BAGHDAD — More than 600 ancient artifacts that were smuggled out of Iraq, recovered and lost again have been found misplaced among kitchen supplies in storage at the prime minister's office, the antiquities minister said Monday.

The 638 items include pieces of jewelry, bronze figurines and cylindrical seals from the world's most ancient civilizations that were looted from the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. After their recovery, the U.S. military delivered them last year to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office, where they were misplaced and forgotten about.

The artifacts, packed in sealed boxes, were misplaced because of poor coordination between the Iraqi government ministries in charge of recovering and handling archaeological treasures, said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Qahtan al-Jabouri.

He blamed "inappropriate handover procedures" but did not go into detail.

1. More world news
   1. 
      Egypt protesters torch candidate's HQ

      A group of Egyptian protesters set fire to the campaign headquarters of presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq in Cairo on Monday, the state news agency reported, after the ex-prime minister made it into the second round of the vote.

   2. Can Egypt's voters force candidates to compromise?
   3. Russia blames 'both sides' for Syria massacre
   4. 'War criminal': UK ex-PM Blair heckled while testifying
   5. Cardinal among plotters in Vatican scandal?

Iraqi and world culture officials have for years struggled to retrieve looted treasures but with little success.

Thieves carted off thousands of artifacts from Iraqi museums and archaeological sites in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion and in earlier years of war and upheaval. Many items ended up abroad. Collections that were stolen or destroyed at the National Museum chronicled some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia, including the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians.

Only a fraction of the items have been recovered.

Authorities only realized the items misplaced at the prime minister's office were missing when they began putting together a public display of recently recovered artifacts in Baghdad on Sept. 7.

1. Most popular

The prime minister's office investigated, located the items and handed them over to the Antiquities Ministry on Sunday, al-Jabouri said.

"Sealed boxes were located in a storage among kitchen supplies," al-Jabouri said at a news conference. "They were opened and artifacts were found inside."

So far, 5,000 items stolen since 2003 have been recovered. More than 15,000 pieces from the National Museum are still missing.