‘Iraq 1990–2004 and the London antiquities market’, in N. Brodie, M. Kersel, C. Luke and K.W. Tubb (eds), Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade

Before the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq’s archaeological heritage was under the supervision and protection of a large, well-organized and professional Department of Antiquities and remained relatively free from theft and vandalism (Gibson 1997). In the aftermath of that war, however, as the country descended into chaos, between 1991 and 1994 eleven regional museums were broken into and approximately 3,000 artifacts and 484 manuscripts were stolen, of which only fifty-four items have been recovered