Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Warka Mask
Six years after the invasion of Iraq, which resulted in widespread looting of Baghdad’s antiquities, the country is still trying to reclaim thousands of historical pieces that are not only important to Iraqi cultural heritage, but world civilization.
The International Council on Monuments accused the U.S. of committing a “crime against humanity” when it allowed treasures stored in Iraq’s National Museum to be plundered by thieves who made off with 15,000 artifacts from one of the earliest known civilizations, Mesopotamia. The items stolen included the oldest known naturalistic sculpture of a human face, the Warka Mask, a 5,000-year-old limestone figure known as the “Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia,” which fortunately has been recovered, and at least 5,000 Sumerian cylinder seals engraved with the earliest form of writing, which have not.
In addition to the thievery that took place in the capital, bandits raided many of the country’s archaeological sites, taking or destroying as many as 500,000 artifacts.
A few thousand items were recovered shortly after the fall of the Hussein government thanks to the work of an America investigation team led by Marine Reserve Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, who worked as a Manhattan district attorney in civilian life.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Worldwide Iraqi Treasure Hunt (by Lynda Hurst, Toronto Star)
Iraq Museum Database (University of Chicago)
“Mona Lisa” Back to Iraq’s National Museum (by Luke Hunt, Middle East Online)
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