has finally returned to Iraq.

The $ 1.7 million cuneiform tablet was discovered in 1853 as part of a collection of 12 tablets in the rubble of the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria. Authorities believe it was illegally imported into the United States in 2003, sold to Hobby Lobby, and eventually exhibited at the Bible Museum in the capital.

A federal agent conducting a Homeland Security survey confiscated a tablet — Known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet — From the museum in September 2019. A few months later, a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, will begin proceedings with the Civil Forfeiture Court, resulting in a return at a ceremony held at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian on Thursday afternoon. Includes staff from Iraq.

This is part of an increasing effort by US and global authorities to return the stolen relics from their home country. In the last few years, such an item probably never got it back. The black market for these relics is vast, as are criminal networks and smugglers who deal with stolen goods and tamper with ownership data.

“By returning these illegally acquired objects, authorities here in the United States and Iraq have allowed Iraqi people to reconnect to their history pages,” said the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Said Director Audrey Azley. “This extraordinary return is a great victory over those who destroy heritage and traffick it to raise money for violence and terrorism.”

Repatriation is personal to the Deputy Director of the Homeland Security Survey, who found and investigated the origin of the tablet. Steve Francis’ parents were born in Iraq, were assigned to US Customs in 2003, and were sent to Iraq to help protect the looted relics.

“That’s really special to me. I’m an Iraqi and lead the institution that did this job,” Francis said.

Authorities have also repatriated Sumerian Lamb sculptures seized in another case.

The 3000 BC sculpture was used in a Sumerian vow. Investigators believe it was stolen from ruins in southern Iraq and passed on as part of a collection discovered a few years ago. The Homeland Security Research team was interested in the size of the collection and examined it and found that Lamb was not among the items listed. The dealer eventually made a fuss.

The Department of Homeland Security has returned more than 15,000 items in 40 countries, including at least 5,000 relics since 2008. Many cases come from the office of a New York agency where a team of agents are investigating the trafficking of cultural properties. Stolen artifacts including other tablets and clay seals.

A devout Christian who owns an Oklahoma City-based hobby lobby, Artifacts collected on a large scale for the Bible Museum. The prosecution said Steve Green, president of the $ 4 billion company, agreed to buy more than 5,500 artifacts for $ 1.6 million in 2010. Artifacts that have passed US Customs.

Prosecutors have said that Hobby Lobby has been warned by experts that obtaining antiques from Iraq carries “significant risks” because many of the relics in circulation have been stolen. However, Green, who has been collecting ancient relics since 2009, sued Naive for dealing with a Middle Eastern dealer.

In 2018, executives agreed to settle the proceedings for $ 3 million and return thousands of objects. New York-based John Lovebat, the case’s chief agent, said the Department of Homeland Security had repatriated the case in 2018 when he noticed the smuggled tablets.

But getting it back has never been so easy. The agent had to prove that it was acquired by mistake.

Labbatt scrutinized the records and tracked the tablet from London to the United States in 2003. He said it was purchased by a couple who admitted they knew when they were buying it from someone who might not be on the board. It did not go through customs because they mailed it to themselves in the United States.

A fake source letter was used to sell the tablet several times before Hobby Lobby bought the tablet from a London-based auction house in 2014.

By that time, the statute of limitations had been passed to accuse the couple of the crime.

“But in reality, the most important part is to put it back where it belongs,” Labbatt said. “And that’s what we do.”

The Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report.

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