A federal court ordered the forfeiture of an ancient Sumerian tablet bearing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh in cuneiform script after it determined that the artifact was illegally imported, the Justice Department announced on Tuesday.
The artifact, know as the “Gilgamesh Dream Tablet,” was purchased by a U.S.-based antiquities dealer in 2003 and was shipped to the United States without disclosure of its contents as required by law, according to court documents.
That dealer sold the tablet in 2007 with an accompanying letter falsely stating that it was purchased inside a box of miscellaneous other artifacts acquired in an auction in 1981. The tablet was then resold multiple times in sales around the world and eventually brought back to the U.S. after being purchased by crafts retailer Hobby Lobby from a London auction house in 2014.
BRITISH ANTIQUES RESTORER NABBED AMID ALLEGED ROLE IN $140 MILLION STOLEN ARTIFACTS RING
Hobby Lobby agreed to forfeit the tablet, the DOJ said, as ordered by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The company purchased the tablet, which federal law enforcement seized on suspicion of its illegal importation in September 2019, for display at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Authorities plan to return the 6-by-5-inch tablet to its country of origin, which is now Iraq.
