WASHINGTON: The United States has returned a famous earthenware plaque looted from Iraq that contains a portion of the story of Gulgamish 3,500 years ago. This rare tablet is also called the world’s first preserved regular writing.
The State Department handed over the plaque to Iraqi authorities in a simple ceremony. About 30 years ago, the plaque was looted in the Gulf War. According to experts, its value is by no means less than 17 1.7 million, on which the oldest religious text has been extracted.
This tablet of clay was discovered in 1853 when the remains of Assyrian king Assyria Benipal were discovered. It was stolen during the 1991 Gulf War and smuggled to the United States in 2003. It was sold in a store and then housed in the Museum of the Bible in Washington.
He was recovered by law enforcement in September 2019, and in July of that year, a court ordered his return to Iraq.
It should be noted that there are still more than 17,000 antiquities looted and stolen from Iraq in the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and Italy which are being recovered.
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