The Iraq Museum, which was plundered shortly after the 2003-U.S. invasion, has received 32,000 archaeologically significant artifacts in the past eight years, the spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology Mohammed Talaqani said.
But most of these pieces have come from inside Iraq and are the result of illegal digging taking place on ancient mounds across the country, Talaqani added.
The upsurge in insecurity and mounting violence that followed the U.S. invasion has made it impossible for the antiquities department to guard the nearly 10,000 archaeological mounds in the country.
Illegal digging surged and some of the most renowned ancient sites were looted by smugglers.
The department issued new regulations under which Iraqis willing to return the artifacts in their possession would not be prosecuted but rewarded.
The move persuaded many Iraqis to come forward with their artifacts.
Talaqani said 15,400 artifacts were plundered from the Iraq Museum in 2003 and only 4,200 of them have been recovered so far.
The museum now has two special halls where retrieved artifacts are exhibited. One of them holds the plundered artifacts that were recovered and the other the artifacts collected through illegal digging and then returned to the museum.
The largest haul of stolen artifacts was returned to Iraq by Syria, Talaqani said. The Syrian authorities passed to Iraq more than 700 pieces some of them of astounding beauty and priceless.
All were recovered by Syrian customs officers at border check points, Talaqani said.
Jordan returned to Iraq 466 pieces, the U.S. 1,046, Italy 34, Peru 3 and Sweden 1, he added.
Source: Azzaman