Franklin Avenue

This just depresses me: As you've probably read, looters have pretty much stripped Iraq's museums bare. Having been located in what's considered the cradle of civilization, these collections had quite a few priceless items that may now be gone for good. According to the L.A. Times, There was the gold and ivory harp of Ur, birthplace of the patriarch Abraham; artifacts from ancient Nineveh; and 5,000-year-old tablets bearing some of the earliest known writing. There was what is widely considered to be the first known calendar, a 10,000-year-old pebble with 12 scratches on it.