Missing Iraq antiquities haunt experts

About half of the 15,000 items either stolen or otherwise unaccounted for have been recovered, but the gaping hole in history remains on the fifth anniversary of the looting of Iraq's National Museum.

By Johanna NeumanLos Angeles Times Staff Writer1:25 PM PDT, April 8, 2008Five years ago, looters ransacked the Iraqi National Museum, stealing centuries-old artifacts that celebrated Iraq's role as the cradle of civilization. Some headlines at the time exaggerated the size of the damage -- erroneously reporting 170,000 items missing. Investigators later discovered that some important artifacts -- including gold jewelry from Nimrud -- had been hidden at Iraq's Central Bank since the Persian Gulf War in 1990.Today, investigators say that about 15,000 pieces were either stolen in the wake of war or went unaccounted for in the months and years before the conflict began. About half have been recovered. But the impact of the thefts -- amulets, Assyrian ivories, sculpture heads, ritual vessels and cylinder seals -- is still being felt in art circles and black markets throughout the world."The numbers can't tell the whole story," said U.S. Marine Reserve Col. Matthew Bogdanos, a New York assistant district attorney who has made the hunt for antiquities his specialty. "These things remind us of our common beginnings."Interpol has been on the case, as has the FBI, where a new top 10 art crimes list has reported some early successes, including recovery of eight cylinder seals."We are still looking for this material. It's still important that we recover it if it is out there," said Bonnie Magness-Gardner, an archaeologist and art theft program manager at the FBI. "This material represents the rise of civilization in the Western world."

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