> Is "acquired" a euphemism for stolen here?
Given what and where they were from it almost certainly means donated or sold to the museum by the archeologists who excavated them in the first place.
Given what and where they were from it almost certainly means donated or sold to the museum by the archeologists who excavated them in the first place.
"From 1877 to 1882, while undertaking four expeditions on behalf of the British Museum, Rassam made some important discoveries. Numerous finds of significance were transported to the museum, thanks to an agreement made with the Ottoman Sultan by Rassam's old colleague Austen Henry Layard, now Ambassador at Constantinople, allowing Rassam to return and continue their earlier excavations and to 'pack and dispatch to England any antiquities [he] found ... provided, however, there were no duplicates.' A representative of the Sultan was instructed to be present at the dig to examine the objects as they were uncovered."
So, not a euphemism for "stolen".
In Eurasia and Africa this does not work. "The oldest traceable group" may be many invasions, conquests and mass migrations after the things were made. The current residents or earliest traceable group may well have enslaved, oppressed, or killed the group who made the things. In many, many cases they would have erased the culture that made them.
In the case of these tablets there is no one who can meaningfully claim to be an Akkadian.