Treasures of Nimrud found

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The world-famous treasures of Nimrud, unaccounted for since Baghdad fell two months ago, have been located in good condition in the country's Central Bank -- in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water, U.S. occupation authorities said Saturday.\nThey also said fewer than 50 items from the collection of the Iraqi National Museum's main exhibition are still missing after the looting and destruction that followed the U.S. capture of Baghdad.\nThe artifacts -- gold earrings, finger and toe rings, necklaces, plates, bowls and flasks, many of them elaborately engraved and set with semiprecious stones or enamel -- were found last Thursday when the vault was opened, according to an official of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the official name of the U.S.-led occupation force.\nHe said they were "largely unscathed," though it was unclear if the sewage water caused any damage at all.\nThe Nimrud treasures date back to about 900 B.C. They were discovered by Iraqi archaeologists in the late 1980s in four royal tombs at the site of the ancient city of Nimrud near Mosul in northern Iraq.\nThe treasures, one of the 20th century's most significant archaeological finds, have not been seen in public since the early 1990s. Their discovery will help assuage the worries of archaeologists concerning the country's ancient treasures.\nNimrud, destroyed in 612 B.C., was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that sat partly in what is today Iraq. The discovery of the treasures in the royal tombs surprised archaeologists at the time, because members of the royal family were thought to be buried only in the holy city of Assur.\n"Early inspection of the pieces suggest that they are in good condition," said a statement issued by the provisional authority. It said a team from the British Museum will join Iraqi experts to find the best way to protect them.\nThe coalition official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at a news briefing that the number of artifacts looted or lost from the Iraqi National Museum after the fall of Baghdad was significantly exaggerated.\nOf the 170,000 initially thought to be missing, 3,000 remain unaccounted for. These mostly are not worthy of museum exhibition and include items such as small shards of pottery.\nThe official said 47 main exhibition items are missing. A total of 64 pieces from that collection had been looted, said the coalition announcement.\nThe coalition official said one or two of the museum's galleries will open later this month, but gave no further details.\n"It is a great relief that so much of the museum's main collection is safe and in good condition," said Pietro Cordone, the provisional authority's senior adviser on cultural affairs.\nBut, he added: "There is no room for complacency. There are still important items that are missing from the museum's collection."\nSince shortly after Saddam's government fell in April, a team of U.S. investigators has catalogued the museum's contents.\nEarlier this week, the team found another secret vault containing 179 boxes. Inside were nearly 8,000 of the most important items from the museum collection, the coalition said. It did not give the location of the vault.\nInvestigators' work, the coalition said, is nearing an end -- at least formally.\n"Closure of the investigation does not mean that our efforts to retrieve the missing items will end too," said Cordone, a former Italian diplomat.\nAccording to U.S. Marine Col. Matthew Bogdanos, head of the American investigation team, some looted items have been recovered under a no-questions-asked amnesty program, while others were found in raids.\nThe looting of the museum, home of extraordinary Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections and rare Islamic texts, caused an international uproar. Many archaeologists blame U.S. forces, saying they failed to protect the central Baghdad institution when they captured the city April 9.\nU.S. military commanders have rejected the charges, saying the museum was not on the list of sites their troops were ordered to secure upon entering the city.