According to the Assyrian website www.ankawa.com, ISIS is planning to destroy the walls of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire and one of the most important archaeological sites in Iraq. Nineveh was sacked in 612 B.C. when the Assyrian Empire was overthrown.
The remains of the walls of Nineveh in north Iraq [Credit: AINA News]
Residents of the Bab Nergal area of Mosul said ISIS has informed them that it will blow up the walls of Nineveh with the start of operations to liberate Mosul by the Iraqi army.
In the last month ISIS has seized the content of the cultural museum in Mosul as well as destroyed Assyrian monuments in the city, which ISIS claims "distort Islam."
Assyrians are the the only indigenous people of Iraq, going back to 4750 B.C. In 2003, just before the U.S. invasion, there were 1.5 million Assyrians living in Iraq. Today there are about 500,000 remaining. A sustained, low grade genocide (report) perpetrated by Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds drove hundreds of thousands of Assyrians into exile in Syria, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
On August 7 of 2014, ISIS moved into the Nineveh Plain, the last stronghold of Assyrians in Iraq, forcing nearly 200,000 Assyrians to flee their homes and villages, where they now live as refugees in the Dohuk and Arbel areas.
The restoration of the Kızlar or Panaghia (ie., Virgin Mary) Monastery, one of the most important tourist spots in the Eastern Black Sea region, will soon come to an end and local officials are confident the site will boost local tourism.Trabzon’s famous Kızlar or Panaghia Monastery has been undergoing a restoration process for nearly a year. The work is almost done and the monastery will soon open to tourism [Credit: Hurriyet]
In a written statement, Trabzon Metropolitan Mayor Orhan Fevzi Gümrükçüoğlu noted Trabzon was a city of civilization and culture, and they were trying to revive the historical venues in the city to bring in more tourists.
For this purpose, the restoration of the Kızlar Monastery, located in the Boztepe neighborhood overlooking the city, began in March 2014. “The restoration project of the monastery had been made in the past with the financial resources of the municipality. Then we handed over this historical site to the Culture and Tourism Ministry for five years to begin the restoration. On our insistence, the ministry initiated a tender for the restoration and the contactor company who won the tender is carrying out the restoration,” the mayor said in the statement.
Speaking on the importance of the monastery in terms of tourism in the region, Gümrükçüoğlu said, “When the work is done, the Kızlar Monastery will serve tourism and revive the cultural, artistic and touristic life of Trabzon. We believe the city will become a rising star in tourism.”
He also noted artisans in the city were very pleased with the restoration, adding, “The monastery will be a frequently visited spot for local and foreign tourists. This makes the locals and artisans of the neighborhood very happy. The monastery will contribute to Eastern Black Sea tourism when it is opened. It will be a center of attraction for tourists visiting Trabzon. The historical rock church in the monastery and the rare frescoes will come to the surface when the restoration is done. The cost of the restoration project is 1.57 million Turkish Liras.”
The monastery complex built on two terraces and is surrounded by a high protective wall. The monastery was founded in the reign of Alexios III (1349–1390). The monastery initially comprised the rock church on the south side the chapel in its entrance and a few cells. Inside the rock church there are inscriptions and portraits of Alexios III, his wife Theodora and his mother Irene.
When war erupted in Libya in early 2011, Savino di Lernia and several other Italian archaeologists were stranded in the Sahara Desert. They had been studying Libya's prehistory at the Messak plateau in the southwest corner of Libya, which is home to some of the world's oldest rock art. As violence in the country escalated, the researchers took shelter in an isolated oil camp before they were eventually evacuated to safety on an Italian military aircraft.The Temple of Zeus at Cyrene, Libya [Credit: David Stanley/WikiCommons]
At first, di Lernia and many of his colleagues were optimistic about the future of archaeology in Libya after years of neglect under dictator Moammar Gadhafi. But today, di Lernia has trouble imagining what fieldwork will look like in the war-torn country.
Years after the conflict began, Libya is still unstable. The United Nations was holding talks in Geneva this week to attempt to unify the two rival governments in control of Libya since Gadhafi's dramatic downfall. Meanwhile, ISIS extremists have taken power in parts of the country, such as Derna, a city in the east, where the group Human Rights Watch has documented violent forms of abuse, including executions and floggings.
Alongside reports of human atrocities, there has been a steady stream of reports detailing the threats to Libya's cultural resources, from ideological destruction to unchecked development. In 2013, for example, there was construction equipment sitting at the Hellenic city of Cyrene, one of five UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Libya, ready to clear the way for houses. Another World Heritage Site, Ghadamès — a city sometimes called "the pearl of the desert" that was once home to the Romans and the Berbers — suffered rocket attacks in 2012. The same year, ultraconservative Islamists reportedly destroyed Sufi shrines and graves in Tripoli that don't conform to their beliefs. In 2011, robbers pulled off one of the biggest archaeological heists, stealing a hoard of nearly 8,000 ancient coins from a bank vault in Benghazi.
"I'm afraid if nothing happens, this will be a disaster for generations of Libyan archaeologists — and for universal heritage," di Lernia told Live Science. Today (Jan. 28), he published a commentary in the journal Nature to try to raise awareness about the situation within the scientific community. "It's very difficult to keep the light on Libya in this moment," di Lernia said.
Over the last four years, di Lernia, who is a professor at the Sapienza University of Rome, and his colleagues have been able to publish new research based on the wealth of material they collected in past field seasons. They've shown that dairy farms existed in a once-green Sahara. They have also analyzed Stone Age burials in the desert region.
Though access to the southeastern part of Libya has been restricted since 2011, di Lernia used to be able to travel to Tripoli. But as the fighting between Libya's two governments worsened over the past year, di Lernia wasn't able to get to Libya at all. From afar, it's difficult for international observers to assess the damages in the country.
"From time to time, I succeed in talking to my friends there, and they say that all sites are in danger, all sites are at risk," di Lernia said. "We don't know what's going on in many places. We don't know what's going on in the museums."
In other conflict zones, such as Syria, archaeologists have turned to satellite imagery to assess damage to cultural heritage sites. Those images show that places like Apamea, a Roman city and once-thriving tourist attraction for Syria, has been turned into a moonscape because of the holes gouged out by looters. But the same approach might not work in Libya, di Lernia said, as satellites can't detect more subtle damages, such as graffiti that's been reportedly painted over rock art in the Tadrart Acacus mountains, near the Messak plateau.
Di Lernia used to spend months at a time at the Messak plateau, but he can’t imagine long archaeological field seasons resuming in Libya anytime soon. In Nature, he put forth a host of recommendations to rekindle research, calling for more support for museum, university and lab-based research. Di Lernia said he'd like to see more museum collections go online, and a Web-based library for rock art sites. He also wants to see international universities provide support and funding for Libyan students and scientists to train and work overseas.
"The only way to keep Libyan archaeology alive is to do lab research, desk research, working on the Internet and working on the digitization of cultural heritage in Libya," di Lernia said. "The situation in Libya is a part of a wider picture, I'm afraid. Probably we have to rethink our capacity to do research within this political framework."
A Kurdish official revealed on Tuesday evening that the ISIS organization had bombed large parts and tracts of the ancient Nineveh wall, indicating that such an act violates the right of human culture and heritage.
The media official of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in Mosul, Saed Mimousine said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, “ISIS militants blew up today large parts and expanses of the archaeological wall of Nineveh in al-Tahrir neighborhood,” explaining that, “The terrorist group used explosives in the process of destroying the archaeological fence.”
Mimousine added, “The Wall of Nineveh is one of the most distinctive archaeological monuments in Iraq and the Middle East,” adding that, “The fence dates back to the Assyrian civilization.”
Mimousine stressed that, “Bombing the archaeological monuments by ISIS is a flagrant violation of the right of human culture, civilization and heritage,” calling the international community to “take a stand to curb the destruction of historic monuments.”
An Egyptian conservation group said Friday it will sue the antiquities minister over a "botched" repair of the mask of King Tutankhamun that left a crust of dried glue on the priceless relic.Picture taken on January 23, 2015 shows the burial mask of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, who ruled Egypt from 1334 to 1325 BC, at the Cairo museum in the Egyptian capital [Credit: AFP/Mohamed El-Shahed]
The golden funerary mask, seen Friday by AFP at the Egyptian Museum, showed the sticky aftermath of what appears to have been overzealous use of glue to fix the mask's beard in place.
A museum official, who spoke anonymously to avoid repercussions, told AFP the beard had fallen of accidentally when the mask was removed from its case last year to repair the lighting.
Museum head Mahmoud al-Helwagy denied that conservation workers had damaged the mask
"This is illogical and inconceivable," he told AFP. "These are conservation workers, not carpenters."
Antiquities Minister Mahmud al-Damaty also denied that the 3,000-year-old relic was treated carelessly.
"The job was done correctly," he told AFP, without explaining why curators needed to fix the mask.
Monica Hanna, an Egyptologist who inspected the mask, said what she saw had so shocked her that her group was taking the matter to the public prosecutor.
"We are presenting a complaint on mismanagement to the prosecutor tomorrow," said Hanna, from Egypt's Heritage Task Force, which has long battled mismanagement and looting of Egypt's legendary ancient artefacts.
According to the museum official, "there seems to have been a lapse in concentration and the mask hit the case and almost fell" when it was removed from its case.
"So (the curator) grabbed it in his arms to break the fall, and the beard separated," he said.
The long braided beard fit into the mask with a peg, and had been separated before, the official said.
"This mistake can happen. But what caused it to get worse? The curator was scared and he fixed it hastily."
The epoxy glue dried very quickly, said the official.
"You should use material (that dries slowly) and then support it, maybe over several hours or 24 hours, so you can fix mistakes," he said.
"Renovation work needs an adhesive that is easy to remove in case there is any damage, without leaving any traces."
Museum director Helwagy told the official MENA news agency that epoxy glue is used internationally to fix artefacts.
The death mask of the enigmatic boy king is one of the crown jewels of the museum, which also houses the mummy of Pharaoh Ramses II.
The museum used to attract millions of tourists before a 2011 revolt -- centred in nearby Tahrir Square -- brought down president Hosni Mubarak and unleashed four years of tumult.
The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning, conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo said Wednesday.In this Aug. 12, 2014, photo provided by Jacqueline Rodriguez, a man glues the beard part of King Tutankhamun's mask back on at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt. The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning , conservators at the museum in Cairo said Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015 [Credit: AP/Jacqueline Rodriguez]
The museum is one of the city's main tourist sites, but in some areas, ancient wooden sarcophagi lay unprotected from the public, while pharaonic burial shrouds, mounted on walls, crumble from behind open panels of glass. Tutankhamun's mask, over 3,300 years old, and other contents of his tomb are its top exhibits.
Three of the museum's conservators reached by telephone gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident while the mask's case was being cleaned, or was removed because it was loose.
They agree however that orders came from above to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.
"Unfortunately he used a very irreversible material — epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone but I think it wasn't suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamun's golden mask," one conservator said.
"The mask should have been taken to the conservation lab but they were in a rush to get it displayed quickly again and used this quick drying, irreversible material," the conservator added.
The beard on the Pharaoh’s mask was detached during cleaning at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and was “hastily” glued back on with epoxy [Credit: Al-Araby Al-Jedeed]
The conservator said that the mask now shows a gap between the face and the beard, whereas before it was directly attached: "Now you can see a layer of transparent yellow."
Another museum conservator, who was present at the time of the repair, said that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. The first conservator, who inspects the artifact regularly, confirmed the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy.
Egypt's tourist industry, once a pillar of the economy, has yet to recover from three years of tumult following a 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Museums and the opening of new tombs are part of plans to revive the industry. But authorities have made no significant improvements to the Egyptian Museum since its construction in 1902, and plans to move the Tutankhamun exhibit to its new home in the Grand Egyptian Museum scheduled to open in 2018 have yet to be divulged.
What the beard should look like [Credit: Profimedia]
Neither the Antiquities Ministry nor the museum administration could be reached for comment Wednesday evening. One of the conservators said an investigation was underway and that a meeting had been held on the subject earlier in the day.
The burial mask, discovered by British archeologists Howard Carter and George Herbert in 1922, sparked worldwide interest in archaeology and ancient Egypt when it was unearthed along with Tutankhamun's nearly intact tomb.
"From the photos circulating among restorers I can see that the mask has been repaired, but you can't tell with what," Egyptologist Tom Hardwick said. "Everything of that age needs a bit more attention, so such a repair will be highly scrutinized."
Author: Brian Rohan | Source: Associated Press [Jabuary 22, 2015]
Illegal excavations carried out by tombs raiders underneath a residential house in Alexandria have uncovered a Graeco-Roman necropolis.Some of the objects discovered during illegal excavations [Credit: Ahram online]
Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online that the necropolis, in the Gebel Mahran area, includes a collection of tombs called Likoli, which have holes engraved in a rock-hewn wall.
The tomb raiders unearthed a collection of artefacts including 20 clay lamps, 18 glass bottles and a large number of clay pots.
Eldamaty said the pots give us a view of the pot industry during that period.
The ministry of antiquities is to send an archeological mission to the site to continue excavations and reveal more of these tombs.
The Tourism and Antiquities Police caught the criminal red-handed and they are now under investigations.
Following comprehensive diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Belgium, Leuven University has agreed to return a 35,000-year-old human skeleton to Egypt which it has held since 1980.The prehistoric human skeleton unearthed in the Nazlet Khater area of the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag [Credit: Ahram Online]
The skeleton came into the possession of the university according to the division law. The law allowed foreign missions to have a share in the artefacts they discovered at archaeological sites in Egypt.
Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty explained that the skeleton was unearthed in the Nazlet Khater area of the Upper Egyptian city of Sohag during an excavation by the Leuven University archaeological mission.
After diplomatic efforts, he continued, the university agreed to return the skeleton because it is a very important artefact in the history of Egypt.
Ali Ahmed, head of the Stolen Antiquities Recovery Section, told Ahram Online that the skeleton will arrive next week and a committee is now studying how to put it on display at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Fustat.
A large number of historical artifacts, including the head of a 2,000-year-old Hermes statue, have been seized during an operation by the Sivas Police Department Directorate of Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Branch.The head of Hermes was seized after a three-month operation [Credit: DHA]
Following three months of preparation, the police department simultaneously raided various addresses in villages and districts of the Central Anatolian province of Sivas, as well as in Nevşehir, Adıyaman and Kayseri on Jan. 13, and discovered historical artifacts.
A sculpted head in the image of the ancient Greek god Hermes was among the artifacts seized in Sivas. It has been claimed that the head had found a buyer for $1 million three years ago, who then attempted to smuggle it abroad, but operations at the time failed to find the head.
Cumhuriyet University academics have confirmed that the head of Hermes was the original one, but further examinations would be conducted in the coming days.
Along with the head of Hermes, three rings, a plate, 23 coins, six Ottoman-language books, a metal ashtray, two column pieces and four stones inscribed with various motifs were also among the findings during the operation.
The remains of an ancient city have been put up for sale in Turkey, it's reported. Bargylia, which dates back to the fifth century BC, is on the north of the Bodrum peninsula, a popular holiday spot. It's being advertised by a real estate agency just like a holiday home, although the site is protected from building work, the BirGun news website reports.Bargylia dates back to the 5th century B.C. and is located near Güllük Bay on the northern coast of the Bodrum peninsula [Credit: Hurriyet]
The advert describes "a first degree archaeological site, facing the Bird Heaven Lake near Bogazici village, with full sea and lake view". Prospective buyers will need deep pockets - it's on the market for 22m Turkish liras ($9.6m; £6.3m). But those willing to splash out could find all sorts of treasures beneath the unexcavated ground. It's thought the site includes the remains of an amphitheatre, temple and Byzantine-era necropolis.
Archaeologists want the site and others like it to be bought by the government, to ensure they're properly looked after, but say the funding isn't available.
"Private ownership of those sites is obstructing archaeological work," says Binnur Celebi from the Archaeologists Association.
"However, the person or persons who acquire those sites can absolutely not conduct any construction activities."
The site even comes with a bit of Greek mythology. It's said that the mythical hero Bellerophon named it after his friend Bargylos, who died after being kicked by the winged horse Pegasus.
Egypt has formed a ministerial committee charged with developing a strategy to safeguard the country’s Islamic heritage by reinvigorating faltering projects.The Sultan Hassan Mosque and madrasa (school) is considered stylistically the most compact and unified of all Cairo's monuments [Credit: Flickr.com/desktopio]
“The committee has agreed to found a joint fund to complete stalled renovation projects to many mosques and other Islamic sites.” said Gamal Mostafa, part of the new committee and director general of the archaeological sites of Al-Sultan Hassan and al-Rifaai mosques. “[The committee] aims to tackle the bureaucracy and obstacles that inhibit the completion of Islamic heritage development projects.”
Over the past decade, several development projects – particularly in Cairo which is one of the world’s oldest Islamic cities – have been launched to protect Egypt’s ancient mosques, but lack of funding coordination and security following the 2011 revolution meant the majority of projects were abandoned.
The Egyptian government has been criticised over the increase in thefts, not only in mosques, but in Egypt’s heritage sites across the country. Following the 2011 revolution and the subsequent collapse of the country’s government, armed gangs, looters and general destruction placed the country’s rich cultural history in peril. As a result, Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab requested support from UNESCO to try and stem reports of ongoing chaos at Egyptian heritage sites.
Author: Tom Anstey | Source: Leisure Management [January 13, 2015]
The number of tourists visiting the ancient city of Sardis in İzmir’s Salihli district has increased three fold over the last five years, thanks to promotional work. The ancient city was the capital of Lydia, the civilization that invented money.
The ancient city of Sardis was the capital of Lydia, the civilization that invented money [Credit: AA]
Salihli Tourism Association Chairman Mustafa Uçar said that excavations had started in Sardis in 1910 and accelerated again after 1958, unearthing many historical artifacts.
Uçar said the excavations covered an area of 3,000 square meters and shed light on 1,400 years of history between the 7th century B.C and the 7th century A.D., with artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman cultures, among others.
He said among the findings were an acropolis, a gymnasium, a synagogue, a bath, a court building, houses, 85 graves where Lydian kings had been buried and the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven holy temples of Christianity, built in 300 B.C. by the ancient Greeks and renovated by the Romans in the 2nd century A.D.
The ancient city had been overlooked for many years and rarely hosted tourists, said Uçar, adding that interest in the city has been increasing in recent years and it now draws tourists throughout the year.
“Eight to 10 buses of tourists come to Sardis every day,” he said, adding that ongoing excavations and promotional activities were the reason for the increase of interest in the ancient city.
“In recent years, both local management and non-governmental organizations attached great importance to the promotion of Sardis. Symposiums and conferences were held to showcase the importance of the ancient city and the status of the Lydian Kingdom in history. Catalogues and brochures were printed and delivered to travel agencies. The site was promoted in both in Turkey and abroad. As a result, tourist interest in the ancient city has increased every day,” Uçar said.
“The ancient city of Sardis hosted 22,000 people in 2010. This number increased to 27,000 in 2011, 30,000 in 2012, 43,000 in 2013 and 65,000 in 2014. The city is expected to welcome 100,000 tourists annually in the near future,” he said.
Uçar said that the traces of the Lydians, who had led the way for the invention of money, could be found only in Sardis, and expressed the importance of the Temple of Artemis to tourists.
“It is the fourth largest ionic temple in the world. It had remained underground for many years, which is why it is still in good condition. It draws lots of interest from tourists,” Uçar said.
A site in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat’s Sorgun district, which the ancient Hittites had used as a sculpture workshop, will be reorganized as an open-air museum by Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry.
An area of 1.5 kilometers in Yozgat’s Sorgun district that served as a sculpture atelier in the Hittite era will be reorganized as an open-air museum, thanks to a new project [Credit: Hurriyet]
As part of the project, the Karakız, Kazankaya, Armutlu and Hapis Boğazı neighborhoods will be declared as first degree archaeological areas, according to local Mayor Osman Yılmaz.
The region was home to a large number of Hittite-era sculptures, some of which were unfinished, indicating that this may be why an atelier may have been located on the site, Yılmaz said.
“The first examination in this historical area was made in 1982 and it was taken under protection in 1987 as the Hapis Boğazı ruins. But no detailed work was conducted at the ruins until 2009, when the Yozgat Museum Directorate and Hittite University initiated joint works,” he added.
The mayor said there was a granite layer on a wide space in the region. “There are carved lion sculptures and pieces of various architectural structures in this area. We can see them over an area of 1.5 kilometers. We will preserve these artifacts in their original place and open them up to tourism,” Yılmaz said.
He added that the project, titled the “Open-Air History and Culture Park Museum,” would reorganize the area dating back to 1,200 B.C.
Following joint work with the Kayseri and Sivas Council of Monuments, the Culture and Tourism Ministry approved the project, Yılmaz said. “The most important feature of this settlement is that it is close to Hattusha, the capital of Hittite in the center of Anatolia. There are relief sculptures in front of the big gates in the entrances of significant cities in Hattusha and its vicinity. There is a sculpture atelier here. The Hittites used granite materials in making massive sculptures. This place has historical importance,” he added.
Sculptures will be moved
Yılmaz said archaeological reports indicated that the area, where unfinished lion sculptures exist, served as an atelier in the Hittite era and many of the sculptures unearthed at Hittite settlements were made there.
As part of the project’s plans, the team made a change in the architectural plan of an area in the Karakız neighborhood and allocated it as an open-air museum.
“The sculptures in Kazankaya and Hapis Boğazı will be moved to a place in the Open Air History and Culture Park Museum. When the weather conditions is suitable, we will start moving the sculptures in spring, which is the first stage of the project,” Yılmaz said.
He also complained that treasure hunters had caused much damage to historical artifacts in previous year.
“Those who saw these sculptures made their own excavations in the region and damaged many of them. But with this latest project, these artifacts will be rescued from treasure hunters. This region is estimated to be the first sculpture atelier of the Hittites, and now it will be opened up to tourism,” Yılmaz said.
The ancient city of Ephesus in western Turkey is expected to enter the UNESCO World Heritage List this year, after 22 years of efforts.
The ancient city of Ephesus, one of the sites in Turkey that attracts the most tourist income, is expected to enter UNESCO’s permanent list this year [Credit: Dick Osseman]
Dating back to the 6th century B.C., Ephesus hosts around 2 million local and international tourists every year. Although it has been added to the UNESCO tentative list, along with 37 other sites in Turkey, it has failed to be included in the main list so far.
Selçuk Mayor Zeynel Bakıcı said his district was blessed thanks to its history, culture, nature, as well as many archaeological sites.
Bakıcı added that it was a "great deficiency" that the ancient city had not been on the UNESCO list up to now but said his team "believed the problem will be solved this year."
The first submission to UNESCO was made in 1994 but was rejected in 2000 and failed to later get results.
“It was a great deficiency that Ephesus is not on this list. But we know where this deficiency comes from. This is why we are now collectively working with the Culture and Tourism Ministry, municipality, museum and the excavation team, as well as with academics. Now all the changes and rearrangements that UNESCO had asked for have been done," Bakıcı said.
"We have finished the reconstruction plan for protection and the land management plan has been approved. Unless something very important goes wrong, the ancient city of Ephesus will become a part of the UNESCO World Heritage permanent list. The 22-year-old dream of Ephesus will come true in June,” he added.
Selçuk is home to the 8,500-year-old ancient city of Ephesus, as well as one of the seven wonders of the world, the Temple of Artemis; the Virgin Mary House; the Church of Saint John, and Şirince village.
Egypt's Antiquities Ministry stated Sunday it was monitored and suspended the sale of 10 ancient Egyptian artifacts that were listed for sale in an Australian auction house.
The artifacts, spanning several periods of ancient Egyptian history, were spotted on the website of the auction house a few weeks ago, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said.
“As soon as the artifacts were monitored, the ministry’s Restored Artifacts Department (RAD) in cooperation with Egypt’s embassy in Australia initiated the required legal procedures to retrieve the artifacts after their authenticity was confirmed by experts,” head of the RAD Aly Ahmed said.
After the experts were deeply skeptical about some of the artifacts, the department pursued the diplomatic path and contacted officials at the Australian government and at the auction house to verify and present the artifacts’ provenances, said Ahmed.
“The Australian authorities responded and seized the artifacts and will send them back to Egypt during the coming few weeks,” said Ahmed, who confirmed the artifacts are the outcome of illicit digging activities that occurred in several archaeological sites across the country in the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution and its consequent security lapse.
Keeping track of registered artifacts that have been stolen from archaeological sites, museums and storerooms of the antiquities ministry, “is definitely the easiest part of our job, while the process of detecting and repatriating unregistered ones is like searching for a needle in a haystack,” Ahmed previously told The Cairo Post.
We can monitor what is being sold in public but we cannot monitor what is being sold in secret. There is no record of how many artifacts have gone missing so far as many were taken from illicit digging, and there is no way to know that they even exist, ” Ahmed said.
During the past four years, Egypt has recovered over 1,600 artifacts and is currently working on other cases in many European countries, he said.
Author: Rany Mostafa | Source: The Cairo Post [January 04, 2015]
They are tattered yellowing fragments of bygone civilisations, ancient manuscripts that open a outstanding window on preceding millennia, including the earliest days of Christianity. But papyrus scrolls are also now increasingly hot items in the distinctly 21st Century globe of the on the web auction trade.Papyrus trading is becoming feverish with 15 tattered lines of Homer selling at £16,000 [Credit: Telegraph]
A rectangular scrap measuring about 4.five inches by 1.five inches and featuring 15 partial lines of Homer's epic poem The Iliad in the elegant hand of a 4th Century Egyptian scribe was just [DEC] picked up by an unidentified European purchaser for £16,000 right after a feverish Net auction battle.
That value was way above the posted estimated but is standard of the sums that collectors will now devote to lay their hands on these fingerprints from the previous. Indeed, it is not just modern day art that has been setting jaw-dropping records at auction lately - so have ancient scrolls.
When a fragmentary parchment sheet from the 3rd century AD featuring portions of Paul's epistle to the Romans was bought at Sotheby's for £301,000 auctioneers and antiquity authorities alike have been stunned.
But even though there is no suggestion of any impropriety in these unique sales, scholars are alarmed by the burgeoning online trade as some unscrupulous sellers also cash in. They portray a no cost-ranging trade, particularly on the on line auction giant eBay, exactly where precious documents are carved up for sale, potentially stolen goods are trafficked and forgers can flourish.
Brice Jones, a papyrologist and lecturer in New Testament and Early Christianity at Concordia University in Montreal, has turn into an on the web scrolls sleuth, scouring auction web-sites for manuscripts that are usually incorrectly labeled or their provenance unclear.
A couple of pieces are straightforward forgeries. Most famously, the papyrus fragment called the Gospel of Jesus's Wife created headlines for apparently overturning almost two millennia of theological teaching that Jesus was unmarried, but is now widely viewed as a forgery.
Considerably a lot more distressingly, some sellers are dismembering papyrus books to sell things page-by-page, a financially lucrative endeavor that amounts to small extra than vandalism of ancient works.
A single eBay papyrus seller turned out to be two sisters who ran an online beauty supplies store. They had inherited a Book of Revelation from which they cut person pages to sell on an ad hoc basis to fund the wedding costs for one.
But Mr Jones has also identified a proliferation of scrolls becoming sold of which the origin and ownership is unknown or unclear. A fragment of papyrus with neatly penned Greek script of Homers Iliad, 565-580, 4th Century AD. Ex Hamdy Sakr collection, London, formed in the 1960's. There had been only two serious bidders on the piece and it probably went a lot greater than either of them had anticipated.
Papyrus itself is a tall, fibrous reed plant that grew along the shallow banks of the Nile River in Egypt. 'Papyrus' is the Latin type of the Greek word papuros, from which the English word 'paper' is derived.
The papyri - mostly written in ancient Greek and Coptic - variety from items such as rare biblical texts or the lines of the Iliad to hum-drum but fascinating each day records of book-maintaining accounts or letters amongst loved ones members. All exert an incredible lure for collectors, historians, archaeologists and theologians.
But under American and Egyptian law, only antiquities that can be verified currently to have been in private hands ahead of the early 1970s can be traded. Those guidelines are intended to avoid looting and end the export of papyrus that is generally still identified by Bedouin tribesmen, preserved by the arid desert situations. But critics say that lots of sellers skirt or ignore the guidelines on Internet internet sites that are difficult to monitor and regulate.
The disapproving tone from academia also reflects a deep philosophical objection by many scholars to how manuscripts flow by means of private hands, fearing that priceless scripts will disappear forever amid the frenzy of trading.
"The study of ancient papyri is a fascinating field of historical inquiry, simply because these artefacts are the fingerprints of true men and women from a bygone era," Mr Jones told The Telegraph.
"Each time I study a new papyrus, it is as if I am peeking over the shoulders of the scribe who wrote it, eavesdropping on a conversation that in several cases was meant to be private: an argument in between a husband and wife, a divorce contract, an invitation to dinner, a letter in between a father and son.
"But when private collectors acquire papyri for private enjoyment and restrict scholarly access to them, the instant consequence is that we drop worthwhile historical info that would otherwise advance our understanding about ancient people."
Nonetheless, the owner of a little specialist World-wide-web auction corporation, who asked not to be named due to the fact of the sensitivity of the situation, pushed back against these criticisms.
"We are scrupulous about producing certain of ownership despite the fact that not everybody is so fussy and it's accurate that there are some people today who know practically nothing who are out attempting to make a buck in the wild West of the Web," he mentioned.
"But some of these archaeologists and purists simply hate the reality that that any private person would personal, invest in or sell antiquities.
"They ignore the reality that things like this have always been collected. Indeed, some of these scripts have been commissioned by the private collectors of that time.
"Collectors play a crucial function in preserving these items with their interest. A lot of these items would stay hidden, forgotten, fading away, unknown to the scholars, if there was not a industry for them."
Amongst specialists in the research of early Christianity, there is specific concern about the emergence of eBay as a absolutely free-wheeling marketplace for antiquities, with low opening bids and normally exaggerated language to lure in possible purchasers.
An eBay spokesman, however, stated that its150 million buyers and sellers "must make certain listings comply with our clear policy on artefacts. We operate with regulators, law enforcement and other parties which includes the Egyptian Embassy to apply this policy, and if a listing of concern is identified we will need proof that it was legally exported and take away any listing exactly where this proof is not supplied."
As a specialist who spends his life studying such scrolls, Mr Jones also has concerns for the preservation and conservation of sensitive centuries-old documents when they are handled by traders.
He cited then instance of the well-known papyrus codex of the Gospel of Judas, which published in 2006. It was stored by one particular of its owners in a protected-deposit box on Long Island for sixteen years, and then placed in a freezer by a possible purchaser who thought that was the ideal way to preserve it.
"The benefits of these choices have been horrifying: the codex crumbled into quite a few hundreds of tiny pieces and what was after a practically total codex was now badly deteriorated and tricky to restore," he stated.
The booming trade has clearly revealed to scholars how numerous papyri have survived down the centuries.
"This prompts the question: just how quite a few ancient manuscripts are sitting in the basements, match boxes, drawers, safes, or shelves of private collectors about the globe?" Mr Jones asked lately.
"It is nearly certain that numerous ancient manuscripts or fragments thereof are just sitting in the dark closets of their collectors, decaying and crumbling to pieces. The public demands to be conscious of the importance of the preservation of antiquities, for the reason that when they are gone, they are gone forever."
Author: Philip Sherwell | Source: The Telegraph [December 28, 2014]
Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System is an island city from the Sassanid era with a complex irrigation system. Located in Khuzestan Province, the site was registered on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites in 2009, as Iran’s 10th cultural heritage site to be registered on the United Nation’s list.
Shushtar, Historical Hydraulic System, inscribed as a masterpiece of creative genius, can be traced back to Darius the Great in the 5th century B.C. It involved the creation of two main diversion canals on the river Kârun one of which, Gargar canal, is still in use providing water to the city of Shushtar via a series of tunnels that supply water to mills. It forms a spectacular cliff from which water cascades into a downstream basin. It then enters the plain situated south of the city where it has enabled the planting of orchards and farming over an area of 40,000 ha. known as Mianâb (Paradise) [Credit: Mostafa Gholamnejad/ Tasnim News Agency]
The site dates back to the time of the Achaemenid king Darius the Great in the 5th century BCE. It involves two main diversion canals on the Karun River, one of which, Gargar canal, is still in use providing water to the city of Shushtar via a series of tunnels that supply water to mills.
The property has an ensemble of remarkable sites including the Salâsel Castel, the operation centre of the entire hydraulic system, the tower where the water level is measured, damns, bridges, basins and mills. It bears witness to the know-how of the Elamites and Mesopotamians as well as more recent Nabatean expertise and Roman building influence [Credit: Mostafa Gholamnejad/Tasnim News Agency]
The system forms a cliff from which water cascades into a downstream basin and enters south of the city enabling people in Shushtar to plant orchards and create farms over an area of 40,000 hectares.
A 2,800-year-old Hittite inscription, which is on a rock in the Bolkar Mountain in the Central Anatolian province of Nigde and claimed to be the world’s oldest mining license, will be taken under protection.The inscription, discovered in Bolkar Mountains, is claimed to be the world’s oldest mining license. Works have been initiated to take it under protection [Credit: AA]
Nigde Culture and Tourism Director Tansel Tokmak said the 108-centimeter high and 186-centimeter wide inscription was from the late Hittite period, adding, “This region is rich in terms of the abundance of mineral. The inscription, which is estimated to have been written in the 8th century, is known as the first mining license in history. The first scientific work on the inscription was made by Professor Mustafa Kalac in 1973. He said measures should be taken to protect it. In 2013, museum archaeologists examined the piece and said 8 percent of the inscription had been damaged.”
Tokmak said they had initiated worked to take the necessary measures for the protection of the inscription. “It will be taken under protection. In the next level, the inscription will be copied and exhibited at the Nigde Museum as the ‘Bolkar Mine Inscription,’” he said.
Nigde Museum Directorate archaeologist Mustafa Eryaman said mining activities in the region dated back to 2,800 years ago, and continued in the Roman, Byzantium, Seljuk, Ottoman and Republican eras.
“The inscription, translated by Kalac, writes that King Warpalavas gave the administration of the Bolkar Mountains to Prince Tarhunzas and wishes for the mountain to be productive,” said Tokmak.
A court in Belgium has ruled that the country’s authorities restitute nine boxes of smuggled ancient Iranian artifacts along with a bronze pin stolen from an exhibition.This file photo shows 2,700-year-old Persian silver drinking cup Shir Dal [Credit: PressTV]
An informed source at the Center of International Legal Affairs in Iran’s Presidential Office said on Tuesday that an appellate court in Belgium’s eastern city of Liège, situated nearly 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the capital, Brussels, has passed the final verdict in favor of the restitution of the Iranian heritage, IRNA reported.
The source, whose name was not revealed, praised efforts made by Iranian legal experts and officials at Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handcraft and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) for following up on the case.
The contents of the nine boxes were looted over the past years from a 3000-year-old ancient site near the village of Khorvin, situated 80 kilometers (49 miles) northeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Following Iran's demand, the Brussels court ordered the seizure of the pieces and their preservation at the Museum of Brussels University, pending a final verdict.
Since the boxes contained metal items that might have oxidized over time, Iranian officials asked Belgian officials to open the boxes in the presence of ICHTO representatives. The boxes were resealed after experts examined the contents.
The ancient pin was stolen in December 2002 from the European tour of “7000 Years of Persian Art” during its run at St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent.
Iranian officials have filed several other lawsuits in courts in Britain, France, Turkey, and Pakistan for the return of smuggled artifacts over the past years.
Egypt plans to reopen the royal tomb of Nefertari, a wife of Ramesses II (who reigned from 1279BC to 1213BC), on a regular basis after it was closed for eight years because of concerns over the condition of the site’s wall paintings.A wall painting from Nefertari's tomb [Credit: TNN]
The burial site in the Valley of the Queens was opened for ten days in mid-October to celebrate the 110th anniversary of its discovery by the Italian archaeologist Ernesto Schiaparelli. Speaking at an event in London last month, Egypt’s minister of tourism, Hisham Zazou, proposed that the site remains open. “I want to make sure [this period] is expanded, so it is open every month,” Zazou said, adding that the tomb would be open one week a month to a limited number of tourists. Access was restricted to 150 visitors before it was closed in 2006.
Egypt’s tourism industry has suffered since the 2011 revolution, with just 7.1 million visitors from January to September this year, compared with 14.7 million in 2010, according to Zazou. Although tourism has increased in resorts around the Red Sea, numbers remain low at cultural sites. Egypt’s authorities now hope to attract visitors back to the Nile Valley by opening new archaeological sites.
The Tomb of Nefertari [Credit: TNN]
Nefertari’s tomb is renowned for its colourful paintings showing the queen with deities, but the remarkably well-preserved works quickly deteriorated after the tomb’s discovery due to rising humidity levels and associated salt damage, partly brought on by the breath of tourists. From 1986 to 1992, the Getty Conservation Institute used emergency conservation measures to stabilise the works. The tomb reopened in 1995, but renewed concerns led to its closure to the public in 2006, although the antiquities ministry continued to grant access for private tours.
The Getty has monitored the tomb regularly over the years, and according to a spokesman for the institute, there has been “no apparent deterioration as a result of visitors or due to humidity from visitors”. There has been physical damage, however, which the Getty has “ascribed to filming in the tomb”.
Author: Garry Shaw | Source: The Art Newspaper [December 18, 2014]
