Twenty years after the US invasion, where are Iraq’s antiquities?

Baghdad, Iraq – Entering the Iraq National Museum in the center of the capital Baghdad feels like you have traveled thousands of years back in time.

Beyond the gates lives the legacy of Mesopotamia with its Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Akkadian civilizations.

But while the sculptures are impressive, they are only a small part of Iraq’s ancient heritage – one that has been destroyed by years of destruction and looting.

It is a problem that the Iraqi state has been working to rectify.

In the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States, large numbers of antiquities were stolen, both from museums, such as the Iraq National Museum, but also because of illegal excavations at archaeological sites across the country.

Items were also destroyed, particularly during the rise of ISIL (ISIS) after 2014.

Hakim al-Shammari, media director of the Iraqi Ministry of Culture’s General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage, says efforts to recover stolen antiquities continue.

“We are working to return these pieces to their original homeland in accordance with international agreements that emphasize the return of cultural properties to their owners,” al-Shammari told Al Jazeera.

“In recent years, Iraq has managed to recover about 17,000 artifacts from the United States and 364 from Lebanon,” said al-Shammari, who estimates the total number of looted antiquities runs into the thousands. “We are working to recover antiquities in France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and Jordan, which are different and diverse.”

Most recently, on March 30, the Iraqi presidency announced the return of nine stolen artifacts from the US, including seven seals dating back to the Babylonians, a piece of ivory in the shape of a human face, and a Middle Babylonian-era clay tablet . .

Partial success

While the government’s success in returning some antiquities has been applauded, Haider Farhan, a professor of archaeological philosophy at the University of Baghdad and an antiquities expert, said there is still a lot of work to be done.

“The Iraqi government’s efforts to negotiate the recovery of stolen antiquities are … positive,” Farhan said. “But these efforts have not quite lived up to expectations… and what has been achieved is a partial success.”

“There are no official statistics on how many antiquities have been stolen from the Iraqi Museum, and the numbers given are in fact inaccurate and incomplete when looking at the official inventory of the Iraqi Museum’s belongings,” Farhan added.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry, which is responsible for returning Iraqi antiquities from around the world, has not responded to questions from Al Jazeera. However, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has previously stated that 18,000 smuggled artifacts have been returned to Iraq, and expressed the hope that international cooperation and coordination would help to return all the stolen items.

The Baghdad office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) told Al Jazeera it was working with the Iraqi government to recover more than 40,000 artifacts scattered around the world, in addition to the 30,000 pieces that had already been found. between 2017 and 2022.

Other items are held in Iraqi embassies and antique loan centers around the world until suitable storage centers can be found in Iraq.

Lack of American protection

For many Iraqis, much of the blame for the loss of so many pieces of their country’s history rests with the US.

At the time of the invasion, US officials were reportedly frustrated by the military generals’ lack of willingness to protect archaeological sites such as the Iraq National Museum.

Amer Abdul-Razzaq, an archaeological researcher, says the omission was intentional.

“US tanks surrounded the Iraqi Museum during the occupation and chaos, but they did not lift a finger in the face of the mafia and antiquities thieves who attacked the museum and stole about 14,000 valuable pieces from it,” Abdul-Razzaq, who previously served, said. director of antiquities in the Iraqi province of Dhi Qar.

“Although the US military later committed to protecting Iraqi antiquities under pressure from Iraqi archaeological institutions, it initially took archaeological sites as bases and camps, including in the city of Ur in Dhi Qar province, and placed their heavy military equipment in the Ziggurat of Ur,” said Abdul-Razzaq, referring to the ancient Sumerian city-state and famous monument.

“The US military turned the ancient city of Babylon into a military base, to the extent that they made mounds of earth, and part of it was made of parts of the cuneiform figure of clay,” Abdul-Razzaq added. “It’s the same with the city of Nimrud in Mosul and other archaeological sites around the country.”

And while the US has already returned thousands of artifacts to Iraq, Abdul-Razzaq believes it’s still not enough.

“What has been recovered is small. Pieces are still being sold at auctions in the US and Britain, and in other countries,” Abdul-Razzaq said. “We need more diplomatic efforts and international cooperation.”