The Iraq War & Archaeology Archive 6

The Iraq War & Archaeology
Reviewed Articles Archive Six: Second 1/2 of June 2003

This is the sixth archive of the reviewed articles of The Iraq War & Archaeology web site.

Francis Deblauwe, Ph.D.

The articles and other information are listed chronologically, most recent first.

Archive Seventy-Five: May 2006
Archive Seventy-Four: 2nd 1/2 of April 2006
Archive Seventy-Three: 1st 1/2 of April 2006
Archive Seventy-Two: 2nd 1/2 of March 2006
Archive Seventy-One: 1st 1/2 of March 2006
Archive Seventy: 2nd 1/2 of February 2006
Archive Sixty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of February 2006
Archive Sixty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of January 2006
Archive Sixty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of January 2006
Archive Sixty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of December 2005
Archive Sixty-Five: 1st 1/2 of December 2005
Archive Sixty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of November 2005
Archive Sixty-Three: 1st 1/2 of November 2005
Archive Sixty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of October 2005
Archive Sixty-One: 1st 1/2 of October 2005
Archive Sixty: 2nd 1/2 of September 2005
Archive Fifty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of September 2005
Archive Fifty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of August 2005
Archive Fifty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of August 2005
Archive Fifty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of July 2005
Archive Fifty-Five: 1st 1/2 of July 2005
Archive Fifty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of June 2005
Archive Fifty-Three: 1st 1/2 of June 2005
Archive Fifty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of May 2005
Archive Fifty-One: 1st 1/2 of May 2005
Archive Fifty: 2nd 1/2 of April 2005
Archive Forty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of April 2005
Archive Forty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of March 2005
Archive Forty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of March 2005
Archive Forty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of February 2005
Archive Forty-Five: 1st 1/2 of February 2005
Archive Forty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of January 2005
Archive Forty-Three: 1st 1/2 of January 2005
Archive Forty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of December 2004
Archive Forty-One: 1st 1/2 of December 2004
Archive Forty: 2nd 1/2 of November 2004
Archive Thirty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of November 2004
Archive Thirty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of October 2004
Archive Thirty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of October 2004
Archive Thirty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of September 2004
Archive Thirty-Five: 1st 1/2 of September 2004
Archive Thirty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of August 2004
Archive Thirty-Three: 1st 1/2 of August 2004
Archive Thirty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of July 2004
Archive Thirty-One: 1st 1/2 of July 2004
Archive Thirty: 2nd 1/2 of June 2004
Archive Twenty-Nine: 1st 1/2 of June 2004
Archive Twenty-Eight: 2nd 1/2 of May 2004
Archive Twenty-Seven: 1st 1/2 of May 2004
Archive Twenty-Six: 2nd 1/2 of April 2004
Archive Twenty-Five: 1st 1/2 of April 2004
Archive Twenty-Four: 2nd 1/2 of March 2004
Archive Twenty-Three: 1st 1/2 of March 2004
Archive Twenty-Two: 2nd 1/2 of February 2004
Archive Twenty-One: 1st 1/2 of February 2004
Archive Twenty: 2nd 1/2 of January 2004
Archive Nineteen: 1st 1/2 of January 2004
Archive Eighteen: 2nd 1/2 of December 2003
Archive Seventeen: 1st 1/2 of December 2003
Archive Sixteen: 2nd 1/2 of November 2003
Archive Fifteen: 1st 1/2 of November 2003
Archive Fourteen: 2nd 1/2 of October 2003
Archive Thirteen: 1st 1/2 of October 2003
Archive Twelve: 2nd 1/2 of September 2003
Archive Eleven: 1st 1/2 of September 2003
Archive Ten: 2nd 1/2 of August 2003
Archive Nine: 1st 1/2 of August 2003
Archive Eight: 2nd 1/2 of July 2003
Archive Seven: 1st 1/2 of July 2003
Archive Six: 2nd 1/2 of June 2003
Archive Five: 1st 1/2 of June 2003
Archive Four: 2nd 1/2 of May 2003
Archive Three: 1st 1/2 of May 2003
Archive Two: 2nd 1/2 of April 2003
Archive One: 1st 1/2 of April 2003
Archive Zero: through the 2nd 1/2 of March 2003

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.

"Former Saddam Aide in Babylon, a Symbol of the New Iraq," in The Jordan Times, June 30, 2003: "One of Saddam Hussein's former top army commanders turned fierce opposition figure, Iskandar Jawad Watut, ... was elected governor of the region of Babylon, ..." "'Security is guaranteed in the region,' Watut said, explaining that he had 2,000 armed policemen under his command in Hilla where US patrols are rarely seen. 'We have even killed Abu Abdullah, the greatest thief of Babylon's archaeological site,' adjacent to Hilla and where the US-coalition troops are based, he said."
"Patrimoine irakien: Paris créé d'une cellule interministérielle," in Le Monde (France), June 30, 2003: an interdepartmental cell is being created by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Culture to assist with the protection and restoration of Iraqi cultural heritage, led by Annie Caubet (Louvre) and Philippe Georgeais (Foreign Affairs, Social Sciences/Archaeology section); libraries specifically mentioned

M. Schulz and B. Zand, "Semiramis im Blitzgewitter. Antikencoup in Bagdad: Das US-Oberkommando will der Weltpresse den verschollen geglaubten 'Schatz der Königinnen von Nimrud' präsentieren - 57 Kilogramm pures Gold aus Assyrien. Die Herrscherinnen-Skelette werden derweil in Göttingen untersucht," in Der Spiegel (Germany), June 30, 2003: the skeletons of the Neo-Assyrian noble ladies excavated undisturbed in the 1980s in Nimrud were brought to Göttingen for study in 1997; together with the known golden jewelry heretofore unseen silver artifacts from a 4th tomb as well as 2 winged human-headed bulls (nick-named "Baby Colossi") will be on display this Thursday; but is this a good idea, this exhibition, considering the insecurity in Baghdad? Dr. Sommerfeld says it's just a PR stunt; after the 1st inventory has been taken, 10,000 artifacts are missing from the storage rooms; Dr. Peter Miglus (U. of Heidelberg) says that at Isin looters are digging pits of 10 meters deep with rotary-bucket excavators; the underground vaults of the Central Bank were flooded when looters tried to open the vault doors with RPGs and set off the sprinklers; the gold show was Paul Bremer's idea to try to get some good press for a change; the director of the Dept. of Antiquities, Jaber Khalil Ibrahim, will soon be let go and replaced by Donny George [this is the 1st I hear of this!]; no matter, it's good that the pieces will finally be seen in public; good overview of the unexplained issues surrounding the Nimrud tombs: some at least maybe hasty reburials just before the Persian-Median enemy destroyed the capital in 612 BC?

Photo 1: "DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES AND HERITAGES BAGHDAD/ RÖMISCH-GERMANISCHES ZENTRALMUSEUM - Verzierter Henkel einer Kanne aus Gruft 3" [decorated handle of a pitcher from Tomb 3]

Photo 2: "Reproduktion: Thomas Grabka - Gefäße aus Gruft 2" [vessels from Tomb 2]

Photo 3: "Reproduktion: Thomas Grabka - Krone der unbekannten Königin aus Gruft 3" [crown of the unknown queen of Tomb 3]

Photo 4: "DEPARTMENT OF ANTIQUITIES AND HERITAGES BAGHDAD / RÖMISCH-GERMANISCHES ZENTRALMUSEUM - Armreif mit Türkis-, Malachit- und Lapislazuli-Einlagen (Gruft 2)" [bracelet inlaid with turquoise, malachite and lapis lazuli (Tomb 2)]

Photo 5: "Reproduktion: Thomas Grabka - Opferschale (Gruft 3)" [sacrificial bowl (Tomb 3)]

Photo 6: "Reproduktion: Thomas Grabka - Armringe (Gruft 2)" [arm bands (Tomb 2)]

Fig. 7: "DER SPIEGEL - Weltmacht am Tigris: Assyriens Ausdehnung im 7. Jh. vor Christus" [World power on the Tigris: the expansion of Assyria in the 7th cent. BC]

Photo 8: "Schmuckplatte mit Palmenemblem aus Nimrud: Gold-Show als PR-Aktion" [jewelry plaque with palm emblem from Nimrud: gold show as PR event]

Photo 9: "Ben Behnke - Paläopathologe Schultz: Lag in der Gruft Hirnmasse der Königin?" [paleopathologist Schultz: was there brain mass left in the tomb of the queen?]

Photo 10: "AP - Museumseingang in Bagdad (mit Einschussloch über dem Portal): Preziosen unter Panzerschutz" [Museum entrance in Baghdad (with hole shot through above the portal): precious things under protection of tanks]

"U.S. Military Targets Those Loyal to Saddam Hussein," in Bay News 9 [Tampa Bay], June 29, 2003: "... U.S. soldiers guarding the Iraqi National Museum in Al Salihiya [the Baghdad neighborhood] were attacked Saturday evening as a vehicle approached their position and then sped away. Several Iraqi witnesses said two men driving a red Volkswagen threw grenades in an apparent attempt to hit a U.S. self-propelled Paladin howitzer positioned adjacent to small office building. There were no reports of casualties."
"Rashdi Urges Media to Focus on Arab Culture," in Times of Oman, June 29, 2003: "... a joint meeting of the Arab information and culture ministers at the Arab League headquarters [in Cairo] yesterday ..." "The ministers agreed to assemble 'a committee of experts' to contribute to international efforts to recover ancient treasures looted from museums, libraries and archaeological sites around the country, ... Arab countries will contribute funds to help finance the restoration of damaged cultural sites, ..."
L. Hales, "The Art of Recovery. In Iraq, an Exhibition to Counter Images of War and Loss," in Washington Post, June 28, 2003: "The event, which is being planned for Thursday in Baghdad for an audience of international media, will show off the fabled Treasures of Nimrud." "[Giuseppe] Proietti, who is Italy's director general for archaeology at the Ministry of Culture, serves in the cultural affairs department of occupation adminstrator L. Paul Bremer. [he's Cordone's right-hand man] Proietti described how experts in Baghdad, ... were hoping also to reopen three rooms full of Assyrian objects at the Iraqi National Museum. With people still dying in the streets, an art exhibit could seem frivolous. The timing, at the start of the July 4 holiday news cycle, might also seem overtly propagandistic. But as the White House has learned in the aftermath of war in Iraq, art is a mighty weapon in the battle for hearts and minds. Lose or abuse the treasures of ancient civilizations, or fail to prevent others from doing damage, and incur a blast of international disapproval. Preserve artifacts and share the heritage of humankind, and perhaps, over time, even a foreign invader may gain respect." "The treasures have not been seen in public since the early 1990s. If media coverage accompanies the event, images will be broadcast around the world. That could turn a media circus into the most widely viewed antiquities exhibition in history. [odd phrasing] When asked whether politics played a part in coalition decision-making, Proietti laughed and assured that none were involved in the choice of Assyrian objects. [that was the only aspect of the exhibition where politics did not play a part]" "Plunder of archaeological sites is what worries Proietti most about the situation in Iraq." "[Proietti] estimates that no more than 40 'very important' objects have disappeared and the number of lesser historical treasures missing at 3,000 to 4,000." [too conservative]
Ch.E. Jones, "Pending Legislation: House Bill (2009)," in Iraqcrisis, online, June 27, 2003: quotes Dr. Patty Gerstenblith: "The Senate [1291] and House [2009] bills are entirely different." "While the scope of the materials covered in both bills is similar, the difference in how long the restrictions would last is very significant. With restrictions that will last only for a little over a year [as in Senate 1291], anyone who has looted materials will have an incentive to 'sit on it' for that time frame and then feel fairly confident that they will be able to import such materials after the year. Technically, right now, the US already bans import of objects stolen from museum and other public collections. However, the US government must establish that the object was in the collection. The concern is that given the ransacking of the museums, library, etc. it will be difficult to establish this. That is why the additional protection is needed. There is no question that the House bill (2009) is far preferable and it gives significantly greater protection to archaeological sites, as well as the other differences I've noted above." "Senators should also be contacted indicating that they should not support Senate 1291 and urging the senators to seek to amend Senate 1291 so that it tracks the House bill. Such letters can also be sent or copied to Senator Chuck Grassley [and] Senator Max Baucus"
"UNESCO to Send New Mission to Iraq to Check Cultural Heritage after Looting," in UN News Centre, June 27, 2003: "... organized in close cooperation with the United States Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and has received the personal support of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Led by Mounir Bouchenaki, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Culture, it will include eight internationally renowned experts from Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands. These specialists in museums, archives, libraries, historical monuments and archaeological sites will split into two groups for maximum effectiveness. The first group will concentrate on assessing the situation of museums, historic buildings, archives and libraries while the second is scheduled to visit archaeological sites to the north and south of Baghdad."
N. Boustany, "Digging for the Truth About Iraq Museum Toll," in Washington Post, June 27, 2003: "'I decided early in life that I was not keen on modern things, partly because of all this turmoil and upheaval around us,' said Selma Al-Radi, an Iraqi-born archaeologist who lives in New York. 'The only tranquil phase for me was the past -- gone and done with.'" "But recent revisions claiming that most missing or damaged objects have been recovered have gone to the other extreme, Al-Radi said ..." "She lived in Iraq until she was 6 years old, then the family moved to India, Iran and Lebanon. Al-Radi studied at Cambridge and later at New York University. She returned to Iraq in the early 1960s and stayed for three years, working at the Baghdad museum and on her master's. She completed her doctorate at Columbia. She has returned to Iraq a few times for work, but also to check up on her mother and aunt, and on her family's propert[ies] ..." "Al-Radi spends about eight months a year in Yemen working on the restoration of a madrassa, or Islamic school, and on a multi-domed building. She trains local artisans in old techniques ..." [I remember meeting her at the Museum in Sana'a, in 1986, if I remember correctly...]; "Al-Radi went back to Baghdad and interviewed museum employees, residents and U.S. forces to come up with one of the most detailed reconstructions of what happened between April 8, the day the museum staff locked up and went home, and April 16, when U.S. tanks finally took up position on the museum grounds. She asserts that 6,000 to 10,000 objects are missing and that a lot more were broken. Last week, a leading American archaeologist, McGuire Gibson, said 6,000 items were missing. Since then, another Iraqi-born American, Lamia Gailani, has reported that 4,800 cylinder seals, the contents of an entire room, were gone. 'No one has gone through the whole inventory, and until then, the figures are going to keep changing,' Al-Radi said. The initial report that 170,000 objects were missing was preposterous, she said, because that figure represented the number of objects in the entire collection." [why did she not mention that 170,000 is actually the total of inventory numbers, not of artifacts, the latter being 501,000? see UN Expert to Join Review of Iraq's Cultural Losses in War, May 17]; "During her lecture Sunday, she said the Iraq museum's staff 'needs better training; there are simply not enough professionals working there now.' The building, she said, needs new lighting and a totally new security system. Bogdanos, who left for Iraq Saturday for two weeks, is organizing a special exhibit at the museum. For one day, July 3, objects will be taken out of bank vaults and displayed. Marines are planning to sleep around the objects until they are returned to the vaults. Al-Radi is ecstatic about Bogdanos: 'He is one of those people you wish there were a million of.'"
H.-P. von Däniken, "«Entwarnung ist fehl am Platz». Die Plünderungen der irakischen Museen haben zahlenmässig nicht das befürchtete Ausmass. Deswegen sollte man sie nicht herunterspielen, meint ein Mesopotamienforscher aus Chicago," in Tages-Anzeiger (Switzerland), June 26, 2003: interview with Clemens Reichel: Dr. George is one of Iraq's best excavators, he could get a job at a university in lots of places, even in the US, but chose to stay at the Museum when war drew closer; the Marines supposedly did an inventory of the Museum in a weekend, that's preposterous, e.g., our museum at the Oriental Institute in Chicago has only 125,000 artifacts but would take about a year to take an inventory according to an estimate from our museum director

F. Monier, "Sur la piste des trésors irakiens. Avec l'arrivée des Américains, les musées des grandes villes irakiennes ont été pillés. La communauté internationale des conservateurs, des archéologues, des douaniers et des policiers se mobilise," in L'Express (France), June 26, 2003: the 2nd UNESCO mission leaves June 27, this time focusing on the National Library; the 1st estimate of missing artifacts at the National Museum was 80,000, now it's set at 10,000

Photo: "© Scala, Musée du Louvre / RMN - Une statue sumérienne en albâtre (vers 2400 av. J.-C.), de la collection du Musée archéologique de Bagdad et une tablette d'argile gravée de caractères cunéiformes, (IIe millénaire av. J.-C.)." [Alabaster Sumerian sculpture (ca. 2,400 BC) from the collection of the archaeological Museum in Baghdad, and a clay tablet inscribed with cuneiform characters (2nd mill. BC)]

N. Osman, "Kurds Arrest 3 Smugglers with Artefacts from Museum," in KurdishMedia.com, online, June 25, 2003: "The Kurdish security forces (Asayish) arrested three Iraqi Arab men for attempting to sell 28 artefacts from the Iraqi Museum to a group of Iranian smugglers." "On [sic] a separate development, an Iranian asylum seeker told KurdishMedia.com that there are over 300 artefacts in a village on the Iranian border, all stolen from the Iraqi Museum." "The [Iraqi] Law number 313 of 1984, which identifies the entire Iranian people as an enemy, states, 'The punishment will be death by hanging for anyone who smuggles Iraqi currencies, hard currencies or gold to the Persian enemy.' Therefore under the Iraqi Panel Code the punishment for smuggling to Iran could be death penalty."
M. Garen, "Looting Continues at Archaeological Sites around Iraq," in Baghdad Bulletin, online, June 24, 2003: "Whether positioning troops at Babylon and Ur was intentional or just a convenient location on the road to Baghdad is not clear." [Ur is the site of an originally British and then Iraqi military base]; "Austrian archaeologist Helga Trankwalder lamented that for first time in thirty years she was prevented from going into Babylon by Marines stationed at the gate." "It is clear the coalition forces would like to see this issue disappear. Italian Ambassador Pietro Cordone, the newly appointed Iraqi Cultural Minister, has been avoiding a press eager for answers. In response to a request for an interview, the Ambassador's office said that Ambassador Cordone did not wish to speak about the looting, but would be happy to talk about the future."
M. Toner, "Holy Land Turmoil Puts Cultural Heritage at Risk. War Imperils Evidence of Historic Land Claims," in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 24, 2003: "'The Palestinian Authority is not in any position to protect or maintain cultural heritage sites in the West Bank, and the situation is just dreadful,' Palestinian archaeologist Adel Yahya told the World Archaeological Congress on Monday in Washington." "For both sides, archaeological sites are not just casualties of the conflict, but in some cases provide each side's justification for it. ... When conducted by European researchers, the excavations emphasized the long-standing Christian presence in the region. For the last 50 years, excavations have been mostly under Israeli supervision and have tended to support Jewish claims to the Holy Land. ... But some Palestinians claim that their ancestors -- as possible descendants of the Philistines and the ancient Canaanites -- predate the Israelites by a thousand years." "As once-protected archaeological sites have been abandoned, Yahya said they have become increasingly vulnerable to looters. 'The intifada also resulted in a rapid erosion of the economic base of the Palestinian area,' she said. 'Many Palestinians, especially in rural areas, resorted to the most desperate and destructive practices of vandalizing archaeological sites and selling finds in the Israeli antiquities market.'" [the fact that Israel has a rather hands-off legal approach to the antiquities trade doesn't help either]
E. Méténier, "The Fate of Iraqi Libraries: What Has Happened & What Can Be Done," in Melcom International 25th Annual Conference in Beirut, May 26-28, 2003, [June 24, 2003]: updated through June 11; "The two main problems we are facing are that we do not have a precise assessment of what has been lost, since the listing and indexation of library collections was, before the war, quite deficient in most of the Iraqi libraries, and we have hardly any access to information about the real situation on the ground." "... damage affecting libraries and archives does not receive the same media coverage as that affecting the museum and antiquities ... [due to the lack of] emblematic pictures that speak to everybody’s mind, ... [and since they are] Islamic manuscripts and Arabic books ... they are not likewise identified as universal works of art, ..." "This leads us to another problem, concerning not necessarily the lack of investigations, but their failure to produce information [concerning the libraries] - at least, information available to us and to the general public." "Maybe the first thing everybody can do, ... to be vigilant and organize networks monitoring the secret marketing of books and manuscripts." "The second thing to do is to reestablish contacts with our Iraqi colleagues ..." "But why not think about organizing a new collection of archives related to Iraqi history? ... To gather archival materials about Iraq, teams should be sent to Turkey, Iran, Britain, France, India, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, USA, all the Arab countries, etc. It would be a huge task, mobilizing forces for many years, but for sure the result would be extraordinary at the end, and the only means for Iraq to recover part of the available materials documenting its past." "Maybe the best solution would be to establish an international committee, associating Iraqi and high-level foreign librarians, to coordinate and organize [book donation] projects."
T. Susman, "Buried Treasures. Thirteen Years Ago, With War Looming, an Iraqi Museum Official Took Drastic Precautions to Preserve the Precious Artifacts in His Care. He Hid Them in a Vault under Baghdad," in Newsday (New York), June 23, 2003: "... the collection from the Assyrian city of Nimrud, including a gold crown and jewelry worn by Assyrian royalty, and carved ivory plaques. Never seen outside of Iraq, and displayed only briefly in Baghdad after being unearthed by Iraqi archaeologists in the late 1980s, the collection was scheduled to tour the United States in 1991. ... [Dr.] George, though, had second thoughts. Fearing wartime plunder, he packed the Nimrud collection and other treasures in boxes, sealed them inside crates, and had them locked in a vault beneath the Central Bank ... for safekeeping. The tour was canceled, and the works remained hidden for 13 years, ..." "... Steve Mocsary, a U.S. Customs agent ... led the painstaking search through museum inventories that led to the buried treasures. Those records indicated that most things had been stashed away as far back as 1990, and as recently as the days before the United States began bombing Baghdad in March. In addition to the bank vault, items were placed in a bomb shelter and in a hidden storage spot within the museum. According to George, only a trusted few knew where they were. They included the director of the Central Bank, who held a key to the vault. By the time Baghdad fell, most of the museum collection was in safekeeping, some of it even hidden in homes of museum employees to keep it from thieves." "According to George, the flooding was intentional, a masterpiece of engineering designed to protect vault contents by pouring water into the cavity in case of major impacts caused by such things as earthquakes or bombs." "One by one, the items, including a solid gold crown decorated with clusters of grapes made from carnelian, 2-pound gold anklets worn by kings and queens, and a golden pitcher holding water from the flood, were picked up and examined for damage. There was none, not even to the pitcher."
P. Michalowski, "The Looting of Iraq Goes On," in History News Network, online, June 23, 2003: "No one is served by understating the extent of the damage or by politicizing the issue. U.S. and Iraqi authorities are now hard at work compiling inventories, making repairs, and planning for the reconstitution of the Antiquities Service. This work is being hindered by media reports that question the integrity of members of the museum staff. These are serious accusations that should not be made lightly; no substantiation of these claims has been provided to date, and it is simply irresponsible to repeat them as if they were facts. Archaeologists who have worked with these people have nothing but the highest regard for the leaders of the museum, and they must be allowed to proceed with their recovery work for the present."
D. D'Arcy, "Archaeologists Cite Threat to Antiquities Beyond Iraq," in Morning Edition (NPR), with online audio, June 23, 2003: report on the World Archaeological Congress in Washington, DC; archaeologists stress that while looting is rampant in Iraq, similar destruction is occurring at museums and excavation sites around the world, including China, Guatemala and Afghanistan
M. Toner, "Postwar Chaos Disguises Extent of Museum Losses," in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 23, 2003: "... New York University archaeologist Selma al-Radi says the ransacking of the Baghdad museum still ranks as 'a major cultural disaster.' Still missing [is] ... the museum's entire collection of nearly 5,000 clay cylinder seals, small, easily transportable artifacts." "'Every day the numbers change,' al-Radi told the World Archaeological Congress in Washington. 'It's going to be a very long time before we know for sure what's missing.' But al-Radi, who has just returned from a UNESCO fact-finding mission to Iraq, says it isn't the number of missing artifacts that disturbs archaeologists. 'If the Mona Lisa were missing, it wouldn't matter that it was only one object. And some of the objects taken are in that category.'"
"Informations-Pool. Die Kulturgüter des Iraks auf dem Netz," in Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), June 21, 2003: considering the confusion about the extent of the losses at the National Museum, it is more than ever imperative that there's one place to go for authoritative information; the University of Chicago is trying to fulfill this need but the server hosting www.iraqlostheritage.org is already succumbing under the traffic load; let's hope that this theoretically good idea doesn't get defeated by practical limitations, that would be highly ironical, esp. for the high-tech US
"Oberlin Professor Helps Search for Stolen Iraqi Items," in Dayton Daily News (Ohio), June 21, 2003: "The State Department turned to [Yasser] Tabbaa because is an expert in Islamic art and architecture and has visited and photographed collections in the great museums in that part of the world. ... has more than 25,000 slides depicting works in those collections in his office." "Born in Saudi Arabia, Tabbaa spent two years in Iraq from 1973-1974 to study the conservation of cultural property. It was the first of 10 visits to the country. He visited various Iraqi archaeological sites and studied Islamic architecture while collecting Mesopotamian art. [now what exactly does the journalist mean by "while collecting Mesopotamian art" as it was illegal to export?]"
G. Gugliotta, "Looters Stole 6,000 Artifacts. Number Expected to Rise as Officials Take Inventory in Iraq," in Washington Post, June 21, 2003: "... McGuire Gibson said the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement told him June 13 that the official count of missing items had reached 6,000 and was climbing as museum and Customs investigators proceeded with an inventory of three looted storerooms. ... Gibson suggested the final tally could be 'far, far worse.' Customs could not immediately obtain an updated report, a spokesman said." "Gibson said looters sacked two ground-floor storerooms and broke into a third in the basement. Two other storerooms appear to have been untouched. Gibson noted that there are 'thousands of things that are broken' but not listed as missing." "'Like any museum, the display collection is an iceberg,' Gibson said. 'Because this is an archaeological museum, there's a huge amount of stuff that's important to the sites themselves and to researchers, but never goes on display.'" "Both ground-floor storerooms had been looted, Gibson said. One housed the study collection, while the other held shelved artifacts and about 10 steel trunks containing as-yet unnumbered material from recent digs. All the trunks had been opened and emptied, Gibson said. Two basement storerooms appeared to be untouched, including one containing most of the museum's priceless collection of cuneiform tablets, Gibson said. The third had been breached, however, and contained 'some of the most important stuff in the museum, including pottery and ivory inlays,' he added."
E. Robson, "UK Government Response to UNSCR 1483," in Iraqcrisis, online, June 20, 2003: "... the UK government tabled an Order In Council (for which no consultation or primary legislation was necessary) to implement [UN] Security Council Resolution 1483." "... much stronger than required by the resolution. It is now illegal in the UK to import, export, sell, own, or handle Iraqi cultural heritage property taken from Iraq since 6 August 1990. The burden of proof of legal provenance is on the holder of the property, not the prosecuting authority. Officials from the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, advise us that the threshold of prosecution nevertheless remains high. The full text of the relevant legislation" is included
P. Dittmar, "Der schweigsame Mr. George. Die Mitarbeiter fordern die Entlassung des Direktors des Irak-Museums. Und immer mehr vermisste Stücke kehren zurück," in Die Welt, June 20, 2003: 130 out of the 180 Museum staff signed the petition to oust Museum Director [sic] Dr. George, said that much of the thefts was an inside job, museum staff returning artifacts from safekeeping at home was just a ruse; overall, the writer makes the mistake of assuming that the US military was not aware untill recently of much of the collection having been stored for safekeeping off-site: this is not true, see Robson June 18, esp. Capt. Sumner's e-mail
L. Harding, "Battle to Save Afghanistan's Shattered Heritage. The International Community's Indifference Is Hampering Efforts to Undo the Vandalism of the Taliban Regime," in The Guardian (UK), June 19, 2003: cautionary tale from Afghanistan, the previous country invaded by the US: "Since US-led forces evicted the Taliban from Afghanistan 18 months ago, the international community has done little to help the government of Hamid Karzai restore the museum or get back thousands of artefacts looted from Afghanistan over the previous decade. Most of the museum's best pieces were stolen in the early 1990s - before the iconoclastic Taliban arrived - by rival mojahedin groups fighting for control of the Afghan capital. In February 2001 the Taliban destroyed much of what was left of the collection. ... In recent months museum workers have begun sorting through 2,000 statue fragments. 'The Taliban wanted to keep secret what they had done. They told us to collect the pieces and lock them in a room,' said Shairazuddin Saifi, ..." "Louise Haxthausen, a specialist with the UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, in Kabul said: 'I'm totally frustrated. We are now more than one and a half years after the fall of the Taliban and virtually nothing has been done. We had expected the international community to come up with more funds.' There is continuing uncertainty over the fate of the museum's two most prized exhibits, the Bactrian treasures and the Bagram ivories." "Unauthorised excavation is continuing across Afghanistan's numerous archaeological sites, carried out by professional gangs supported by local warlords." "Restoration work has also begun on the two giant Buddha statues in the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan, which were blown up by the Taliban. There are no plans to rebuild them but attempts are being made to consolidate the niches where the Buddhas stood for 1,500 years and to restore the few surviving murals in the surrounding caves."
N. El-Aref, "Heritage for Auction. Ancient Egyptian Artefacts Come Under the Hammer Despite Egyptian Efforts to Obtain Their Return," in Al-Ahram Weekly (Egypt), June 19, 2003: "[Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, head of antiquities for southern Egypt,] added that, in order to protect Egypt's heritage, a data base of all Egyptian artefacts, whether currently on exhibition in museums or in storage, is being compiled. This will act as an identification card for every artefact, as well as providing an overall view of the extent of the collection. 'This project will be completed with the next four years and we expect to cooperate with all archaeological institutes and missions in Egypt. These will provide comprehensive data and information about excavations and restoration work as well as the objects which have been unearthed,' Maqsoud said." [talk about a gigantic project!]
H. Dunphy, "U.N. to Host Iraq Rebuilding Conference," in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 19, 2003: "In another development the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee introduced legislation Thursday to close a loophole that could allow looted Iraqi antiquities to be brought into the United States. It gives the president emergency authority to restrict the importation of cultural antiquities, such as archaeological, cultural and other historical items. It would be lifted one year after relations with Iraq are normalized. 'This is an important signal of our commitment to preserving Iraq's resources for the benefit of the Iraqi people,' said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa." [it looks like this is much less comprehensive than HR 2009 in the US House: the import restrictions are only for 1 year; definitions are inadequate to cover all of the materials looted from the libraries and archives; does not fulfill US obligations under the UN Security Council Resolution]
D. Cruickshank, "We Know Something Bad Happened at the Baghdad Museum. But What?," in The Guardian (UK), June 19, 2003: "But now the waters are being muddied, and old reports and information are being recycled, creating confusion. ... Nobody is disputing that many things have gone missing, but the questions are, who took them, and when? ... Along with the many smaller items, it's very possible that the 6,000 to 10,000 figure that Robson cites may be accurate. But as the five museum storerooms have been examined more thoroughly in recent weeks, they have turned out not to have been ransacked." [come on, this is nonsense! see for instance the photo accompanying Lemonick April 22 and ]; "Furthermore, many of the 33 major pieces supposedly taken from the galleries are extremely valuable, and very small - prime candidates for being put into storage pre-war. So why hadn't they? [did he ask the Museum staff?] That led me to conclude that, quite possibly, they had disappeared some time ago."; "... I went to the place where 4,000 manuscripts [in his June 9 article, he talks about 40,000: what's it going to be? also, I've already pointed out at the time that these manuscripts didn't belong to the National Museum but were actually the Saddam House of Manuscripts collection; Mr. Cruickshank really needs to do his research!] were being stored and the people there said they did not want to return them - they did not trust the Baathists at the museum. [see the June 9 article for my remarks] As well as adding to the confusion over the looting, Robson repeats as fact the claim that the bunkers in the museum grounds were purely defensive, but that's one of the things that is under dispute. [I don't get this: is he saying that they were offensive?!?] The Americans claim there were 150 Iraqi soldiers there, and that the bunkers were fighting positions - and they cited evidence for this. [no matter, the skirmish didn't last very long and the outcome was never in doubt] Pretending that this question is settled is a very significant sleight of hand. [I haven't heard the US military people stress this very much lately either, so why is Mr. Cruickshank so insistent about this? anyway, after the skirmish was over, the US military chose not to protect the Museum for several days, that was their mistake] ... That said, I'm quite prepared to believe that the museum heads are victims, not villains - that they are being terrorised by high-ranking former Baathists who are threatening to kill them if they say what really happened. [new theory, interesting; at least not as black-and-white as before] But, for now, great caution must be exercised before the museum is handed back to them: there are so many inconsistencies, and they are tainted by being members of a foul regime [good luck on finding any mid-level or higher archaeologists or cultural-heritage officials in Iraq who were not Ba'ath party members], even if they weren't themselves foul members of it. [the problem is a practical one: who else would be able to get the Museum back on its feet in a short time? low-level staff most likely don't have the necessary experience and training, and any foreigners, apart from not having access to any of the institutional memory (the non-ideological, non-political part, of course), would face all kinds of obstacles, even from the Museum staff that are now complaining] Emotionally, it may be impossible for them to reconcile what has actually happened with anything that it would be acceptable to say now. [there may be some truth in that] Part of the museum is due to reopen on July 3, and I am very alarmed about that. Are these artefacts safe? Really? [I think this is overblown under the current circumstances, what with US soldiers billeted in the Museum compound] What we need now is to discover the truth. We need to know what really happened. An attempt to patch over the cracks - to smooth things over for George and his chums - is exactly what we don't need here." [I can follow this line of reasoning up to a certain point; however, we need to consider what's most important for Iraq and its heritage: that the Museum and the Department of Antiquities are resurrected to again at full strength fulfill their very much needed tasks; Mr. Cordone (CPA) has, it seems, taken this to heart and, after a first investigation did not turn up a smoking gun, concluded that it is nigh impossible to get beyond hearsay, some inconsistencies, internal score-settling and cultural issues, so he has cleared Dr. George and other senior staff; CPA's focus now seems to be on the future of the Museum][see also Cruickshank May 8, 2005]
E. Robson, "Iraq's Museums: What Really Happened. The Truth Behind the Sacking of a Cultural Heritage Is Far Less Colourful Than the Allegations of Corruption and Cover-Up," in The Guardian (UK), June 18, 2003: "The arguments have raged these past two weeks as accusations of corruption, incompetence and cover-ups have flown around. Most notably, Dan Cruickshank's BBC film Raiders of the Lost Art insinuated that the staff had grossly misled the military and the press over the extent of the losses, been involved with the looting themselves, allowed the museum to be used as a military position, and had perhaps even harboured Saddam Hussein. ... Two months ago, I compared the demolition of Iraq's cultural heritage with the Mongol sacking of Baghdad in 1258, and the 5th-century destruction of the library of Alexandria. On reflection, that wasn't a bad assessment of the present state of Iraq's cultural infrastructure. Millions of books have been burned, thousands of manuscripts and archaeological artefacts stolen or destroyed, ancient cities ransacked, universities trashed. ... Early in April, Dr John Curtis, ... described a recent visit to Baghdad during which the museum staff were sandbagging objects too big to be moved, packing away smaller exhibits, and debating 'the possibility of using bank vaults and bunkers if the worst came'. ... the US Civil Affairs Brigade in Kuwait was also trying from April 12 to get the museum protected. They already knew that its most valuable holdings were in vaults of the recently bombed Central Bank. ... it took until April 21 for Civil Affairs to arrive. Captain William Sumner wrote to me that day: 'It seems that most of the museum's artefacts had been moved to other locations, but the ones that were looted were 'staged' at an area so that they would be easier to access. It was a very professional action. The spare looting you saw on the news were the excess people who came in to pick over what was left.' In other words, there was no cover-up: the military were informed immediately that the evacuation procedures had been effective. Suspicions remained that a single staff member may have assisted the core looters. But, Sumner says: 'It might have been one of the grounds people, or anybody. I suspect that we will never know.' ... George to travel to London. At a press conference he circulated a list of some 25 smashed and stolen objects which the curators had been unable to move from the public galleries before the war. They included the now famous Warka vase, which had been cemented in place. Last week it was returned in pieces. Other losses came from the corridor where objects were waiting to be moved off-site. George was understandably reluctant to reveal the location of the off-site storage to the Civil Affairs Brigade as security was still non-existent. Inventories of the badly vandalised storerooms finally began after the catalogues were pieced together from the debris of the ransacked offices. Dr John Russell, ... noted that most of the objects that had been returned since the looting 'were forgeries and reproductions'. Other losses, he reported, included some 2,000 finds from last season's excavations at sites in central Iraq. ... Expert assessors in Vienna last week estimated the losses from the museum storerooms at between 6,000 and 10,000." "It will take years of large-scale international assistance and delicate diplomacy to return the Iraq Museum to functionality. The process is deeply charged with the politics of occupation and post-Ba'athist reaction. The Civil Affairs officers are discover ing that senior staff are not necessarily enamoured of the American way, while junior staff are testing their newfound freedom to complain about their bosses. One insider commented: 'George might make them work instead of read papers. And that is what all the fuss is about.' The British School of Archaeology in Iraq and the British Museum now have staff working in the Iraq Museum, while other organisations worldwide are fundraising." [see also Cruickshank June 19, 2003]
"Swiss Deal Blow to Art Traffickers. Parliament Has Finally Decided That Switzerland Should No Longer Constitute a Safe Haven for Art Traffickers," in swissinfo/Swiss Radio International, June 17, 2003: "The House of Representatives has approved legislation that brings Switzerland into line with the 1970 Unesco Convention against cultural goods trafficking. Parliament decided on Tuesday to extend the timeframe for reclaiming stolen works of art to 30 years from the current five years enshrined in Swiss law. ... Until now, Swiss law has treated cultural goods no differently to ordinary merchandise. With the new legislation, which has taken over ten years to be approved, the laundering of stolen artworks should also disappear. A small minority in parliament fought in vain to keep the statute of limitations down to 20 years. 'We have to defend the interests of art dealers,' said Theophil Pfister of the rightwing People’s Party." "Those who buy stolen art in good faith will receive compensation, but only the equivalent of what they paid for the object. The House chose not to indemnify beyond this limit, wishing to avoid any speculation based on market value." "Art trafficking could lead to sentences of up to two years in jail and fines of up to SFr200,000 ($153,000). Dealers and auction houses that fail to carry out due diligence checks or who hinder investigations can expect fines of up to SFr20,000. The new law should go into effect in 2004."

M. Memmott, "Iraqi Museum to Repair Broken 5,000-Year-Old Vase," in USA Today, June 17, 2003: "At first glance, it appears to have been seriously damaged. It is in pieces — one large section and a half dozen or more smaller ones. But Ahmed Kamel, the museum's acting director general, said the vase is in no worse shape than when it was discovered by German archaeologists in 1940, ... 'It was in pieces then, and we restored it,' he said. 'Now the looters have broken it again, but it can be repaired.'" "In fact, Kamel said, 'less than 1,000 things are missing or were damaged.' [how can he possibly give such a low number?!? I hope he's a better judge of the condition of the vase] ... Nonetheless, [Dr. MacGuire] Gibson, who ... is in contact with U.S. Customs officials on recovery efforts, said the number of missing or destroyed items is much higher. As of Friday, 'the full tally by U.S. Customs officials is 6,000 items — and growing,' he said."

Photo: "The 3-foot-tall, Warka Vase is in pieces after being stolen during looting. By Michael Madrid, USA TODAY" [1-21-04: an error seems to have crept in here, I have good reason to believe that the photo was taken by Dr. Zainab Bahrani]

"Returned Vase, Legacy," in The Contra Costa Times (California), June 17, 2003: "Considered by many to be Iraq's 'Mona Lisa,' the return of the 5,000-year-old limestone vase to authorities is certainly good news. However, it does not mean that the destruction that occurred in the museum is anywhere near being repaired. ... Estimates that more than 3,000 museum items were stolen is a fact that cannot be easily dismissed. It is tragic that coalition forces were never given orders to protect the museum and its rich heritage when entering Baghdad. That mistake cannot be undone. But the damage from the error must be rectified. Concerns that looters had ties to Saddam Hussein must be put aside, and the focus must be on restoring the museum, the records of the region's history; the records of civilization's beginnings. The no-questions-asked amnesty program must be better publicized, and there must be an increased commitment to seriously and swiftly punish any dealers or collectors who purchase any stolen items."
R. McCarthy, "Staff Revolt at Baghdad Museum," in The Guardian (UK), June 17, 2003: "More than 130 of the 185 staff of Iraq's state board of antiquities office in Baghdad, which runs the museum, have signed a petition demanding the resignation of its directors. Staff said they believed that some of the thefts from the museum were an inside job. They also accused Dony George, the board's head of research, of arming them and ordering them to fight US forces. Mr George admitted to the Guardian that he armed staff but denied instructing them to shoot US troops. He said none of the directors had a hand in the looting. ... One employee said: 'We want elections for new directors and we want an investigation into what happened at the museum.' US military investigators have discovered that the keys from a director's safe went missing and have never been found. Several employees said they found secure doors leading into the building unlocked but not broken after the first days of looting. A wall which concealed a secret entrance to underground store rooms, which only a handful of senior officials knew about, had been knocked down. Staff also described how Mr George gathered employees in the museum for a meeting in the early days of the war at which he ordered them to fight US troops or face the sack. One employee who was present at the meeting said: 'He <Mr George> said: 'If the Americans come you have to fight.' They never mentioned thieves once.' Missiles destroyed a building opposite the museum during the war. Staff said Mr George ordered them to fire at US aircraft or parachutists. Mr George, who has worked for the board for 26 years and is known internationally, admitted he had been at the meeting and that guns were distributed but said he told staff only to guard the museum against looters. 'They were given strict orders they were here to protect the museum from any kind of looting that might happen,' he said. 'They would never fight or shoot against any kind of tank or helicopter because it would be suicide.' He said he had been a member of the Ba'ath party, but not a senior one. Refusal to join, he said, would have meant 'troubles in my position here <at the museum> and at home'. A spokesperson for the US-led coalition provisional authority (CPA), which is running Iraq, said Mr George's Ba'ath party membership had been investigated and he had been cleared. 'All other allegations are just hearsay,' the spokesperson said. Elections have been organised by the CPA in the ministry of culture, which oversees the museum, to choose new directors. But staff from the antiquities board are unlikely to take part. 'It is not the way it works,' the spokesperson said." [for one previous instance of staff revolting, see Campbell May 11]
"Militärlager Babylon. Der Schutz der Kulturstätten im Irak lässt zu wünschen übrig, zeigt eine Reportage," in Die Presse (Austria), June 16, 2003: US soldiers in Hatra asked Austrian TV journalist Monika Ladurner what kind of a nincompoop she was to travel hundreds of kilometers though the desert just to see a heap of stones

C. Reichel, "Re: Fwd: Re: [ANE] Warka Vase Found But Damaged?," in Iraqcrisis, online, June 16, 2003: "As you can see, the top register [is] as well as the base are both
missing. Currently I have no further information on this than what you can see in this photo. Harriet Martin's message from Friday suggests that at least some or all of the broken missing pieces may be accounted for, but the [vase] was certainly [~~vase~~] not returned 'undamaged'."

Photo 1: "n.b.: the black-and-white photo of the vase has been taken from E. Strommenger's F=FCnf [sic] Jahrtausende Mesopotamien (1962. Munich: Hirmer Verlag). See http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/14.htm for proper citation and copyright information"

Photo 2: "Warka Vase as recovered (6/12/03) - • copyright for image : (via McGuire Gibson; source withheld upon request)"

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).