Iraq puts on display ancient artifacts returned by U.S.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Ancient artifacts looted and smuggled out of Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003 were put on display in Baghdad on Tuesday.

Among the artifacts returned by the United States was a 3,500-year-old clay tablet bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the ancient Sumerian tale believed to be one of the world’s first pieces of literature.

The tablet, displayed at the Iraqi foreign ministry headquarters, was handed to the Iraqi embassy in Washington by the city's Museum of the Bible.

"We returned nearly 17,916 artifacts from different countries including the U.S., U.K., Italy, Japan and the Netherlands," Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein told a news conference.

U.S. authorities seized the Gilgamesh tablet in 2019 after it was smuggled, auctioned and sold to an arts dealer in Oklahoma and displayed at a museum in Washington, D.C. A court ordered its forfeiture in July.

Iraq's ancient heritage has been decimated by conflict, destruction and looting, especially since 2003.

Authorities have been trying to track down, retrieve and preserve thousands of archaeological relics which are still missing.

(Reporting by Maher Nazeh; Writing by Ahmed Rasheed, editing by Ed Osmond)

The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, stolen from Iraq in 1991 and returned to Iraq after it was seized by the U.S. government, is displayed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

Officials look at The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, stolen from Iraq in 1991 and returned after it was seized by the U.S. government, and other artefacts displayed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, stolen from Iraq in 1991, returned to Iraq after it was seized by the U.S. government, is displayed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, stolen from Iraq in 1991 and returned after it was seized by the U.S. government, and other artefacts are displayed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, stolen from Iraq in 1991, returned to Iraq after it was seized by the U.S. government, is displayed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad, Iraq December 7, 2021. REUTERS/Saba Kareem

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