Iran displays ancient Persian artifacts returned from US

TEHRAN, Iran

Iran on Saturday showcased 162 Achaemenid-era clay tablets returned from the US after nearly 90 years.

The tablets were displayed at the National Museum of Iran on World Museum Day, nine months after their return in September.

They were sent to the US because it was not possible to read them in Iran at that time, Museum Director Jebrael Nokandeh said at the Museum Day ceremony.

Nokandeh explained that the tablets, dating from the reign of Darius the Great (522-486 BC), provide unique insights into the administrative and social structures of the time.

Speaking to Anadolu, archaeologist Sidika Piran said approximately 30,000 tablets were discovered in 1932 during excavations at Persepolis.

Noting that these artifacts were sent to the US in 1936 for analysis, she underlined some tablets contain letters and administrative documents in Elamite and Aramaic languages used by Achaemenid kings.

Negotiations between Iran and the US are ongoing for the return of the remaining tablets still held at the University of Chicago.

Over the years, successive Iranian governments pursued the matter with the US authorities, and finally, in February 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Iran.

Since then, these artifacts have been brought to Iran piece by piece. Most recently in September 2023, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who was in New York for the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, returned to Tehran with more than 3,500 historical clay tablets.

*Writing by Muhammed Yasin Gungor in Istanbul