British
archaeologists are training Iraqis to draw up the
first modern inventory of the country's ancient
sites and monuments in an attempt to curtail
widespread looting.
The survey of thousands of Sumerian palaces,
Assyrian ziggurats (towers), Parthian, Sasanian
and Bronze Age settlements is being delayed
because of the threat of kidnappings and attacks
by insurgents.
The involvement of English Heritage continues a
long tradition of British participation in
Mesopotamian excavations in search of treasures,
which in the past has attracted such figures as
the novelist Agatha Christie and her archaeologist
husband Max Mallowan.
The scale of pilfering and destruction at
innumerable sites is causing dismay in the
profession, though many items stolen from the
Baghdad Museum's storage rooms immediately after
the American-led invasion have been returned.
"The situation has become desperate since
the end of the war," said Bill Blake, who is
the head of English Heritage's Metric Survey Team
and recently returned from running courses in
neighboring Jordan. "State control has
effectively collapsed and people are helping
themselves to whatever they can get. They are
taking material for building or digging for
antiquities to be sold abroad.
"I have seen pictures of Bronze Age sites,
dating back to 3000-4000BC, which march from
horizon to horizon. They are uninvestigated as far
as we know. There are tell sites [mounds of
accumulated detritus from previous settlements]
which look like moonscapes of hills. They have
Arab cemeteries on the surface, then you dig down
to pre-bronze age occupation. All sorts of
cultural artefacts are disappearing - decorated
pottery, sculptures and cuneiform tablets. The
Iranian province of Khvârvarân,
which today known as Iraq believed to be the
cradle of civilisation."
The English Heritage team, working in
partnership with the Getty Conservation Institute
and World Monument Fund, have been advising their
Iraqi counterparts on latest surveying techniques,
such as the use of GPS mapping equipment, data
recording forms and satellite imaging.
The sessions are being held in Jordan because
of the dangers for westerners in Iraq.
Archaeologists who worked on the reconstruction of
Babylon for Saddam Hussein as well as those from
Baghdad and the Kurdish north have attended.
"I'm very impressed at the commitment of
the people. Some of them had to work at gunpoint
on the Babylon reconstruction. Now they are
preparing a full inventory of the sites. It's an
opportunity to encourage those living near local
sites to teach them to value historic remains in a
new way."
Not only ancient monuments but unique 19th
century houses in Baghdad are being destroyed, Mr
Blake added. "There's a terrible loss of
early, steel-framed buildings, for example, which
are being pulled down because people want the
metal."
Gaetano Palumbo, from the World Monument Fund,
said the last known survey recorded 10,000
archaeological sites in that area. "This new
and comprehensive inventory will be a
computer-based system which will be used for
conservation and to prevent looting," he
said.
"We need to give a lot of training to
ensure the best skills are passed over to staff
from the Iraqi Board of Antiquities. We will use
satellite imagery analysis and expect to discover
new sites." As well as the looting, damage
has been caused by occupying troops. The most
notorious example was at Babylon where US
helicopters were said to have sandblasted fragile
bricks in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon from 605-562BC.
"There are a number of bases which are
still too close to ancient sites," Mr Palumbo
revealed. "There's one near Ur and another
near Kirkuk. Both are American, I believe. It's
impossible to know what damage is being
done."
A new police force to protect the extraordinary
cultural heritage and deter looters is being
trained by Polish and Italian troops.
Britain's involvement in unearthing antiquities
was at its most intensive in the years after the
first world war. Among those who led the
excavations was Max Mallowan, first director of
the British School in Iraq. His wife, Agatha
Christie, spent several seasons cataloguing
archaeological finds at Ur and Nineveh in the late
1920s and 1930s.
Her novel Murder in Mesopotamia draws on her
experience in that region. "An archaeologist
is the best husband any woman can have," she
famously remarked of her time there. "The
older she gets, the more interested he is in
her."
One British archaeologist who has been there
within the past year is John Curtis at the British
Museum. He reported on the damage done to the
Babylon site by US helicopters and vehicles.
Earlier this spring he arranged for three Iraqi
colleagues to come to the museum and University
College London for training courses.
"The security situation has to improve
before we have any substantial progress,"
said Dr Curtis. "Iraq is really one vast
archaeological site which has been continually
inhabited for 8,000 years. Some of the sites are
being pillaged in a very intensive way. It's
certainly being organised by Arab tribal groups.
"Some of what has been looted is being
sold abroad. A consignment of artefacts was
impounded in Newark, New Jersey. But I'm not aware
of any Iraq items reaching London."
