The Iraq War & Archaeology
Reviewed Articles Archive Fifty-Two: Second 1/2 of May 2005





This is the fifty-second archive of the reviewed articles of The Iraq War & Archaeology web site.


Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D.
The articles and other information are listed chronologically, most recent first.
Almost all are accessible for free (or after a free registration) on the internet.  Each time, I try to draw attention to the most relevant tidbits of information, esp. things that were not mentioned before; occasionally, I provide some comment.  The usual warning applies: many links become defective with time.  Inclusion in the list does not in any way mean that I necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in an article.  But for a few exceptions, the occasional photos and figures accompanying reviewed articles are just hotlinked images on other web sites, in other words: do not download them or request permission to publish them from me, for I do not own the copyright to them in any way!  Please do contact the rightful owners if you would like to use them for publication purposes. Finally, for the sake of convenience, all articles and so on are assumed to have been published on US web sites unless indicated otherwise.


  • N. Conan, "The Looting and Recovery of Iraqi Treasures," in Talk of the Nation (NPR), with online audio, May 26, 2005: interview with Dr. Donny George at the occasion of the book "The Looting of the Iraq Museum," with people calling in: 15,000 artifacts were stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad, 50% have been recovered, 4,000 back in the Museum already, others still abroad but in custody; still missing is the headless statue of the Sumerian king Eannatum, inscribed on the back shoulder, one of the earliest examples of the mentioning of the word "king"; Museum is not open because it's not safe to be open: store rooms have been welded shut, museum guards are being shot at, unsafe Haifa Street just behind the museum

    Photo 1: "Detail from the cover of The Lost Legacy of Ancient Mesopotamia. Part of a beheaded sculpture lies among rubble after a mob of looters ransacked and looted Iraq's largest archeological museum in Baghdad."

    Photo 2: "Milking scene from the Temple of Ninhursag, from Tell al Ubaid, c. 2400 B.C." [sic; the captions of photos 2 and 3 have been switched]

    Photo 3: "This alabaster relief is one of three fragments from a single stela that dates to the time of the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, c. 2334-2154 B.C." [sic; the captions of photos 2 and 3 have been switched]





This site is edited by Belgian archaeologist Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D., living in Streamwood, Illinois (USA), who is affiliated with Archaeos, Inc., and a research associate of the University of Vienna (Austria).