ATLANTA, GEORGIA—11 Alive reports that U.S. officials repatriated a 2,700-year-old artifact known as “Furniture Fitting with Sphinx Trampling a Youth” in a ceremony held at the Iraqi Embassy in Washington, D.C., this week. FBI officials believe the ivory artifact, which is decorated with pigment and gold leaf, was taken from Baghdad during the looting of the Iraq Museum in 2003. The Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University eventually purchased the object in 2006. “While we realize there was no ill intent on behalf of Emory University, we are glad our agents could return a small part of history back to where it belongs in Iraq,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in charge of FBI Atlanta. To read about an eccentric Mesopotamian ruler in ancient Iraq, go to "The Last King of Babylon."
