The discovery was made in the Az-Zirai area of eastern Mosul, which special forces recently recaptured from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
ishtartv.com - montrealgazette.com
01.27.2017
BAGHDAD
– Iraqi authorities have found more than 100 “priceless” Assyrian artifacts
plundered from ancient ruins hidden in the house of an Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant leader in Mosul.
The
discovery was made in the Az-Zirai area of eastern Mosul, which special forces
recently recaptured from ISIL.
The
National Security Service released photographs Thursday of clay pots,
large vases, Palace Ware pottery and a hand mill, among other smaller pieces
found.
Historians
and archaeologists have confirmed the objects date back thousands of years to
the Assyrian Empire.
They
said they were almost certainly dug up from the nearby Nineveh Ruins, as well
as Nimrud – the Assyrian Empire’s ancient capital – which was under the control
of Isil militants for two years until liberated in November.
Talib
al-Maa’mari, a member of the Iraqi parliament said: “When the special forces
searched this one house, which was being used by an ISIL emir, we were
surprised to find many priceless artifacts. But one in particular is very
special – it was quite an incredible find.”
It
has not yet been disclosed what this particular item is.
ISIL documents
found in the abandoned house show the Islamist group kept a record of
individual items, along with an estimated price each could reach.
They
boasted of the destruction in a video, touting their campaign to purge their
self-declared “caliphate” of anything they deemed pagan or heretical.
Since
its capture of Mosul in 2014, Isil is thought to have made tens of millions of
dollars off black market sales of antiquities throughout both Iraq and Syria,
while at the same time destroying numerous archeological treasures from sites
such as Nimrud and Palmyra.
Archeologists
who have visited Nimrud since it has fallen back into the hands of the Iraqi
authorities say about 60 per cent of the site is irrecoverable.
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