The Iraq War & Archaeology Archive 0

Almost all are accessible for free (or after a free registration) on the internet. Each time, I try to draw attention to the most relevant tidbits of information, esp. things that were not mentioned before; occasionally, I provide some comment. The usual warning applies: many links become defective with time. Inclusion in the list does not in any way mean that I necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in an article. But for a few exceptions, the occasional photos and figures accompanying reviewed articles are just hotlinked images on other web sites, in other words: do not download them or request permission to publish them from me, for I do not own the copyright to them in any way! Please do contact the rightful owners if you would like to use them for publication purposes. Finally, for the sake of convenience, all articles and so on are assumed to have been published on US web sites unless indicated otherwise.

L. Marshall, "Commentary: Iraq Culture," in Morning Edition (NPR), with online audio, March 31, 2003: splendors of Medieval Baghdad

D. Perlman, "Protecting Iraq's Ancient Treasures. Pentagon Says It Has Drawn up 'No Strike List' to Safeguard Nation's Trove of Archaeological Sites," in San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, 2003: also planning for aftermath
L. Bryant, "UNESCO Worried War Could Damage Iraqi Archeological Sites," in Voice of America News, with online audio and transcript, March 29, 2003: "... three museums have been damaged by bombs, including one in the northern city of Mosul, ..." [weeks later, we know that the Mosul Museum did not sustain bomb damage; the Tikrit one did but contained no archaeological materials]

P. Menon, "A Past in Peril," in Frontline (India), March 29, 2003: "The damage caused to historical sites [in Iraq] in the 1991 bombing by American forces was incalculable ..." [likely an exaggeration]; "... the Baghdad National Museum of Antiquities, ... stands in the heart of Baghdad city, and the planned aerial assault will most certainly ensure its destruction." [a way too alarmist prediction which fortunately has been disproven by the events]; "Just before the 1991 Gulf war broke out, the Iraqi authorities transferred the most precious of the archaeological contents of the [National M]useum to a secret location. The ceramics, ivory pieces and cuneiform tablets were swathed in cotton and sponges for protection. The basements where these were stored were accidentally flooded and the humidity caused by the cotton wool and sponge wrapping caused the growth of fungus on the protected objects. The cuneiform tablets were irreparably damaged. Efforts at restoration have suffered because of the ban imposed on Iraq importing chemicals. No comprehensive independent assessment by any international team or agency of the damage caused to historical sites in the 1991 conflict has been made so far. The United Nations Security Council, led by the U.S. and Britain, blocked an Iraqi appeal for a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) commission to conduct such a survey ..." [true, all too true];

Photo 1: "Pictures: Hodalic Arne/Saola/Gamma. An archaeological mission at work in Iraq. Despite the United Nations-imposed sanctions, a French mission carried out excavations at Sinjar, 600 km to the north of Baghdad, after May 2002."

Photo 2: "At the Baghdad National Museum, which has innumerable artefacts. The artefacts in the basement are in a sad state, laments Haddj Abed, who has worked at the museum for more than three and a half decades."

Photo 3: "Dusting Assyrian frescoes at the museum."

Photo 4: "A warlord of Hatra." [at the National Museum]

Photo 5: "Statues of a man and woman, prominent citizens of the city of Hatra." [at the Museum]

P.W. Roberts, "Rocking the Cradle," in The Globe and Mail, March 29, 2003: journalist in Baghdad ponders the long history of Iraq and more
L. Witham, "Allied Troops Bypass Holy Sites," in The Washington Times, March 27, 2003: US/UK military very much aware of the Shi'ite holy sites of Karbala and Najaf; also trying to avoid major ancient archaeological sites
M. Macari, "War & Heritage: Is Ancient Iraq Being Protected?," in Archaeology, online, March 27, 2003: Iraqi military stationed next to the Ctesiphon arch; rumored that the National Museum of Baghdad was accidentally hit in an attack
R. Haubrich, "Krieg an der Wiege der Zivilisation. Archäologen warnen vor der Zerstörung der Bauwerke und Kunstschätze im Irak. Eine ernste Gefahr besteht am ehesten für die Objekte in Bagdad," in Die Welt (Germany), March 26, 2003: after the 1991 Gulf war, Western archaeologists were no longer allowed to work in Iraq [not totally true: after a couple of years, some European and Japanese teams were active again, albeit on a smaller scale]; most threatened according to UNESCO are buildings in Baghdad such as the Kustansiriya Mosque, the Abbasid Palace and the National Museum

"Leaflets Dropped 25 March 2003," in United States Central Command, online, [March 25, 2003]: one shows the ziggurat of Ur

Photo: "IZD-027a"

D. MacLeod, Blown Away, in The Guardian (UK), March 25, 2003: after the bombs started falling, the AIA slightly revised the declaration; also, some good examples of what happened in 1991
C. Erck, "Kulturgüterraub - und nun noch Bomben? Die archäologischen Schätze des Iraks in Gefahr," in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), March 24, 2003: in the last couple of years, archaeological teams had become active again in Iraq: Germans in Uruk, Austrians in Borsippa, Italians in Hatra; after the 1991 Gulf War, high officials of the regime enriched themselves with illegal antiquities trade while once in a while prosecuting some small dealer to divert attention; last February, Nawala al-Mutawalli, leader of the archaeological section of the National Museum and Sumerian-language expert, said that in the event of war they would again take home as many artifacts as possible and store them in secret places; in 1991, 4,000 artifacts on display were destroyed when bombs intended for the nearby telephone switchboard struck the Museum
D. McAlary, "Scholars Worry About Damage to Iraqi Archaeological Sites," in Voice of America News, with online audio and transcript, March 24, 2003: McG. Gibson and J.M. Russell interviewed
On an admittedly non-professional discussion board (Europa Universalis) someone mentioned that the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut which has been digging in Iraq nearly without interruption since the late 19th century is worried about not getting a license renewal from the future Iraqi government. Any truth to this at all? I sure hope not [March 22, 2003]

A.M. Melilli, "Why the Italians want to be in Iraq. 'War will be catastrophic for the Iraqi people. But it will also be terrible for the country’s rich archaeological heritage,'" in The Art Newspaper (UK), [March 21, 2003]: "... a group of specialists from one of Italy’s top restoration centres, the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome, were due to travel to Mosul, in Iraq this month, but have cancelled because of the allied invasion. They were to start restoration of the bas-reliefs in the ancient royal palace of Sennacherib."; interview with Giuseppe Proietti (Italy's director-general for archaeology and now sr. adviser to Piero Cordone, director of cultural affairs at ORHA) a few weeks before the invasion: "... to arrest the advanced state of decay of the bas-reliefs which adorn the lower part of the walls of the throne room, and of the grand reception rooms in the royal palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh." "... rain and direct sunlight have caused serious chemical and physical damage. The project also aims to train Iraqi technicians to do the restoration work themselves." "Meanwhile, we are progressing with the design for a new roof for the palace, a new drainage system and the transformation of the site into a museum." "... are going to try carbon fibre ties, 1-2 microns in diameter, which have one particularly useful characteristic: once they have been inserted they unravel and the joins cannot be seen." "The Centro Scavi e Ricerche archeologiche from Turin, directed by Giorgio Gullini, ... Last March they installed headquarters in Baghdad: the Italo/Iraqi Institute for Archaeological Science." "Last October our Iraqi colleagues asked us to collaborate with them on plans for a new National Museum of Iraq, which would be the archaeological museum of Mesopotamia and thus one of the most important museums in the world. We also hope to be able to carry on with the creation of a comprehensive database covering the whole country, with the participation of Iraqi technicians, specially trained at the expense of our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This will be a computer archive of dates and images, illustrating all the works of art which were looted after the Gulf War; its aim will be to assist their retrieval." "The atmosphere is one of great cooperation, not only with our colleagues but also with the Iraqi people. It certainly did not feel as though we were working in a pre-conflict situation. Sanctions have not produced indiscriminate hatred of the West, only of the American government."

McG. Gibson, "Fate of Iraqi Archaeology," in Science, March 21, 2003: excellent pre-war overview: "... there are hundreds of thousands of archaeological sites in Iraq." "From the founding of the modern state of Iraq until 1990, Iraq had an enviable record of protecting its antiquities and cultural heritage. The Department of Antiquities, backed by an exemplary Antiquities Law, had control of all archaeological sites and artifacts." "During the 1980s, ... the Department of Antiquities ... assemble[d] a staff of thousands for its 20 museums, for supervision of excavations, and other purposes. An important component of the staff was for security: hundreds of guards who were responsible for individual sites." "... before 1990, there was virtually no illegal excavation on archaeological sites and no illicit trade in antiquities. The uprising at the end of the Gulf War brought an end to that record. Nine of the 13 regional museums in the south and north of the country were raided by mobs, who smashed exhibits, stole antiquities, and sometimes set fire to the buildings. More than 3000 objects were lost, almost none of which have been recovered." "... the damage to archaeological sites and standing monuments caused by the Gulf War itself was apparently relatively minor. Attempts to send in UNESCO teams to assess damage in the war zone were vetoed in the Security Council. We do know of damage to a few mounded sites in the south (Ur of the Chaldees, Tell al-Lahm)." "... the economic embargo ... has been devastating. The last 13 years have witnessed drastic losses of staff and funding at the Department of Antiquities. There has also been an increasing pace of looting of archaeological sites followed by large-scale smuggling out of objects to feed the voracious international antiquities market. Only three Ph.D.’s remain in the department." "In ... the alluvial desert between the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Iraq, ... which was the heartland of ancient Sumer, the illicit digging started as attempts by individuals to find something to sell to feed their families. This work soon grew to an industry, financed from abroad and engaging hundreds of diggers at some sites ..." "When made aware of the extensive looting of the sites of Umma, Adab, and Umm al-Aqarib, the department of Antiquities was able to gain emergency funding and send out teams to excavate them. An army unit drove off the looters, and the Department of Antiquities established as many as 18 guards on a site." "The embargo has caused other damage to sites, and even the loss of entire mounds. To feed its population, Iraq has embarked on emergency agricultural projects, encouraging farmers to open new irrigated fields in southern Iraq on land that has been desert since the Mongol conquest in the 13th century. Judging by satellite images, some new fields seem largely unregulated, and archaeological sites that would have been respected in normal times appear to have been erased, apparently with graders and other heavy equipment." "... the greatest concern of archaeologists, art historians, and historians around the world is for the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad and the Museum in Mosul, ... Even if they survive the bombing, any period of chaos or uncertain control during or after the fighting will render both institutions vulnerable to looting." "If this war must happen, it is imperative that a thorough and systematic assessment of damage be made, in order to allow the Iraqi Department of Antiquities to organize salvage operations. It is more immediately important that the department continue to function and that its academic and technical staff be reassembled at full strength. As soon as possible, the guards must be rehired or replaced. Most important is recognition of the Antiquities Law and a guarding against attempts to dilute its scope and authority."
R. Collier, "Treasured Past Once Again at Risk. Many Iraqis Convinced U.S. Wants to Blunt Resurrection of Babylon," in San Francisco Chronicle, March 19, 2003: Americans supposedly want to invade Iraq to stop the rise of Babylon as an Islamic counterpart to Jewish Jerusalem; 1991 calamities

G. Ieranò, "L'incubo guerra nel regno degli assiri: Niniveh," in Panorama (Italy), March 17, 2003: good overview article on Italian archaeological research in Iraq (Hatra), cooperation regarding conservation (palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh; some alabaster orthostats are flaking badly) and possible effects of war.

Photo: "Le pareti del Palazzo reale di Sennacherib, ornata da figure di guerrieri con spada e lancia" [the wall reliefs of the Royal Palace of Sennacherib, adorned with figures of warriors with sword and spear]

D. Evans, "Iraq Shields Ancient Treasures from High-Tech War," in Reuters AlertNet, online, March 12, 2003: the plans of the Baghdad's antiquities museum
J. Buchan, "Miss Bell's Lines in the Sand," in The Guardian (UK), March 12, 2003: Gertrude Bell was a British colonial administrator as well as an archaeologist in Iraq in the aftermath of World War I
D. Whitehouse, "War Risk to Iraqi Treasures," in BBC News, online, March 6, 2003: on the AIA declaration
"Iraq Says 900 Stolen Artifacts Found in Germany," in Iraq Press (UK), online, March 2, 2003: "The Antiquities Department has asked Interpol, ... for the return of 905 archaeological pieces smuggled from Iraq in the past few years." "Wars and U.N. trade sanctions imposed for Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait have taken a heavy toll on Iraqi antiquities. Officially, the department says smugglers have removed 4,000 pieces from the country. But well-placed Iraqi scholars say the figure is much higher and it may run in tens of thousands. They say the department does not include the artifacts removed through illegal digs at scores of important archaeological sites in the past few years. The department's list only includes the pieces which are missing from standing Iraqi museums." [whatever happened to this request?]
D. Cruickshank, "The Lost Palaces of Iraq," in BBC, online, February 26, 2003: architectural historian travels through Iraq to see what all could be lost in a war
"Iraqi Archaeology and the Threat of War. An Interview with Dr. Samuel M. Paley,"in The Archaeology Channel, with online audio, February 21, 2003

J. DeRose, "Protecting Ancient History in Iraq. Archaeologists Worry Antiquities, Artifacts Will Be Lost in War," in Morning Edition (NPR), February 20, 2003, with online audio

Photo: "The head of this gateway colossal guardian figure has been sawed apart by looters. The figure, dated from 725 B.C., was located in the ancient Assyrian capital city Khorsabad, located just northeast of present-day Mosul, Iraq. Credit: Photos courtesy John M. Russell, Massachusetts College of Art"

A. Sherwin, "Attack on Iraq Will Put Ancient Sites at Risk," in The Times (UK), January 27, 2003: review of new "Dan Cruickshank and the Lost Cities of Iraq" BBC documentary
M. Posner, "Archeology digs routed by threat of war. Planning for the summer season of excavations in the Middle East is in disarray as archeologists assess the risks," in The Globe and Mail (Canada), January 15, 2003: "'I've run the gauntlet for years,' says the Royal Ontario Museum's Ed Keall, who is doing field work in Yemen, examining how communities there and in Eritrea have responded through the ages to environmental change. 'But I'm postponing the trip.'" "... [Dr. John M.] Russell argued that UN sanctions on Iraq in the post-Gulf War period indirectly created the conditions that gave rise to the looting. 'I have some sympathy for people who have a choice of looting and eating or not looting and starving.' However, University of Toronto archeologist Tim Harrison says the looting is usually carried out not by impoverished individuals, but by regional warlords who sell their plunder to raise money for arms. Local museums, far enough away from Baghdad to be beyond Saddam Hussein's interest or control, thus become arms of the regional treasury." [I think Harrison was thinking rather of the situation in Afghanistan here although some Iraqi tribes have definitely become professional looters]; "In the past, many archeologists -- often returning to the same site over many years -- have been able to forge relationships with local communities. But as Wilfred Laurier University professor Michele Daviau notes, that expectation of a warm welcome is no longer assured. 'There are people who are very concerned about North American attitudes to the Middle East,' she says, a viewpoint that, in the current climate, tends to make all Westerners suspect, regardless of their personal political ideology."
D. Cruickshank, "Raiders of the Lost Art. Babylon, Nineveh, Eden - The Ancient Sites at the Heart of Iraq Have Suffered at the Hands of Saddam Hussein, Discovers Dan Cruickshank. And Things Could Be About to Get a Whole Lot Worse... ," in The Independent, January 12, 2003: "'Life is meaningless to us – we will protect this museum until the last drop of our blood." This is what Saba al-Omari, the young curator of the Mosul Museum, told me when I visited Iraq last November."
"Letter to the Editor," in The SAA Archaeological Record, January 2003, p. 3: appeal by archaeologists against an Iraq War; SAA = Society for American Archaeology

Z. Bahrani, "Iraq Is a World Cultural Heritage Site, Says Bahrani," in Columbia News Video Forum: Accessing the 'Axis of Evil'; Middle East Asian Languages, Culture Offers Insight into the People, Culture, Heritage of Iraq, with online video, December 12, 2002: "'The entirety of Iraq is a world cultural heritage site and there is no way that a strategic bombing can avoid something archaeological,' says Zainab Bahrani, associate professor of art history and archaeology. She says Iraq is the 'cradle of civilization,' and is dotted with artifacts of the urban revolution of 4,000 B.C. as well as other cultural advances."; nice lecture, unfortunately without the slides

A. Hawkins and M.L. Anderson, "Preserving Iraq's Past," in Washington Post, November 29, 2002: appeal by the American Council for Cultural Policy and the American Association of Art Museum Directors; "... we urge the administration to consider the creation now (and not later) of a planning mechanism specifically charged with ensuring that Iraq's material culture is protected." "Measures should be taken to ensure absolute respect for the integrity of Iraq's sites and monuments, and to prevent looting of any kind. In addition the coalition should encourage a new Iraqi civil administration to move quickly to establish security for its own monuments, sites and museums and support the reconstitution of Iraq's antiquities service."
Z. Toufe, "Urgent Request to Blue Fairy: Please Turn These Children Into Stone," in ZNet, online, November 8, 2002: "Please, Blue Fairy, turn the children of Iraq into stone. The older the stone better. Stone with cracks and signs of aging and weather damage would be perfect. Hopefully, that will evoke some protective reflexes and caring in their direction." "If Blue Fairy does not come through, ..." "... UNICEF reports that at least half a million children have died due to those sanctions." "That make-a-wish foundation should take those [Iraqi] children [with terminal illnesses], whose childhood we have collectively destroyed, to the precious museums and let them play with all those precious stones and tablets. The children should paint them with indelible ink. They should throw them to the ground from high buildings to see from which floor they pulverize most easily. They should be encouraged to play team games and see which team can hammer a tablet into dust fastest. Maybe, just maybe, what must surely be the collective wish of all those children and their families will come true. Maybe, amidst the predictable outrage over crushed stone, the world will notice them." [when you're Iraqi, even while studying in the West, things look quite different; humanitarian and cultural catastrophes need attention]

C. McWhirter, "Iraq's Precious Relics Decimated by Thieves. Ancient Sites Lie Vulnerable Since Gulf War," in The Detroit News, October 23, 2002: "Today, visitors walk up to one of the few remaining gates [of the site of Niniveh] to find a flimsy mesh fence, lashed together by a rag and an old wire for a bicycle lock. After a few minutes, a 12-year-old girl walks up and unties the lash to let visitors into one of the world's most important archaeological sites. The girl is the daughter of the site's guard, who went into town for the afternoon. Inside, statues lay exposed to the elements. A royal courtyard is a makeshift soccer field for children, with ancient bricks piled as goalposts. Famous Assyrian winged bulls, enormous stone statues with human heads, stand covered with chalk Arabic graffiti." "Since Iraq's defeat in the Persian Gulf War in 1991, thieves have been stealing anything they can -- estimated by experts to total tens of thousands of clay tablets, statuettes, pots, pieces of jewelry -- from open or poorly guarded sites throughout the country." "[Dr. McGuire] Gibson said he knows of examples of antiquities bureaucrats heading out to sites these days and catching 150 intruders with picks and shovels." "[Dr. Donny] George said his staff recently increased from postwar lows, but the department still only has about 35 people to cover all of Iraq, an area about the size of California. Before the war, the antiquities bureaucracy had about 250 employees. Pay for the remaining staff is low, opening the door for bribery. George, head of the department, only makes about $50 a month." "Shortly after the sanctions, most of the thefts occurred from museums in smaller cities, such as Mosul and Kirkuk. The material was documented, so proving it had been stolen was relatively easy. Now, thieves are excavating sites themselves. If they find material before the archeologists, chances of recovery are slim. Under international law, a nation has to prove that an item came from a specific place at a certain time." "Staff at the Metropolitan Museum in New York recently took custody of a copper statue found on a person trying to enter the country. The item was documented, so it was seized."

All photos: "Max Ortiz / The Detroit News"

Photo 1: "Sahel Mhoustefa stands near an ancient statue in Nineveh, one of the world's most important archaeological sites, which is unguarded. These vulnerable sites attract looters, who have stolen tens of thousands of relics."

Photo 2: "Nadia Mhoustefa lets visitors into unguarded Nineveh, once the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire."

Photo 3: "Ten men were executed for stealing this stone head and chopping it into pieces to make it easier to smuggle."

Photo 4: "Stone tablets, such as this one depicting an ancient culture working to build a city, lay exposed to the elements."

Photo 5: "Unprotected Assyrian winged bulls -- enormous stone statues, many with human heads -- stand covered with graffiti."

Photo 6: "At the ancient city of Nineveh in Mosul in northern Iraq, a site in biblical history stands unguarded. Many treasures in Iraq have been destroyed, taken by other countries, or sold on the open market."

Photo 7: "Tom Simaan, of the Iraqi American Friendship Federation / Metro Detroit, stands at the base of one of many ancient structures at biblical city of Ninevah."

"Iraqi Officials to Hide Babylon Antiques to Protect Them From Bombing," in IslamOnline, September 30, 2002: "... at the archaeological sites and the museum at Mosul ..." "... Manhal Jabar, the director of antiquities, talking of his worries that still far too much will be left exposed." "the plan is to move the antiquities to underground vaults, the locations of which are being kept secret, not least to prevent the kind of systematic theft which took place in 1991, when the Iraqi regime lost control of parts of the country."

"Damming the Past. Iraq: Ancient Mesopotamian City Threatened," in NOVA (PBS), online, September 2002: the huge, hardly excavated site of Assur, the ancient capital of Assyria: "Construction is currently underway on the Makhul Dam, ... The new lake will flood the ancient city, reducing priceless cuneiform tablets to mud and destroying other irreplaceable artifacts. Archeological teams from Iraq and elsewhere have until 2007, the dam's scheduled completion date. With the Iraqi government determined to go ahead with the dam project, which will provide desperately needed water to northern Iraq for agricultural purposes during the dry season, archeologists and conservationists have begun arguing for a costly barrier wall to be built around Assur." [there's talk now that this dam project may be shelved]

Photo: "A worker surveys excavation work in progress at Assur."

E. Miller, "Lost, Stolen, or Sold-- Iraq's Rich Heritage in Jeopardy," in Baghdad Diary, online, July 28, 2002, at the Mennonite Central Committee web site: organized looting of the regional museums after the Gulf War
K. Mieszkowski, "Hey, Mister -- Wanna Buy a 4,000-Year-Old Cuneiform Tablet for $10? Iraq's Economic Collapse Means the Oldest Writing in the World Can Be Bought for a Song on eBay -- and Has Scholars Racing to Digitize Sumerian Artifacts Before They Become Paperweights," in Salon.com, online, May 11, 2002: "But while these cuneiform artifacts may be real -- actual writing from millennia past -- that doesn't make them clean. Many of these treasures are cultural fallout from Iraq's geopolitical isolation since the Gulf War brought on U.N. sanctions. Since the early '90s there's been a flood of cuneiform artifacts onto the international antiquities markets, some probably pilfered from archaeological sites, others lifted straight out of regional Iraqi museums." "The regulations that do exist [in Iraq] against exporting such cultural artifacts simply aren't enforced. And the amount of looting that's taking place makes some scholars suspect official corruption as well as outright theft." "... to scholars of ancient Sumer the upsurge of availability has created a sense of urgency in a rather sleepy field. Can a record of these artifacts be captured and documented before they disappear into private collections forever?" "[Dr.] Englund and his colleagues at the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative have actually captured images of these artifacts for posterity right off sites like eBay." "According to Englund, there are maybe a thousand individuals in the world with any passing knowledge of the relevant languages, and only 200 positions in universities on earth devoted to Assyriology [I think he's still overestimating...]."
E. MacAskill, "Iraq Appeals to Berlin for Return of Babylon Gate," in The Guardian (UK), May 4, 2002: Iraq wants the Ishtar Gate back which German archaeologists took in the early 20th century
H. Shanks, "Plundering Iraq. Should Looted Antiquities Be Returned to Rogue States?," in Archaeology Odyssey, April 2002: long interview with Dr. John Russell: how he ended up a specialist in Neo-Assyrian reliefs; context of the Nineveh palace reliefs; aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War and how looted fragments showed up in the West in the '90s; Shanks tested him by hypothesizing a convoluted situation involving a looted Neo-Assyrioan relief being offered for sale to him: Russell responded in a thoughtful way esp. given the unrealistic circumstances
R. George, "Going for an Iraqi Dig? Don't Forget the AK-47: Rose George Uncovers Some of the Damage Caused to Archaeology by United Nations Sanctions against Baghdad," in The Financial Times (UK), August 4, 2001: "We are in the desert region of Um Al Aqareb, or Mother of Scorpions, named after its poisonous inhabitants, on the way to the ancient Sumerian site of Shmet, two hours south of Baghdad." "'Instability is a green light for anyone interested in antiquities,' says Donny George, an urbane Assyrian Christian who runs the Research Department at Iraq's National Musuem." "Saddam Hussein sends Donny George his reports back with careful notes in the margin." "But only in 1999 did the government decided to fight back. Funds - probably from illicit oil sales - were provided for 24-hour armed guards at 4 sites. The National Museum was reopened after an eight-year closure, and its research departments expanded. Selling antiquities outside the country became a treasonable offence, punishable by death. Last year, ten wealthy businessmen from Mosul - who chopped an Assyrian bull's head in pieces and took it to Jordan - were executed on TV. It's draconian, but necessary, says George." "Mohammad, the young archeologist in charge at Shmet, used to earn 3,500 dinars ($1.50) a month. Doctors also earn a paltry 20,000 dinar ($8) base salary, but 'we weren't losing doctors,' says Dr. Donny. 'We were losing archeologists.' The salary was raised to 30,000 dinars ($15), and there are now 70 young archeologists in training. Paying for loyalty also applied to the guards, and local sheikhs were equally charmed into cooperating. At least in the Mother of Scorpions, the offensive has kept looters at bay, even if not everyone's motives are the same. 'I've fired my gun at thieves,' explains our guard Ahmed. 'But I fire it in the air. If I shoot someone, I'd have to pay blood money. If I kill someone inside the site, it's cheaper than outside, because it's government property. I'd have to pay at least 2 million dinar. Government laws don't apply in the villages.'" "At Shmet, where two dozen labourers are digging out a Sumerian manor house with their bare hands, the land is gutted with square holes, a shockingly pockmarked moonscape carved out with bulldozers, deliberately and recklessly. There is an occasional gleam in the gloom. Visit the office of Dr. Mudhafar Amin, head of the Iraqi Interests Section in London, and you will notice a 4000-year old stone head of the goddess Medusa, perched on his filing cabinet. Carved from the walls of the ancient site of Hatra, smuggled to Jordan ... ending up in London ... recognised by an Italian archeologist, ... the Yard's Art and Antiques Squad then restored the head to the Iraqis. 'We are so grateful,' says Dr. Mudhafar Amin in his office. And not a little surprised. 'This is the first time, to my knowledge,' says DC Volpe, 'that an Iraqi artefact has been seized in this country and returned to the Iraqi government.'"
F. Schipper, "An der Wiege der Zivilisation: Die Denkmäler des Irak heute. Der Irak, in der Antike oft nur als das Land zwischen den Strömen Euphrat und Tigris – eben als »Mesopotamien« bezeichnet, gilt als die Wiege der Zivilisation. Nicht ganz zu unrecht, wurde doch auf diesem Boden eine der ersten Hochkulturen der Welt, nämlich die Sumerische vor mehr als 5000 Jahren begründet," in GÖAB-Bulletin, 2/01 (end of March 2001): nice overview of the condition of the archaeological heritage of Iraq before the 2003- Iraq war
H. Dellios, "Birth of Writing Explored in Baghdad Conference," in The Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2001: conference used by Saddam Hussein regime to try to break isolation

D. Gordon and T. Sproule, "King of Kings," in The Sunday Edition (CBC, Canada), with online audio, February 18, 2001: interesting exploration of how Saddam Hussein (ab)used ancient Mesopotamian concepts of royalty; quite a lot of excerpts of the reporter's chat with Donny George; a picture of a Saddam Hussein statue has this caption: "'This is why you see his portraits, because the people love him, they love him and they want him to stay strong as he is always, and I believe it was the same in the past, because the kings were symbols of power and sovereignty of the country.' ~ Dr. Donni George, Director-General, Iraq National Museum": this is not an accurate quote, still, George is basically saying in the interview that a people needs a leader as a symbol of their nation and that statues and other representations serve to symbolize the vitality and strength of the nation

Photo 1: "8-year-old inscription found on new bricks in the rebuilt walls of Babylon: 'In the time of the reign of the victorious Saddam Hussein, the Great President of the Republic, (may god save him), the protector of great Iraq and the renewer of its renaissance and the builder of it civilization, the third phase of reconstructing Babylon has been completed in 1989, as the reconstruction of this palace was achieved originally by King Nebucchanezer in 605 BC.'"

Photo 2: "2600-year-old inscription found at the foundation of Old Babylon: 'I, Nebuchanezzer, the great King of the Babylon. I rebuilt Throne Hall for my great god Marduk and my god Adit. Grant Me Immortality.'"

Photo 3: "In the 20 years since Saddam Hussein assumed power, much of the old city has been rebuilt. The brown brick battlements and the ramparts now stand smooth and tall, sharp-edged and clean; but its an empty place. There's no sense of the ages."

J.M. Russell, "Robbing the Archaeological Cradle. In the Aftermath of the Gulf War, Iraq's Ancient Heritage Has Landed on the Endangered List," in Natural History, February 2001: 1991 Gulf War overview article

B. Plett, "Iraq Looks to Its Rich History," in BBC News, with online video, January 5, 2001: report on the reopening of the National Museum in Baghdad; after the 1991 Gulf War, "'[w]e tried all kinds of protection [for archaeological sites against looters], but the best idea was to go by ourselves, and be here to protect the sites with our own guards, with the workers working here,' says archaeologist Donny George." "... Donny George[:] 'The Iraq museum is now open, and the regional museums are opening up too.'" "Recent efforts though are restoring not only the sites but a sense of national pride, and have increased Iraq's determination to some day finish the job."

Photo 1: "Iraqi children are now able to see the country's ancient treasures" (Assyrian statue]

Photo 2: "The museum was closed for a over a decade to avoid theft" [Early Sumerian statues]

"Iraq reopens national museum. Closed since Gulf War," in CNN, May 11, 2000: "... giving the public the first view of Iraq's archaeological wealth since the [1991] Persian Gulf War. The museum reopened April 28 [2000], ... the Iraqis had kept the museum closed, because of the threat of more strikes from United States airplanes." "The museum had been infested with termites, and years of storage have damaged the artwork. Iraq hopes to get international restoration help. Some of the more spectacular pieces, treasures from the royal tombs in Ur and recent excavations from Nimrod, won't be on exhibit until summer." [these treasures from Ur and Nimrud were not put on display before the 2003 Iraq War]

Photo 1: "The 10,000 pieces on display at Iraq's national museum are less than 3 percent of the country's holdings"

Photo 2: "This Sumerian marble head is among the finest examples of ancient sculpture" [Lady of Warka]

Photo 3: "A fragment of elephant ivory used in royal furniture"

A.H. Joffe, "The Environmental Legacy of Saddam Husayn: The Archaeology of Totalitarianism in Modern Iraq," in Crime, Law & Social Change, 33 (2000), pp. 313-328: an archaeologist's take on the damage wrought by Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare program
K. Norman, "The Retrieval of Kuwait National Museum's Collections from Iraq: An Assessment of the Operation and Lessons Learned," in Journal of the American Institute for Conservation, 39, 1 (2000): in 1991, the Kuwait National Museum was not really so much looted randomly as systematically packed up by the Iraqi authorities and moved to Iraq; after the war, almost all was handed back to the Kuwaiti government through UN mediation; this is obviously not the same as what just happened to the National Museum in Baghdad, but I find it useful to draw attention to some aspects of what went on anyway: "... [during the occupation] the Iraqis sent staff from their Department of Antiquities to assess and pack what they wanted from the [National Museum and Dar el-Athar el-Islamiyyah] ..." "[After the war, t]he UN formed an agency for this purpose, called UN Return of Property (UNROP), and the staff of the two collections were asked to form teams to go to Iraq for the handover." "In the end, the whole operation was carried out by the Dar al-Athar team, as the National Museum team was withdrawn shortly before departure. They were all Kuwaitis, and politically it was deemed to be too sensitive to send Kuwaitis into Iraq so soon after the war." "The handover process was carried out in the Iraq Museum [= National Museum] in Baghdad, the collections having been brought there from wherever they had been stored during the occupation of Kuwait—possibly near Mosul in the north of Iraq." "In the Iraq Museum, relations between the two teams were very stilted at first. Neither team knew the other, and we could only guess at the feelings and political orientations of the Iraqis working opposite us. It was hard to be objective and ignore the fact that they represented, at least nominally, the Iraqi regime that had invaded Kuwait, but it was crucial to do so. By the end of the first week, as each team realized that the other was willing to be neutral, the frost began to thaw. ... The Iraqi staff were also to find out that our museum had been torched after the collection was removed, the fire taking with it a pair of magnificent 14th-century Moroccan doors that were too big to move to Baghdad. They had not known of this event. The fact that despite these and all the other factors we were not only willing but determined to conduct the handover neutrally and professionally had, I feel, a profound calming influence on the whole operation. At no time, however, could the Iraqis completely relax. Even we, as outsiders, had spotted the two supposed museum staff always in the background, never apparently doing anything. They were members of the Muhabarat, the security police, and they were there to watch the Iraqis as much as to watch us." [any archaeologist working at the National Museum in the last decade or so has lived in the shadow of these type of people, so a lot of what they did or said could just as well have been for survival/security rather than support for a brutal regime; when one lives in a police state, no professional can truly remain neutral and detached]; "There was another complication in the business of identifying objects [before handover]. When the collections had first arrived in Baghdad, the Iraqis had made their own inventory. Many of the objects in the Dar al-Athar collection had previously belonged to other collections, and it is the [Kuwait National M]useum's policy to keep the old numbers or identifying marks of these collections alongside ours. Not knowing the numbering systems of the Kuwaiti collections, the Iraqis had recorded numbers at random: sometimes ours, sometimes old ones. Also, the staff compiling the inventory had little experience with Islamic objects, and these were frequently misidentified. The Iraq Museum staff involved in the handover were required to use this inventory, which they themselves had apparently not seen before. A translation from Arabic to English, made for our team by the UN, we suspected, had, through no fault of the UN, made things yet more obscure. The confusion was spectacular at times, and required much patience and good humor on both sides to untangle, as the Iraqis had to match every item on their almost incomprehensible inventory to one of our objects." [the vagaries of cataloging, inventorizing and ultimately identification!]; "The [Kuwait] National Museum has not at the time of writing produced exact figures, but estimates that it has lost 20–30% of its collection. ... It would seem very likely that most of the losses resulted, strangely, from the fact that the Iraqis did not take all of the collection away, so that large quantities of the more modern ethnographic material were left behind. It seems that this material may have been randomly looted. It is also possible that archaeological material went astray in Iraq. The Dar al-Athar collection seemed to be of less interest to the staff sent to get the collections, who were mainly archaeologists. The main damage to the National Museum collection was to large archaeological ceramics, which did not travel well." "The Baghdad operation exposed all the deficiencies of the [Dar el-Athar] museum's original recording system, and the curators decided to use this breathing space before Dar al-Athar goes back on display to completely redesign the museum's documentation systems. When a collection disappears completely and all that is left is whatever documentation may exist, its value, not only to a recovery operation but also to the academic world, is enormous. This insight was brought home very painfully." [the Iraqi National Museum people should have listened a little more to their Kuwaiti colleagues, I guess?; July 7, 2004: for an interesting footnote, see Kuwait News Agency July 4, 2004]
"Speakers," in Art, Antiquity and the Law: Preserving our Global Cultural Heritage. International Conference, Rutgers University, 30 October - 1 November, 1998: "Mario Bondioli-Osio is Minister Plenipotentiary and President of the Interministerial Commission for Works of Art, Rome, Italy. He received his law degree from the University of Milan in 1960, and joined the Italian diplomatic Service in 1962, serving in the general consulate in Basel, the embassy in Bonn, the United Nations Department of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as in Tripoli, Teheran, and the Italian Mission to the United Nations in New York. From 1988-1990, he served as Ambassador to the Popular Democratic Republic of Yemen, Aden, and from 1992-1995 as the first Italian Ambassador to the state of Qatar in Doha. In 1995, he was appointed President of the newly created Interministerial Commission for Works of Art, with the task of developing activities of a diplomatic-cultural character aimed at the recovery of works of art unlawfully taken out of Italy." [Ambassador Cordone's successor as Sr. Advisor regarding archaeology and artifact smuggling to the CPA Minister of Culture; obviously very well qualified]
J.M. Russell, "Stolen Stones: The Modern Sack of Nineveh," in Archaeology, online feature, December 30, 1996: looting of sites at the end of the Gulf War

This site is edited by Belgian archaeologist Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D., living in Streamwood, Illinois (USA), who is affiliated with Archaeos, Inc., and a research associate of the University of Vienna (Austria).