Ancient Iraqi treasure found in flooded bank vault

BAGHDAD - A priceless trove of gold jewellery and ornaments from one of the world's earliest civilisations has been recovered from a flooded vault below Baghdad's shattered central bank, officials said today.

The famed Treasure of Nimrud, a collection of hundreds of pieces of jewellery from the ancient kingdom of Assyria, was retrieved in the last few days by US investigators and Iraqi officials after the vault was drained.

"All the pieces have been retrieved," acting Central Bank Governor Faleh Salman told Reuters. "A team is examining them to see if there has been any damage."

The treasures, discovered between 1988 and 1990 in ancient royal tombs below an Assyrian palace dating from the ninth century BC, had been feared lost when looters plundered Iraq of antiquities as Saddam Hussein was ousted by US-led forces.

But US investigators learned the Nimrud artefacts had been placed in a central bank vault in the early 1990s, possibly to protect them during the 1991 Gulf War. They were still there -- although the looted central bank building was a gutted shell and the vaults beneath were flooded.

"They were never lost," Salman said. "We knew all along that they were there. It just took a bit of time to get at them because of the flooding."

US customs agents who helped with the recovery of the treasure said that when they first entered the vaults they found bodies of looters killed in shoot-outs with rival gangs. But the seals on the crates of treasure proved to be intact.

The customs agents said it was unknown how the vaults came to be flooded, but they suspect Iraqis deliberately let water in to stop looters -- or members of Saddam's inner circle -- ransacking them. It took several days to pump out the water.

Baghdad's museum was plundered by looters as the city fell to US troops, and experts initially feared tens of thousands of antiquities had been stolen. But some, like the Treasure of Nimrud, have been discovered elsewhere. Locals and museum staff have also returned many items they took home for safekeeping.

The failure of US troops to stop the looting sparked a storm of protest around the world. But US officials say initial estimates of the scale of the museum's losses were far too pessimistic.

Some priceless artefacts are still missing, however, including the Vase of Warka, a limestone bowl dating from around 3000 BC and the rule of the Sumerian kings.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq