CHICAGO (AP) -- About all one can tell from a simple viewing is that the doll-sized, white stone statuette depicts a bald man with wide black eyes, wearing a long, pleated skirt, his hands clasped in greeting.

But when University of Chicago archaeologists examine the notebook detailing the figure's 1933 excavation in Iraq, they learn it was one of three similar statues found near an ancient temple's altar: The clasped hands are actually a gesture of prayer.

Also in the log book are numbers directing the archaeologists to seven photos of the 4,500-year-old figure and its excavation, including one of a local Iraqi kneeling by the pit soon after the statuette was located.

That's the kind of priceless context being lost as looters target a number of archaeological sites in Iraq in the chaos that has resulted from the Iraq war, said Geoff Emberling, director of the university's Oriental Institute Museum.






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