WASHINGTON: A 3,500-year-old clay tablet discovered in the ruins of the library of an ancient Mesopotamian king, then looted from an Iraqi museum 30 years ago, is finally headed back to Iraq.

The $1.7 million cuneiform clay tablet was found in 1853 as part of a 12-tablet collection in the rubble of the library of Assyrian King Assur Banipal. Officials believe it was illegally imported into the United States in 2003, then sold to Hobby Lobby and eventually put on display in its Museum of the Bible in the nation’s capital.

Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations seized the tablet known as the Gilgamesh Dream tablet from the museum in September 2019. Months later, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, began a civil forfeiture court proceeding that resulted in the repatriation, which is scheduled for Thursday afternoon at a ceremony at the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indian that will include officials from Iraq.

It’s part of an increasing effort by authorities in the US and around the world to return antiquities pilfered from their home countries. In years past, such items probably would never have made it back. The black market for these relics is vast, as are criminal networks and smugglers dealing in stolen items and falsifying ownership data.

By returning these illegally acquired objects, the authorities here in the United States and in Iraq are allowing the Iraqi people to reconnect with a page in their history, said Audrey Azoulay, director general of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. This exceptional restitution is a major victory over those who mutilate heritage and then traffic it to finance violence and terrorism.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2021