Iraqi archaeologists have resumed excavations in southern Iraq uncovering three important ancient sites and collecting magnificent items some of them more than 4000 years old.
The Iraq Museum has received 700 artifacts from official diggings in these sites, one of them belonging to the Sumerian civilization which flourished in southern Iraq at about 2500 BBC.
The museum’s information officer, Abdulzahara al-Talaqani, said there were 400 Sumerian pieces among the finds including cylinder seals and a variety of pottery items.
Talaqani said 11 Iraqi excavation teams were busy digging sites in southern Iraq "and more finds are on their way to the museum."
The resumption of official digging signals relative calm in these areas.
Talaqani said Iraqi diggers have come across "a very important" Parthian site which has so far yielded "200 rare pieces."
The Parthians, or ancient Persians of Iran, ruled most of ancient Iraq in 200 B.C.
The head of the excavation team of the Parthian site, Mohammed Abbas, said: "Most of the finds are unique. We have a silver statue of a woman, another silver piece representing a cobra, household utensils, legendary animals, incised pots and various other magnificent items."
An Islamic site yielded 119 pieces. Saleh Yousef who led the excavation there said the artifacts represented inscribed pots, glassware and beautiful beakers.