Stolen 2,700-year-old artifact returned to Iraq with help from FBI Boston
BOSTON - A stolen artifact dating back about 2,700 years has been returned to Iraq.
The small ivory figure is called "Furniture Fitting with Sphinx Trampling a Youth." It stands a little over 2 inches tall and is an inch-and-a-half wide, adorned with pigment and golf leaf.
It's been on display with the Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, but FBI special agents there and in Boston figured out it was likely stolen during the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in 2003.
The FBI says this is thought to be the first looted Baghdad relic to be found in a U.S. museum. The Carlos Museum bought the artifact in 2006 based on misleading information, investigators believe.
"FBI Boston is extremely proud to have played a role in helping to recover it," said Joseph Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the Boston field office. "This case represents our ongoing commitment to pursue justice for victims of art crime here and abroad and to rectify such losses to the historical record."
The Iraq Embassy in Washington, D.C. accepted the return of the artifact on Wednesday.
