Looted ancient artefacts from Iraq and Afghanistan seized in Britain will be returned to their country of origin after appraisal by the British Museum, the institution said on Monday.The London-based museum revealed it has been working with law enforcement agencies including the UK Border Force and the capital’s Metropolitan Police to return the works smuggled out during recent periods of conflict.
Among the artefacts to be sent back to Afghanistan are Gandharan sculptures illegally exported to Britain in 2002.Another important haul to be returned to Iraq features 154 Mesopotamian texts written on clay in cuneiform script — one of the earliest systems of writing — seized on entry in 2011.
They were created between the 6th and 4th centuries BC, with many belonging to the administrative archives from a place called Irisagrig, which was unknown until artefacts referring to it first surfaced in 2003.
