Iraq recovers 4,200-year-old Akkadian seal stolen from Duhok Museum in 1991

NEWSROOM — Iraq’s embassy in London has recovered an ancient Akkadian seal dating to around 2250 B.C., more than three decades after it was stolen from the Duhok Museum in 1991.

The Foreign Ministry said the handover took place on Nov. 18 at the Iraqi Embassy in London as part of ongoing efforts to track and reclaim cultural property abroad. The seal had been listed by the Art Loss Register and the U.K. Interior Ministry’s antiquities police as a stolen item from the Duhok Museum.

Those attending the handover included James Ratcliffe, director of recoveries and general counsel at the Art Loss Register; Olivia Whittink from the same office; and Ray Swan, head investigator with the U.K. antiquities police. Acting chargé d’affaires Haider al-Husseini thanked the British partners for their cooperation and encouraged anyone holding Iraqi artifacts to return them “to preserve Iraq’s human and civilizational heritage.”

The embassy presented letters of appreciation to the British participants at the close of the ceremony.

Iraq has stepped up artifact-recovery efforts in recent years. In February 2025, the Museum Directorate announced plans for an exhibition displaying 27,000 artifacts recovered during the current government’s tenure, including items looted from archaeological sites and others stolen from the Iraq Museum. The directorate said the number continues to rise and confirmed receiving two artifacts from Britain that same week.

Iraq’s cultural heritage suffered extensive losses during decades of conflict. The National Museum in Baghdad was looted in April 2003 after the U.S. invasion, resulting in the theft of more than 15,000 artifacts. In July 2021, Iraq recovered about 17,000 looted artifacts from the United States — the largest repatriation of stolen Iraqi antiquities to date — including 4,500-year-old cuneiform tablets from the Sumerian period.