Cornell to return Mesopotamia antiquities to Iraq Cornell University in New York is preparing to forfeit to Iraq a vast collection of ancient cuneiform tablets in what is expected to be one of the largest returns of antiquities by a US university. The 10,000 clay blocks date from the fourth millennium BC and offer scholars an unmatched record of daily life in ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation. New York antiquities collector Jonathan Rosen and his family began donating and lending the tablets to Cornell in 2000. Many scholars have objected to the arrangement, suspecting the tablets were looted in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, which unleashed a wave of plundering in the archaeologically rich expanse of southern Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Among the tablets is the private archive of a 21st century BC Sumerian princess in the city of Garsana that has made scholars rethink the role of women in the ancient kingdom of Ur. Administration records show Simat-Ishtaran ruled after her husband died. During her reign, women attained remarkably high status. They supervised men, received salaries equal to their male counterparts and worked in construction, the clay tablets reveal. "It's our first real archival discovery of an institution run by a woman," said David Owen, the Cornell researcher who has led the study of the tablets. Because scholars do not know precisely where the tablets were found, the site of Garsana cannot be excavated for further information. Other tablets provide detailed records of ancient life, including the procedures for temple rituals, the resettlement of refugees and the output of agricultural lands. The Iraqi government requested the return of the tablets last year. Other US universities have recently agreed to return ancient art after evidence has emerged that the objects may have been recently looted. Last year, Princeton University returned about 170 objects and fragments to Italy after authorities there linked them to antiquities dealer Edoardo Almagia, who was investigated for trafficking in looted objects. Such cases often involve universities accepting donations from antiquities dealers, raising complex questions about the role academia plays in a market that is rife with recently looted objects. Los Angeles Times