The University of Pennsylvania Museum has officially turned over 387 clay tablet fragments to the Iraqi government. The inscribed tablets were excavated by Leonard Woolley at Ur from 1922 to 1934. In all, approximately 7500 tablets and fragments were shipped to Philadelphia from Iraq following the excavations. These were on loan from the Iraqi government so they could be studied and published; most were returned over the subsequent years. This recent batch of 387 fragments are small and difficult to study. The decision to return them to their homeland was made after scholars recognized that they had had these tablets in their possession for too long and that there are many Iraqis who can now do the work of translating and studying these fragments.
OFF-SITE LINK:
- https://www.inquirer.com/arts/sumerian-tablets-penn-museum-repatriation-iraq-20191203.html
LEARN MORE ABOUT IRAQ AND THE BIBLE:
- https://biblearchaeology.org/
