at Khinnis/Bavian
May 14, 2006 Francis Deblauwe IW&A Documents, 9
The northern Iraqi archaeological site usually called Bavian forms the
source of a Neo-Assyrian canal/aquaduct system built for Nineveh by Sennacherib
(704-681 BC). Bavian is the name of a nearby town; the site is better named
after the closer village of Khinnis* and is situated about 50 km northeast
of Nineveh. The place is decorated—or should I say monumentalized—with reliefs
on the cliffs where the Gomel river** passes through a gorge. From the
cuneiform inscriptions accompanying the reliefs we learn that the construction
of the canal was finished in 690 BC. Sennacherib also boasted about his
thorough destruction of Babylon (in 689 BC) after a rebellion...
Mesopotamian archaeologists and Assyriologists are especially concerned with
this site at this time because of a recent Iraq trip by members of the Assyrian
Academic Society (a Chicago-based Assyrian Christian cultural organization).
One of the participants, Firas Jatou, alerted Dr. McGuire Gibson (University
of Chicago) about problems with the site. The photos he made during his April
8 visit I include on the left in the illustration section below. On the right
side are then shown old pictures, paired as much as possible with Jatou's
photos. The large, main relief cut out of the cliff consists of king
Sennacherib (fig. 3) shown twice, offering before the gods Ashur and Enlil.
The big holes are, as you see in the century-and-a-half-old drawing in fig.
3bis, not of recent date. However, the damage to the left-side king Sennacherib
of the main relief is very recent: the area around his nose has been erased
(see fig. 3). There are also numerous niches with relief carvings and/or
cuneiform inscriptions spread out over the site (figs. 4-6a). Finally, a huge
block rests in the river itself displaying lamassus, kings and more (figs. 7-
7quater).
According to Jatou, the local mayor is planning to have a construction company
use dynamite to make caves in the cliffs in order to shelter tourists from the
sun. Needless to say, this type of "valorization" of the site is ill conceived.
The shock waves from the explosions will cause damage to the reliefs. Also, it
appears that the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage (SBAH) did not only not
approve these plans but was not even consulted. By the way, the site is located
in Nineveh province and not in one of the Kurdish provinces as could be
mistakingly concluded from Jones 2006a. As shown for instance in figure 2, the
main relief can currently too easily be accessed. Jatou also saw tourists chip
off pieces of the carvings to take home as souvenirs. Natural damage and human
carelessness and "souvenir taking" combine to degrade the reliefs (see for
instance the bullet hole in fig. 8). Anyway, the SBAH is looking into the matter
right now and will hopefully be able to convince the local authorities of more
responsible methods: fencing, awnings, some order and organization perhaps.
Maybe some of the damage already done can be repaired. After all, an attractive
tourist spot as well as invaluable heritage site should be preserved as well as
possible, that much all should be able to agree upon.
