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On Tuesday, July 25, 2006, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, and Iraqi Prime Minister Noori al-Maliki participated in a ceremony marking the repatriation of the diorite statue of Entemena to the Iraqi Government, at the Embassy of the Republic of Iraq.
Recovered this year by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wing of the Department of Homeland Security, the statue of Entemena is deemed one of INTERPOL's most significant recoveries.
Background:
Around April 2003, Iraqi cultural institutions and archaeological sites, including the Iraq National Museum, suffered extensive losses of invaluable cultural artifacts. Among the objects illegally taken from the Museum was the Statue of Entemena -- a headless, statue of the 4th king in the dynasty of Lagash (modern al-Hiba, Iraq), ca. 2400 BC, excavated at Ur, Iraq.
The Statue of Entemena is the oldest known representation of a king of ancient Iraq. The statue is made of diorite (a rare hard black imported stone), stands approximately 30 inches high, and weighs approximately 300 pounds. The king is standing in the pose of a worshipper, hands folded in front, wearing a fleece skirt. Cuneiform inscriptions on his back and right upper arm tell us that the name of the statue is "Entemena Whom the God Enlil Loves" and that the statue was placed before the god in a temple.
The statue was excavated in the early 20th century in the temple precinct at Ur in southern Iraq by the joint expedition of the University of Pennsylvania and the British Museum, working under a permit from the Iraq Department of Antiquities. Since the text says it stood in Lagash, it must have been taken to Ur at a later time, perhaps as a war trophy.
In late 2005, confidential informants overseas notified DHS of the whereabouts of the statue. Around May 2006, the statue was recovered and shipped to the United States. The statue was authenticated around June 5 and remained in DHS custody.
2006/714
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