Looters tearing up Iraq's archaeological sites

From: Deseret News (Salt Lake City) | Date: May 24, 2003| Author: Edmund L. Andrews New York Times News Service | Copyright information

SAN BAKHRIAT, Iraq -- Mobs of treasure hunters are tearing into Iraqi archaeological sites, stealing urns, statues, vases and cuneiform tablets that often date back 3,000 years and more to Babylon and Sumer, archaeologists say.

Here at the site of what was once Isin, a city-state that first arose around 1,900 B.C., about 150 young men armed with shovels, knives and sometimes semiautomatic weapons have been digging from dawn to dusk and extracting ancient relics almost hourly.

"In...

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