The Iraq War & Archaeology Archive 67

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.

J.E. Kaufman, "US colonel to lead antiquities anti-theft unit. Bogdanos attacks 'cozy cabal of academics, dealers and collectors' who ignore provenance," in The Art Newspaper (UK), January 13, 2006: "Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan district attorney, is to establish the city’s first task force 'dedicated to investigating and prosecuting antiquities theft and trafficking' according to Matthew Bogdanos, the lawyer who is to head the unit."

B. Padden, "Historic Iraqi City Hopes To Become Tourist Destination," in Voice of America, with online video, January 11, 2006: "Kanan Mufti, director for antiquities in the western Kurdish region, ... 'In my opinion Irbil and the citadel will become a center of cultural and intellectual exchange among different people, and not only for intellectuals and tourists but also for archeologists.' In the future, he adds, he hopes to relocate the refugees and restore the citadel's historic prominence."

Photo: "Kanan Mufti"

S. Ali, "One Morning In Baghdad...," in Countercurrents (India), online, January 10, 2006: "I walked towards the Iraqi National Museum. There was a big banner with Al-Hakeem's (the head of the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution party) picture hanging above a big poorly repaired hole in the Museum entrance arch created by a grenade during the American invasion of Baghdad. Many other banners were hanging on the destroyed statue in the Museum square."
"New Equipment for Iraqi Archeologists," in NewsBlaze, online, [January 10, 2006]: "Thanks to MultiNational Division Central-South, in the beginning of 2006, the archaeology department of the University in Ad Diwaniyah city received 25 computers and a satellite internet server. Equipment was provided to laboratories including measurement apparatus and a power generator. Around one hundred Iraqi archeology students will benefit from this project. In previous projects, Polish soldiers supported Iraqi archeology police responsible for protecting historical monuments. They provided special containers, patrol cars, communication devices and equipment to secure archeological places. Since the beginning of the mission in Iraq, MNDCS soldiers completed about 100 projects to protect Iraq's historical monuments."
M. Jansen, "Remarks by Mrs Michael Jansen at the Launch of Her Book 'War and Cultural Heritage: Cyprus After the 1974 Turkish Invasion' at the Cultural Centre of the Laiki Group in Nicosia," in The Hellenic News of America, online, [January 10, 2006]: "Since US and British troops crossed into Iraq from Kuwait in March 2003, antiquities thieves have been at work at known and unexcavated sites stripping away entire episodes in the story of Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilisation, and destroying the relics of other cultures and peoples that flourished in that ancient land. I accompanied the UNESCO mission which went to Iraq in May 2003 to investigate the looting of the Iraq Museum and have followed up on developments during subsequent visits. I included my findings in an introductory chapter in the book. There is also a preface about looting written by Selma al-Radi, an Iraqi archaeologist who took part in excavations in Cyprus and was a member of the UNESCO mission."
R. Piñeiro, "Response to Sarah Collins," in Iraqcrisis, online, January 3, 2006: "Col Bogdanos asked me to post this response to the recent posting by Ms. Collins: ... While I strongly believe that this is an inappropriate forum for this discussion--and I am saddened that it was posted--I have no choice but to reply, factually and dispassionately. [hmmm...] ... I did not know that Ms. Collins is not a trained conservator. I'll correct that in the next edition. As for the remainder of the book, every word I wrote is factually accurate." [is that a challenge?]; "I have no doubt that Ms. Collins does not remember the dozen times we met. Of course, that proves the point I was making in the book rather well. Moreover, except for about two weeks, I was living at the museum during her entire tenure in Baghdad--before, during, and after. As for her relationship with Dr. Nawala, I saw it from Dr. Nawala's perspective, and I often consoled Dr. Nawala for how she was treated by the international visitors--Ms. Collins foremost among them. (Because I had already made my point, I chose to leave that part out of the book.)" [hmmm...]; "As for 'gate-crashing' the RA at the British Museum, I thought it might be a good idea to present the facts to the assembled crowd. Apparently, so did Neil McGregor who graciously invited me to speak. At that point in time, facts were in short supply--though hyperbole and invective were not." [hmmm...] "I am sorry that Ms. Collins is offended [hmmm...], but I wrote what I saw and heard. I am also sorry she chose to use the word 'slander' in her posting -- itself a defamatory comment. Any additional comments on this topic should take place in a court of law." [hmmm...; see also Kennicott January 22, 2006]
S. Collins, "Comment on 'Thieves of Baghdad,'" in Iraqcrisis, online, January 3, 2006: "In his book 'Thieves of Baghdad' Colonel Bogdanos has slandered me. ... there is much which is misleading in his book. However just for the record I shall comment on the following passage as I would hate for anyone who knows me, especially the Iraqi museum staff, to think it was true. P.155 - 'Twenty years later there were still those who seemed to think that everyone in the military is a Neanderthal. Sarah Collins, a British Museum conservator, came to Baghdad to do her duty- I will give her credit for that. But I could be speaking to someone and she would come up and without so much as a 'How d'you do' interrupt and start talking to that person. Haughty arrogance would have been an improvement. In fact, she treated me as if I didn't exist. She could never accept that we (the military) had done anything positive. But it was her treatment of Newalla that really bothered me. On one occasion she asked why I didn't just get rid of her. 'She's not mine to get rid of' I replied[.]' Either he is getting me confused with someone else or he is using me as a scapegoat while striving in the book to show that he alone was a friend of the Iraq Museum staff. Bogdanos left Iraq the day that I arrived in early June, I saw him at Baghdad airport the morning I arrived but we didn't actually speak until he returned for the brief showing of the Nimrud gold on July 3rd. By that time I had been working with Dr. Nawalla for several weeks and we had been getting on well. I hope for this and various other reasons that she never reads his book. Much more to the point, I would not have said that because I knew very well that the military and occupying forces did not have the powers to do such things as make changes to staff and I strongly believed in that. I would never have asked a marine reservist to 'get rid of' one of the people that I had gone there to help. Bogdanos left again a few days after the showing of the gold to fly to London. He had asked me about the R.A.I. happening from the 7th and, as I could see that his intention was to gatecrash it, I told him to contact Dr. Curtis beforehand and in order to help with that I gave him my card, he did know that I am not a conservator. I left Iraq on the last day of August and he had not returned by then. I'm not sure when any of the above was supposed to have taken place and, by the way I was not in Iraq to do my 'duty' I genuinely want[ed] to help the Iraqis." [Arabic-speaking Sarah Collins is assistant keeper (term similar to "curator") of the Ancient Near East at the British Museum in London (UK); see also Piñeiro January 3]
S. al-Jaberi, "Police seize artifacts stolen from Iraq Museum," in Azzaman (Iraq), January 3, 2006: "Iraqi border police have seized 174 archaeological pieces which were looted form the Iraq Museum, a police source said. The source, refusing to be named, said the artifacts were seized in southern Iraq as the smugglers were trying to take them out of the country. 'Seven suspects have been apprehended and they have already admitted that they intended to smuggle the pieces to a foreign country,' the source added." [but see al-Jaberi February 3]; "Antiquities experts who studied the seized artifacts say they were part of the possessions of the Iraq Museum which were looted shortly after the 20[0]3 U.S.-led invasion. 'They are precious pieces as they include ancient silver ornaments such bracelets, rings, chains as well as other precious stone decorations,' the source said."
C. Barnes, "Matthew Bogdanos: Tracking Antiquities," in Humanities, January-February 2006: "Yet, more than ten thousand treasures [from the National Museum in Baghdad] are still missing, vanished behind a veil of money and mystery that is the black market. ... 'Don't call them collectors,' he says. 'Call them what they are. Criminals. You should not assume that the people who are doing this are doing it because of an appreciation for art. Because before you're willing to spend forty million dollars for an item that you can never publicly acknowledge owning or ever publicly exhibit, you are going to get it authenticated and when you get it authenticated you are going to get it authenticated by a name, not a grad student. Someone who's written an article on this piece. Someone who's written a book. Someone who's head of an institute, someone who's department head at a university, or a museum. And there are, sadly, no shortage of those people.'"

1-1-06 (photo: Iraqi landscape, by Mathieu Ossendrijver)

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).