Babylonian stele seized at Heathrow. was claimed to be ‘for home decoration’"

' Stone dating from second millennium
 BC was claimed to be ‘for home decoration"

A fragment of a Babylonian stele will be handed back to Iraq later this month after UK border officers foiled an attempt to smuggle it through Heathrow airport (Smuggled Babylonian relic to be handed back to Iraq The National March 10, 2019 ).

The 30cm-high inscribed stone, dating back more than 3,000 years, was one section of a larger antiquity that is believed to have been looted from southern Iraq. The stone is a rare kudurru, an official document with cuneiform writing drawn up on the instructions of the king to record lands handed to individuals, according to UK newspaper The Guardian. It is believed to date from the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I (1126-1103 BC). The newspaper reported that a border official became suspicious after the cargo was described as a “carved stone for home decoration” that was made in Turkey. The stone was believed to have been once located at a temple. “Importantly, this kudurru has been neither previously recorded nor published and must therefore come from illicit digging at a site in southern Iraq,” Dr St John Simpson, a senior curator at the British Museum, told the Guardian.

It dates from the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar I (about 1126-1103BC), not to be confused with his famous later namesake Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562BC).

Simpson said: “Importantly, this kudurru has been neither previously recorded nor published and must therefore come from illicit digging at a site in southern Iraq. The text mentions the god Enlil and the goddess Gula and refers several times to the city of Nippur, in southern Iraq, where Enlil was the chief god. This makes it quite likely that this kudurru originates from Nippur or its close vicinity.” He noted that many archaeological sites in southern Iraq were badly looted between 1994 and 2004, during which time he suspects this kudurru was removed. The whereabouts of its lower half are unknown. “Hopefully, it is still in the ground somewhere in Iraq and may one day be found by archaeologists.” The object has been declared crown property after the British importer failed to demonstrate legal title. Investigations are continuing.

No details of the seller or buyer were released, those 'investigations' are presumably fictional, How the buyer got the object and where it has been kept in the fifteen years since it left the ground and how it came onto the market (through whose hands) will not emerge.

Dalya Alberge, 'Babylonian treasure seized at Heathrow to be returned to Iraq’ Guardian Sun 10 Mar 2019