UK returning 4,000-year-old artifact to Iraq discovered in online auction
The Sumerian relic is thought to be among thousands of artifacts stolen from Iraq in the last century.
![sumerian.png](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2020/09/sumerian.png/sumerian.png?h=a5ae579a&itok=5Mu07l52)
The United Kingdom will repatriate an ancient Sumerian relic after experts determined it had been stolen from Iraq, the British Museum said on Monday.
The London-based institution discovered the 4,000-year-old limestone sculpture being sold in May 2019 by an online auctioneer, who had listed it as a “western Asiatic Akkadian tablet” from a private collection. The museum experts informed Metropolitan police that the item was actually an ancient plaque looted from a Sumerian temple dating back to around 2400 B.C.