The Manhattan district attorney's office returned antiquities to Iraqi officials that were looted from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad amid the United States-led 2003 invasion of that country.
The items, seven cylinder and stamp seals dated back as far as 2,700 B.C.E., were taken to the United States and bought by a private collector between 2004 and 2009, officials said.
One of the seals resurfaced in a March 2021 online auction, according to a release from the Manhattan district attorney's office.
Investigators within the district attorney's Antiquities Track Unit got wind of the auction and discovered the party selling off the seal was in possession of the other six seals - carved illustrations of gods, humans, animals, and other religious scenes that were used as "a personal signature to guarantee authenticity of either an individual or a business," according to the release.
"These stunningly preserved artifacts are just a few of the many antiquities looted from the Iraq Museum," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. "We are pleased that they are finally returning home to the museum where they rightfully belong."
According to the Iraq Museum, thousands of items in their collection were stolen in April 2003 as staff members "attempted to hold back looters until U.S. forces arrived" more than a week after the looting began.
The museum estimates "about 15,000 items including 5,000 valuable cylinder seals" were stolen, but says there is debate over the totals.
All seven seals were purchased in the years after the looting of the museum and the 2021 seller did not have documentation for the items that would show they were circulating the art world before 2003, prosecutors said.
"These pieces belong to Iraq-and belong in Iraq-and now they will help the Iraqi people better understand and appreciate our own history and culture with this connection to the past," Dr. Salwan Sinjari, a top Iraqi diplomat in the United States, said in a statement. "This is another example of the longstanding cooperation, friendship, and partnership between Iraq and United States."
The seals "appear today almost exactly as they would have looked to the ancient people who used them," the Manhattan district attorney's office said.
Investigators in Manhattan worked alongside the Department of Homeland Security, the release said. The Antiquities Tracking Unit said they returned 892 antiquities to 15 countries so far this year. Their office estimates the total value of the returned items at $104 million.
