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Looters trash museums treasures { April 13 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,935838,00.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,935838,00.html Looters trash museum's treasures Sunday April 13, 2003 The Observer The world's first written words may have been lost forever. After surviving for more than 5,000 years, distinctive clay tablets that are recognised as the root of all mankind's written communication have either been destroyed or stolen in yesterday's looting of the Iraqi national museum. The tablets, from the royal tombs at Ur, were among 170,000 items taken from Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities. Experts claimed that the stolen goods were worth billions of pounds. Others maintained that they were 'priceless'. In addition to the tablets containing cuneiform writing - which utilises symbols chipped into the clay using wedge-shaped tools - thieves also took some of the world's earliest examples of mathematics. These include calculations that have directly led to the modern system of timekeeping using hours, minutes and seconds based on the number six. 'This is a tremendous loss to world literature and knowledge, it's truly a world heritage loss,' said Dominique Collon of the Ancient Near East Department of the British Museum. A massive collection of 5,000-year-old 'highly breakable' sculptures from ancient Sumeria and Assyria have also been stolen from the world's seventh largest museum.

Army told to protect museum { April 20 2003 } Blame us troops looters antiquities { April 12 2003 } Culture advisers resign over museum looting Items legal open market { April 15 2003 } Looted art said used to fund terrorists { June 23 2005 } Looters trash museums treasures { April 13 2003 } Looting required fork lift Marines 300 yards away Organized looters had keys { April 17 2003 } Organized outside the country { April 18 2003 } Our heritage is finished { April 13 2003 } Pilagers strip museum of treasure { April 13 2003 } Pros looted national museum Some items returned { April 24 2003 } Us government implicated theft treasures { April 19 2003 } Files Listed: 15

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