The Embassy of Iraq in Washington announced the recovery of three rare artefacts from New York, marking another step in the country's efforts to protect its cultural heritage, as reported by Mawzin News on May 21.

Iraqi archaeologists and curators are constantly on the hunt for lost artefacts following years of war and looting by citizens and US soldiers during the 2003 occupation by America, when the country effectively became an unofficial territory of US control under Paul Bremer, the de facto ruler of the country following the fall of Saddam Hussein. Thousands of historical items were either stolen and smuggled by soldiers and third party people to the US and Europe, with authorities gradually seizing items decades later. 

The embassy noted that the items date back to the Sumerian and Babylonian civilisations and described the move as “a new achievement that reflects the tireless diplomatic efforts to safeguard Iraq’s cultural legacy.”

The recovery was coordinated with the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the Office of the New York District Attorney. The embassy stressed that this step “demonstrates Iraq's firm commitment to retrieving its looted antiquities and returning them to their homeland.”

A formal handover ceremony took place in New York, where Iraqi Ambassador to the US Nazar Al Khirallah signed the official receipt document alongside Matthew Bogdanos, head of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit.

The embassy highlighted the success of this coordination as “a testament to the effectiveness of international cooperation in combating the illicit trade in antiquities.”

According to the statement, this recovery is part of ongoing collaboration with US authorities and institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to retrieve more artefacts smuggled out of Iraq in the past decades.

“The recovery of these artefacts will help preserve Iraq’s historical memory and reflect the pride Iraqis and the world share in this unique human heritage.”  The embassy confirmed, “Our diplomatic efforts in this vital field continue, based on our belief that protecting cultural heritage is a shared national and humanitarian responsibility.”

This retrieval is the latest in a string of returns reported by the country, with the items recently turning up in February.

"It was a significant challenge to recover these Iraqi artefacts, including the Sun God statue and textile panels dating back centuries," said Hussein. "These archaeological pieces are not mere remains but our cherished heritage."

Since 2008, the United States has returned more than 1,200 pieces to Iraq, whose cultural properties and museums were looted after 2003. In May 2023, President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid announced the recovery of 6,000 artefacts on loan to the United Kingdom since 1923 for research purposes.

Mesopotamian civilisation, one of the world's oldest, flourished between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Ancient cities like Nineveh and Babylon, famous for its Hanging Gardens, were home to the Sumerian civilisation that gave the world cuneiform script, the earliest form of Western writing, around 3,100 years BC.

Iraq's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities has received thousands of returned archaeological pieces following a push by the central government in Baghdad to retrieve stolen assets in the past year.

Earlier, Russian archaeologists in May 2024 conducted their first fieldwork in Iraq’s Maysan Province after several decades, in a sign of growing cooperation between Baghdad and Moscow.

Iraq, Syria and Iran are often referred to as the cradle of civilisation and are among the richest archaeological regions in the world. Their landscape has layers of ancient history, home to the remnants of Mesopotamian, Persian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilisations. Meanwhile, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers saw the birth of writing, the discovery of the wheel and some of the earliest known cities and empires.