After being returned by Italy after nearly forty years, a 2,800-year-old stone tablet is now on display in Iraq.
The artifact is written in its entirety in the ancient Babylonian alphabet found in cuneiform, a system of writing on clay.
President Abdul Latif Rashid of Iraq received it last week from Italian authorities in the city of Bologna.
The tablet's discovery and how it got to Italy, where it was seized by police in the 1980s, are both mysteries.
It might have been discovered during archeological investigations of the Mosul dam, which was constructed around that time, according to Iraq's Minister of Culture Ahmed Badrani.
Iraq, which is frequently referred to as the "cradle of civilization," is credited with creating writing, among other things.
Following the US-led invasion of the country 20 years ago, looting of its antiquities increased.
The president of Iraq commended Italy for its cooperation and pledged to work to recover every piece of lost archeological evidence of Iraqi history.