European Museums Are Giving Back their Middle East Artifacts

During the nineteenth century, some European archaeologists, especially from Germany, did seminal archaeological work in some of the most significant tells in the Middle East. One result was that they uncovered ancient city ruins and removed artifacts. These antiquities treasures usually wound up in European museums where they have remained until recent times. However, there is a movement going on to return these valuable artifacts to their countries of origin.

No nation in the world has more ancient ruins and buried artifacts than does Iraq. It’s Euphrates River valley was “the cradle of early civilization.” That’s where the ancient cities were located that we read about in the early chapters of the book of Genesis in the Old Testament of the Bible, such as Asshur, Nineveh, and Babylon just to name a few and those that were foremost.

The New York Times reported on May 18, “European museums are being called on to put more effort into provenance research and to return objects acquired in ways that were unethical and would now be unlawful.”

But there is a positive way to view this taking of ancient artifacts and their return long afterwards. It prevented burglary and possible destruction of these artifacts by thieves and amateur archaeologists who would sell them on the black market. Thus, the long-term effect of housing these precious artifacts in European museums for viewing by the public, with the Berlin Museum being most prominent, has actually been their preservation.

I believe that this movement will continue until all such antiquities are restored to their former homelands. Then those countries will feature them along with many others that will be found and unearthed in the future in great places for public display. These countries, mostly Iraq, will also restore much of their ancient city ruins, such as Nineveh and Babylon, that will result in much tourism as a significant source of state revenue.

I think this is confirmed in Bible prophecy, especially in chapter 18 of the apocalyptic book of Revelation. It tells about Babylon becoming the greatest city in the world in the last days. I have an unfinished book manuscript on this that I intend to publish.