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| Iraqi Cultural Heritage in Peril |
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Egypt and Mesopotamia are two of the earliest centres of agriculture and state formation in the world,
comparable with each other on many levels, together they constitute the crucible where civilisation was forged.
Mesopotamia lies between the twin rivers of the Tigris and Euphrates, and saw the rise of the ancient civilisations
of Sumer in the South, Akkadia in the centre and Assyria in the north. The inheritors of those great civilisations
are the Iraqi people, whose country’s borders roughly equate with those of ancient Mesopotamia. Like Egypt,
Iraq has around 500,000 sites and monuments ranging from the Palaeolithic through the birth of state (c. 3,500 BC)
to the rise of Islam, although only 10,000 of these sites and monuments are known and catalogued.
In the last Gulf War (1991) negligible damage was done to monuments although the important city of Ur had a
bomb crater in front of it and the famous ziggurat was strafed with bullets, however in the consequent,
unsuccessful uprising and a decade of poverty and sanctions many sites and monuments have been damaged and
looted. During these two altercations between 800 and 1,000 sites and monuments were damaged or looted,
including 4,000 objects from the Baghdad Museum and seven other regional museums and the bas reliefs that
had been conserved and repatriated in Nineveh in the late 1980s
(http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=online/features/nineveh/index).
Many of these artefacts later appeared on the antiquities market (for further information see Science, 6 July 2001: 32).
The importance of Mesopotamia (Iraq) for studying the rise of ancient civilisation cannot be overstated. The
ancient city of Babylon lies just south of modern Baghdad, and the Assyrian cities of Nineveh and Nimrud are
located in the north of Iraq near the modern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk. The arch-patriarch of the Jewish, and
subsequently Christian and Islamic religions – Abraham, was born and lived in the city of Ur (Sumer). Islamic
monuments such as the standing minarets of Samarra and the 100 foot vaulted arch of the 6th century AD palace at
Ctesiphon. The monuments and antiquities of Iraq are of world importance and should be of
concern to us all. The National Archaeological and Islamic Art Museum, Baghdad holds much of Iraq’s excavated cultural heritage,
a museum comparable with the Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo or the British Museum of Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York. The Baghdad Museum houses thousands of cuneiform clay tablets with some of the earliest writing
in the world, many of which have not been translated and recorded, it also houses artefacts from the Sumerian,
Akkadian, Babylon, Assyrian and early Islamic empires. Gold and silver artefacts from the Royal Tombs of Ur, a
priceless Sumerian harp, a solid bronze bust of Naram-Sin are among the treasures in the Baghdad Museum. Although
many of the more important objects in the Baghdad and other regional museums were stored in underground storerooms
it is still uncertain, which objects were left in the museums, for sure the huge Assyrian statues of winged bulls and
lions were left in situ (http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/22_04_03_d.asp).
The Iraq War (II) has managed to create the worst cultural heritage catastrophe since the Second World War
(http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=895).
Although the full extent of the damage and
loss of sites, monuments and artefacts is not yet known, it is already certain that irreparable damage has been
done. The ornate façade of the Baghdad Museum, which had recently been modernised and had only reopened 6 months
ago, having remained closed since the last war, has already been blacked by a tank shell. The museum became a major
target for looters, both chance looters and those that had specifically targeted the place, knowing what they were
stealing, possibly already with an outlet or specific antiquities dealer in mind
(http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030420-070919-1059r).
It is estimated that 170,000 artefacts have been looted or destroyed in the Baghdad Museum. Broken pottery and overturned
statues littered the ground floor of the museum
(http://www.msnbc.com/c/0/150/483/ssMain.asp?fmt=child&sld=0&res=10x7&0ss=N2b1150483),
although the top floor was
virtually untouched, the vaults of the museum were ransacked. Looters were seen carting away artefacts such as an
ancient lintel (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?g=events/wl/041003lootingiraq&a=&tmpl=sl&e=14&na=1).
Looting and
damage was also reported from other regional museums, Iraq’s National Library, which houses a number of rare volumes
and manuscripts as well as Iraq’s archives was ransacked and set alight. In Mosul’s museum, the Curator Mr Mohammed
was seen trying to hold off the looters trying to steal ancient Babylonian and Assyrian artefacts, although gangs
did manage to get into the storerooms and had already targeted a 2,000 year old statue of King Saqnatroq II and Parthian
sculptures. Many of these looted artefacts are already appearing on the antiquities market
(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030422/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_antiquities&cid=540&ncid=1473)
(http://www.americanfreepress.net/04_21_03/Iraqis_Robbed/iraqis_robbed.html),
hopefully some will be repatriated
in the near future when the peace is won and a new government and infrastructure is in place.
An Iraqi civilian walks through the vault of the National Museum in Baghdad, Iraq (news web sites).
Looters had opened the museum vault, gone on a rampage breaking ancient artefacts,
which had been stored there by the museum authorities before the war had started.
(AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The Coalition forces commanders were well aware of the danger that was likely to threaten Iraq’s cultural heritage,
UNESCO had given a detailed list of 4,000 important sites to the Coalition Administrators and the Archaeological
Institute of America (AIA) the Society for American Archaeologists
and the American Council for Cultural Policy, World Monuments Fund and others
had also informed the State Department and Defense Department
(http://www.archaeological.org/pdfs/home/USICOMOSletteronIraq.pdf)
and the British Museum had sent a detailed list of
important sites and monuments to Tony Blair. Therefore, the looting of the Baghdad Museum could have been avoided if
forward planning had been made to not only defeat Saddam Hussein’s regime, but to also secure facilities and the peace.
While the looting of the museum was taking place a US tank was
stationed less than 500 metres away. However, if Coalition forces were not prepared
to intervene to stop hospitals from being looted and prevent innocent lives from being put at risk, it is not surprising
that they did little to prevent a nation’s cultural heritage from being destroyed and looted. Although neither the US
and UK have ratified the 1954 UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,
Australia and other members of the Coalition have and it is their as well as the US and UK’s moral duty to protect this
irreplaceable cultural property. A statement by the United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell has stated that the US
will take a leading role in protecting Iraq’s cultural heritage and will help restore damage to artefacts and museums.
The Coalition forces are already taking steps in this direction, trying to protect the sites and monuments
(http://www.stripes.osd.mil/article.asp?section=104&article=13924&archive=true)
but for many of the artefacts it may be too little too late.
The plaintiffs of the Coalition as to the reasons why they could not stop the looting are as ridiculous as the
Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf‘s claims that “There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!”
as a US tank rolled by behind him. Although much of the looting and destruction of cultural property has now been
curtailed, it will take several months to assess the full extent of the loss and damage. In the last few weeks teams
from UNESCO and the British Museum have been over to Iraq to make an initial assessment of the damage and loss
(http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/5643110.htm)
and to form an international salvage programme to help
restore the artefacts and sites (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=398713). The first
step is compilation of a list of objects that are missing, although this may prove difficult as much of the paper
work inventorying the Baghdad and other museums holdings are at present missing
(http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,937765,00.html).
If the list, even if it is partial,
is distributed worldwide, the prospects of recovering the looted items will be that much better. In an
emergency UNESCO meeting, it sought protection by U.S. and British troops for Iraq's museums, libraries and
historic sites to prevent further damage. It also asked that concerned nations move to block any traffic in
Iraqi cultural properties. It is also essential that Iraq’s museums, sites and monuments are protected, but
also that the antiquities service is maintained, and kept in the hands of willing and dedicated Iraqis. It
is also essential for Iraq that their antiquities laws are not changed and that it remains illegal to remove
any artefacts from the country and those looters of ancient sites and monuments remain liable to prosecution.
A change in these laws to allow artefacts to leave the country, as seems to be wanted by the US Council for
Cultural Policy (Lawler 2003: 643) must not be allowed to happen. Iraq’s cultural heritage must be retained
in the country to help rebuild Iraq’s cultural and national identity and to help instigate a cultural tourism
industry (
http://www.techcentralstation.com/1051/defensewrapper.jsp?PID=1051-350&CID=1051-042103B), which will
in turn help to rebuild Iraq’s economic infrastructure and ease the pain of the last thirty years of tyranny,
war and loss.
What you can do to stop Iraq’s cultural heritage falling into the hands of irreputable dealers and collectors:
Look on eBay for any looted antiquities, inform eBay, UNESCO, Art Loss Register and Interpol if you suspect an artefact is looted – DO NOT BUY IT!
Look in your local auction rooms for any looted antiquities, inform UNESCO, the Art Loss Register and Interpol if you suspect an artefacts is looted – DO NOT BUY IT!
If you are offered an artefact with an Iraqi provenance – ask to have it approved by UNESCO, Art Loss Register or Interpol - DO NOT BUY IT!
These are a few of the best weblinks on the plight of Iraq’s cultural heritage:
UNESCO and Iraq
ICCOMOS and Iraq
The BBC
Science Magazine
The 2003 Iraq war and Archaeology
The threat to world heritage in Iraq (Oxford University)
Iraq the Cradle of Civilisation at Risk (H Museum)
The Sun Never Sets on the British Museum
A good article to read is:
Lawler, A. 2003. ‘Impending war stokes battle over fate of Iraqi antiquities, Science, 299: 643.
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