Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for Syria] 

Since his 2012 appointment as head of antiquities in the midst of Syria s civil war, Maamoun Abdulkarim says just one thing has been on his mind -- avoiding a repeat of the kind of looting that ravaged Iraq s heritage after the 2003 invasion.

"The images of the looting of the museum in Baghdad and other Iraqi sites are always on my mind, and I told myself that everything must be done to avoid a repeat of that here," he told AFP.

Widespread illegal excavation and the destruction of artefacts and religious sites by jihadists from the Islamic State (IS) group have only added to the sense of urgency.

Before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Abdulkarim was co-director of a French-Syrian mission working excavating the 700 so-called Dead Cities of northern Syria, which date back to Roman and Byzantine times.

Syria has been the home of many civilisations over the millennia, from the Canaanites to the Ottomans, and is rich in both artistic and architectural treasures.

Since his appointment, Abdulkarim and his colleagues have worked to protect Syria s heritage from a conflict that has killed more than 215,000 people.

So far, they have wrapped and stored some 300,000 items and thousands of manuscripts in secret locations protected from fires, shelling and floods.

The pieces come from 34 museums, including 80,000 items from Damascus alone.

Perhaps the most dramatic rescue yet was from the eastern city of Deir Ezzor last August.

After Mosul in neighbouring Iraq fell to IS in June, and the destruction began there, a decision was taken to evacuate the 13,000 artefacts remaining in Deir Ezzor.

Large parts of the city were in IS hands, but the airport and some districts remained under government control.

Yaarub al-Abdullah, the former director of antiquities for Deir Ezzor, said: "I worked for a week with two colleagues to wrap everything. We put it into a truck that came under heavy machinegun fire.

"We put the boxes on a military plane among dead and injured soldiers. It was terrible, but we managed it," added Abdullah, who now heads the National Museum.

Back in Damascus, Abdulkarim followed the operation with trepidation.

"I didn t sleep for a week after I took the decision to evacuate the artefacts," he said.

"If the plane had crashed, I would have lost three friends and gone to prison for losing 13,000 items," he said, with a smile.

He said an estimated 99 percent of Syria s museum collections had been preserved, thanks to his 2,500 employees, including those in opposition-held areas.

"They feel that protecting our heritage is a question of honour, like defending the honour of their mothers," Abdulkarim said.

But their work has come with a price: around a dozen of them have been killed in the conflict, including five during the course of their work.

Despite their best efforts, Abdulkarim fears thousands of artefacts have already been stolen across the country.

Even worse is the damage that has been done to 300 sites and 445 historic buildings.

In some cases the damage came in fighting. In others, it has come from illegal excavation, even with bulldozers, in places like Mari, Doura Europos, Apamee and Ajaja in the northeast, the Yarmuk valley in southern Daraa, and Hamam near Raqa in the north.

Ayham al-Fakhry, 39, fled his post as director of antiquities in Raqa in 2012, and laments the irreversible losses to Syria s rich heritage.

"Not only do you have the barbarity of the IS jihadists who destroy any representation of humans and Muslim mausoleums, but also the greed of mafia groups coming from Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey to buy pieces found by local residents," he said.

"They pay IS 20 percent of the estimated value and then the mafias take the objects to be sold in Europe or the Gulf," he said.

Despite international action to prevent smuggling antiquities from Syria, Abdulkarim and his colleagues say sanctions on Damascus have left them isolated.

"We felt like we had the plague," he said."Can there be an embargo on heritage? It belongs to the whole world."

Recently though, there have been signs of change, with invitations to Germany and France for directorate staff and an award in Venice for their work.

Abdulkarim urged the international community to rally around those in Syria trying to save their heritage.

"There must be a international mobilisation to save culture and civilisation. It s not just our responsibility, but a collective one," he said.

Author: Sammy Ketz | Source: AFP [March 27, 2015]

The BBC has been investigating the trade, and the routes from Syria through Turkey and Lebanon to Europe.

The Smuggler

It has taken many calls and a lot of coaxing to get a man we are calling "Mohammed" to meet us. He is originally from Damascus but now plies his trade in the Bekaa valley on the border between Syria and Lebanon. He's 21 but looks much younger in his T-shirt, skinny jeans and black suede shoes. As we sit in an apartment in central Beirut I have to lean forward to hear the softly spoken young man describe how he began smuggling looted antiquities from Syria. "There's three friends in Aleppo we deal with, these people move from Aleppo all the way to the border here and pay a taxi driver to sneak it in." He specialised in smaller items which would be easier to move on - but he says even that has become too risky. "We tried our best to get the items which had most value, earrings, rings, small statues, stone heads," he says.

He made a good profit but bigger players with better connections "sold pieces worth $500,000, some for $1m", he says. When I ask who's making the money and controlling the trade in Syria his gentle voice takes on a flinty tone: "IS are the main people doing it. They are the ones in control of this business, they stole from the museums especially in Aleppo," he says. "I know for a fact these militants had connections overseas and they talked ahead of time and they shipped overseas using their connections abroad." Mohammed is still involved in cross-border trade, but no longer in antiquities. "Anyone caught with it gets severe punishment," he says. "They accuse you of being IS."

The Go-between

To sell looted antiquities you need a middle-man, like "Ahmed". Originally from eastern Syria, he is based in a town in southern Turkey - he doesn't want me to specify which one as he doesn't want the police to know. As a Turkish-speaker he is popular with Syrian smugglers, who ask if he can move goods on to local dealers. When I speak to him via Skype he shows me a blanket next to him filled with artefacts - statues of animals and human figures, glasses, vases and coins. They were dug up in the last few months. "They come from the east of Syria, from Raqqa, all the areas controlled by ISIS (Islamic State)," he says. Islamic State plays an active part in controlling the trade, he tells me. Anyone wanting to excavate has to get permission from IS inspectors, who monitor the finds and destroy any human figures, which are seen as idolatrous (those Ahmed is showing me have slipped through the net). IS takes 20% as tax. "They tax everything," he says.

The main trade is in stoneworks, statues and gold, and it can be extremely lucrative. "I have seen one piece sold for $1.1m," he says. "It was a piece from the year 8500BC." He gently handles each artefact as he brings it closer to the webcam to give me a better view. He has had to pay a sizeable bond to the smugglers to get this material and he doesn't want to lose any of it. The final destination is Western Europe, he says. "Turkish merchants sell it to dealers in Europe. They call them, send pictures... people from Europe come to check the goods and take them away." Ahmed will have to return the looted artefacts to his Syrian contacts, as I am clearly not buying them, but he won't be returning to his homeland. "If I went back I'd be killed," he says.

The Dealer

It's an unremarkable tourist shop in the centre of Beirut. Inside the glass cases are ancient oil lamps, rings and glassware but the shop owner, a laconic man in his late 40s, has an unusual selling tactic - he says much of it is fake. However, he assures me he does have genuine pieces from the Hellenic and Byzantine periods, around 1,000 years old. I'm interested what other items he can get, mosaics for example? I had been advised by archaeologists that mosaics would almost certainly be looted - at the moment, that would mean most likely from Syria. He asks which kind I want. Faces, animals, geometric designs? "If you're serious we can have a serious negotiation... there is always a way," he promises. When I ask if it's legal he smiles as he tells me the only way to legally ship these items is with official documentation from a museum saying they have been cleared for export.

If it was only a small mosaic I wanted, I could take the chance and try to smuggle it out myself but he warns it's a serious decision, as I could get caught. For a fee he can have them shipped to the UK but it will cost me many thousands of pounds. We shake hands as I leave and he gives me his business card. It has only taken 10 minutes to be offered illicit antiquities. Arthur Brand, an investigator who helps recover stolen antiquities isn't surprised, it chimes with his experience in Lebanon. "I've been there several times and at times and it really is amazing," he tells me from his base in Amsterdam. "The illicit trade is run as a professional business with offices and business cards and you can buy antiquities from Lebanon, but also from countries like Syria, Iraq." The link between smugglers and dealers is the dirty secret the art world doesn't want to admit to, he says.

The Cop

He could easily pass for the star of an Arabic cop show but Lt Col Nicholas Saad is a real policeman, head of Lebanon's bureau of international theft. In his office, filled with certificates from the FBI and Scotland Yard, he shows me photos of huge Roman busts seized in a recent raid in Lebanon. We go up to the roof of his police station, where out to the east, beyond the mountains, is the border with Syria. This is where refugees pour into the country and are exploited by the smuggling gangs.

"The refugees come in big numbers and the gangs put things between the belongings of the refugees," he explains. Since the conflict in Syria he has noticed a significant increase in the smuggling of looted artefacts, "especially from the Islamic parts, Raqqa (the base) of the Islamic State", he adds. His team has seized hundreds of Syrian artefacts. "We have the archaeology expert that said they're very valuable from the Roman period, from the Greek period, years before Christ," he says. But there isn't a market for them in Lebanon. "Lebanon is a transit station, it's one of the the doors that goes to Europe. The real money is made in Europe."

The Treasure

Inside the Beirut National museum are treasures from the cradle of civilisation - Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine statues, busts and sarcophagi 3,000 years old. Hidden away from the public in a store room below the main galleries, seized looted antiquities wait to be returned to Syria. My guide is Dr Assaad Seif, an archaeologist and head of excavations at the directorate general of antiquities in Beirut. He rings a bell and a wrought iron door is unlocked. Inside are scores of items - pottery, stonework - but the most valuable items are sealed away in a warehouse. "We have huge funeral sculptures, representing men and women used to seal the tombs, from Palmyra," he says.

Most of the seized items are from excavations rather than thefts from museums. The looters target warehouses at ancient sites like Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site. "The warehouses at archaeological sites have objects they know are not listed or catalogued yet, and they think it could be easier to sell them," he says. "The Palmyra objects had value for people in Syria... it gives a kind of identity," he says. Although reluctant to put a price on any of the bigger items, after some coaxing he relents. "We have a dozen objects that would sell for $1m each on the open market." I understand why they keep them out of sight of curious foreign visitors.

The Destination 

It has taken days to get through to Dr Maamoun Abdulkarim, the archaeologist in charge of Syria's dept of antiquities in Damascus. When I do reach him, he's angry. "The sites under the control of ISIS, in these areas we have a disaster, a lot of problems. IS attack all things just for the money," he says. "It is our memory, our identity, for the government, the opposition, for all Syria." It's impossible to stop the looting but he is adamant more could be done to crack down on the trade. "We are sure through all the sources a lot of objects go from Syria to Europe, in Switzerland, in Germany, in UK - and Gulf countries like Dubai and Qatar," he says.

It was a common refrain. Everyone from the Lebanese police to Mohammed the smuggler and Ahmed the go-between said the main market was Europe. In the UK there have been no prosecutions or arrests for selling looted Syrian artefacts but Vernon Rapley, who ran the Metropolitan Police's art and antiquities squad for almost a decade, says too much shouldn't be read into this. "I'm quite confident that there have been seizures of material like this," he confidently states, as we stroll around his new workplace, the Victoria and Albert museum, where he is director of security.

Rapley still liaises closely with his former police unit and he is certain that artefacts from Syria are being sold here. He wants the trade in these antiquities to become "socially repugnant and unacceptable" so that in the future, he says, "we don't have interior decorators looking for these things to decorate people's houses".

Author: Simon Cox | Source: BBC News Website [February 17, 2015]

Looters have breached tombs and Roman temples have been damaged in Palmyra, once a vital stopping point for caravans crossing the Syrian desert carrying spices, silks and perfumes, said Ahmad Deeb told Reuters in his office in Damascus.

Clashes between the army and rebels have damaged historical sites and buildings throughout Syria, during the four-year-long conflict that has also killed 200,000 people.

"Special authorities in Palmyra have done great work during the last year when they returned more than 120 antiques, the most important of which were tombstones that were secretly excavated," Deeb said.

Unfortunately, some of the looted artefacts have been moved outside Syria, he added.

Syria is a cultural treasure trove and home to six UNESCO World Heritage sites. Four of these sites, including Palmyra and the Crusader castle Crac des Chevaliers, have been used for military purposes, the United Nations says.

Nearly two dozen funeral busts and the headstone of a child from the necropolis at Palmyra were looted in November, according to UNESCO. From the 1st to the 2nd Century, the art and architecture of Palmyra married Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences, UNESCO says.

Satellite imagery shows that 290 cultural heritage sites in Syria, which has a history stretching back to the dawn of civilization, have been damaged by the civil war, the United Nations' training and research arm said in December.

To preserve its history, Deeb said all Syrian museums were emptied two years ago and the artefacts were put in stores. A list of antiquities smuggled from archaeological sites have been documented on a "red list" distributed to Interpol, he said.

Deeb estimates that more than 1,500 items may have been stolen from museums in Raqqa, a city in northeastern Syria now controlled by ISIS militants, and Deir Atiyah in northern Damascus. Some of are still in Syria, he said.

As jihadis who adhere to a hardline school of Islam have grown in power, they present a new threat to Syria's heritage. Shrines and tombs in areas under their control have been targeted and destroyed as idolatrous symbols.

More than 750 archaeological sites have been attacked, Deeb said. The U.N. Security Council last month banned all trade in antiquities from the war-torn country.

Author: Kinda Makieh | Source: Reuters [March 19, 2015]

The report analyzes six of the 12 sites that Syria has nominated as World Heritage Sites: Dura Europos, Ebla, Hama's Waterwheels, Mari, Raqqa, and Ugarit. A forthcoming report will analyze the additional six sites.

"As we continue to study the conditions at Syria's important cultural sites, we have observed significant destruction that is largely the result of conflict. However, unlike our previous analysis of Syria's World Heritage Sites, we're seeing a lot of damage that appears to be the result of widespread looting," said Susan Wolfinbarger, director of the AAAS Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project, which authored the report. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Penn Cultural Heritage Center and the Smithsonian Institution also contributed to the research.

"This report helps us understand how the extensive the actual damage is to Syria's cultural heritage. It will inform future emergency preservation efforts," said Brian Daniels, director of research and programs at the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Penn Cultural Heritage Center.

In the report, images from 2014 show numerous pits throughout three sites where ancient cities once stood. The pits generally do not appear in similar images from 2011, when the conflict in Syria began. "We interpret these pits as evidence of looting due to the distinct craters visible within the satellite images," said Jonathan Drake, a senior program associate at AAAS.

"This type of documentation really allows us to make a firm statement based on scientific observation of things that have happened at a site," said Wolfinbarger.

"Sometimes when things are reported in the news media or social media, details can be obscured or purposefully misconstrued. But this analysis is replicable. We can say definitively, 'we see this.' And when it is tied it in with other types of information, satellite imagery can give us a more complete picture in parts of the world that are difficult to access."

"These images show the destruction of ancient artifacts, architecture, and most importantly, archaeological context that is the record of humanity's past," said Katharyn Hanson, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Museum's Penn Cultural Heritage Center and a visiting scholar at AAAS. "From the origins of civilization to the first international empires, Syria's cultural heritage and these sites in particular are vitally important to our understanding of history."

The most extensive looting identified in the report was at Dura-Europos, which was founded in the 3rd century B.C. and served as a frontier city as well as the main hub for caravan routes. The site represents a blend of cultural traditions, including Greek, Mesopotamian, Aramaic, Persian, and Roman influences. There have been numerous reports of damage through social media and news reports, and the AAAS report now documents the extent of this activity.

Based on the imagery analysis, 76% of the area within the city wall had been damaged by April 2014, and the looting pits were so close together it was impossible to distinguish individual pits, the researchers report. Looting pits outside the city wall were less dense but still numerous; approximately 3,750 individual pits were observed. Images from 2 April 2014 show four vehicles among the ancient Roman ruins in close proximity to the looting, suggesting that the disturbances at the site may have been ongoing at that time, according to the report.

The second site described in the report is Ebla, the site of an important kingdom in the Early Bronze Age. The site is best known for its archive of several thousand written tablets that "revolutionized knowledge regarding the ancient history and political economy of the region," the report says. Ebla is constructed out of mud brick, so without preservation it is vulnerable to erosion.

The images in the analysis show looting pits, including 45 new holes observed between 18 August 2013 and 4 August 2014, as well as eroded walls, earthen berm fortifications, and heavy vehicle tracks. Military compounds have been constructed on the site, likely due to the fact that the site is elevated over the surrounding plain and provides a good view of the area.

Looting is also widespread at the ancient Mesopotamian city of Mari, which was founded in the early 3rd millennium B.C. and prospered as a node on the trade routes. Like Dura-Europos, Mari is located in the Deir ez-Zor province that has seen violent clashes during the conflict. The Albu Kamal region, where Mari is located, came under the control of ISIS in June 2014.

The looting appears to have ramped up during the last year. The researchers identified 165 visible pits dug between August 2011 and March 2014 (an average of 0.17 pits formed per day). Between 25 March and 11 November 2014, however, they identified 1,286 new pits, an average rate of 5.5 pits dug every day over the seven-month period.

The fourth site is Raqqa, and important city center that exemplifies the transition of a Greek/Byzantine urban center into an Islamic city by 796 A.D. Since 2013 Raqqa has been at the center of the conflict in Syria. After fighting by opposition groups, ISIS took control of the city in October 2013, and in September 2014, the United States and partner nations began an airstrike campaign against ISIS in Raqqa.

The observed damage in vicinity of the Tentative World Heritage site in Raqqa appears to be different from that of the other sites in the analysis, according to the report, with little evidence of direct military conflict. "Rather, when damage is present, it appears to be nearly total and targeted, with specific buildings disappearing while the surrounding buildings remain untouched," the report states.

This phenomenon appears too precise to have been caused by the Syrian Arab Republic Government's military forces, and while it is well known that the United States and other partner air forces have the ability to deliver munitions with high precision, the destroyed sites are all cultural sites located within the UNESCO Tentative World Heritage site boundary, according to the report. "The more plausible explanation is that the demolitions in the vicinity of the Tentative World Heritage site's boundaries are the result of actions by ISIS," the report states.

The two other areas that the researchers analyzed -- the historic waterwheels of Hama, which raised water up to aqueducts for drinking and irrigation, and the ancient site of Ugarit, a mostly stone city that connected the ancient empires of Mesopotamia with those of the Mediterranean -- do not appear to have been damaged.

Copies of the report can be downloaded at http://www.aaas.org/geotech/culturalheritage-SyrianTWHS-122014.html.

Source: American Association for the Advancement of Science [December 17, 2014]

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."

Author: Megan Gannon | Source: LiveScience ]January 28, 2015]

Qais Hussein Rashid of Iraq's Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, speaking at the Baghdad conference on the effects of IS on the country's antiquities, said that some sales of Iraqi artifacts on the international black market have been stopped. He added some artifacts of the country's Assyrian era, which can date back to 1900 B.C., have been sold, and 1,500 ancient manuscripts were burned.

He added that two important sites in Mosul, the shrines of Ibn Al-Atheer and the Prophet Yunus, were completely demolished by IS militants.

The mission of IS includes the destruction of religious artifacts pertinent to pre-Muslim times.

Tourism and Antiquities Minister Adel Shershab said archeological sites through Iraq have been destroyed, and asked "friendly countries to take a genuine stand to restore the stolen antiquities."

While the destruction has outraged the world, it can be regarded as a diversion from the sale of antiquities, which is helping fund IS activities, an American archaeologist suggested.

"There are people in the world who know what this stuff is worth, and it is very clear that at least part of the destruction of the Iraqi museum in 2003, that part of that, was induced by people on the outside getting dealers on the inside to go in and try to get specific things," said McGuire Gibson of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. "There's archaeological work going on right now in Iraq, in places where it's relatively secure, work is going on. Whether or not it will be secure next week, we don't know, but we try to work when and where we can."

Edward Planch of the United Nations' UNESCO noted his organization is working with border agencies to recover artifacts seized at border checkpoints adjacent to Iraq and Syria.

"The objective is to have these surrounding countries with us, aware of the traffics, of the kinds of objects going out, able to seize the pieces and keep them in a safe place," Planch told the Voice of America, which noted many of the artifacts in the vandalized Mosul museum were catalogued digitally, a factor which could aid in their recovery.

Author: Ed Adamczyk | Source: UPI [March 13, 2015]

The destructions are part of a campaign by the IS extremists who have destroyed a number of shrines — including Muslim holy sites — in order to eliminate what they view as heresy. They are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region.

The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men inside the Mosul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown chipped and in pieces. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site inside Mosul, drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C.

The video was posted on social media accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group and though it could not be independently verified it appeared authentic, based on AP's knowledge of the Mosul Museum.

Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants during their blitz last June after Iraqi security forces melted away.

In their push, the extremists captured large swaths of land in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, declared a self-styled caliphate on territories that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship.

The region under IS control in Iraq has nearly 1,800 of Iraq's 12,000 registered archaeological sites and the militants appear to be out to cleanse it of any non-Islamic ideas, including library books, archaeological relics, and even Islamic sites considered idolatrous.

"Oh Muslims, these artifacts that are behind me were idols and gods worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah," a bearded man tells the camera as he stands in front of the partially demolished winged-bull.

"The so-called Assyrians and Akkadians and others looked to gods for war, agriculture and rain to whom they offered sacrifices," he added, referring to groups that that left their mark on Mesopotamia for more than 5,000 years in what is now Iraq, eastern Syria and southern Turkey.

"Our prophet ordered us to remove all these statues as his followers did when they conquered nations," the man in the video adds. The video bore the logo of the IS group's media arm and was posted on a Twitter account used by the group.

A professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul confirmed to the Associated Press that the two sites depicted in the video are the city museum and a site known as Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.

"I'm totally shocked," Amir al-Jumaili told the AP over the phone from outside of Mosul. "It's a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artifacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul's civilization."

He said that very few of the museum pieces are not genuine.

Among the most important sites under the militants' control are four ancient cities — Ninevah, Kalhu, Dur Sharrukin and Ashur — which were at different times the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire.

The Assyrians first arose around 2500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day Iran. Also in danger is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hatra, which is thought to have been built in the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. by the Seleucid Empire. It flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries as a religious and trading center.

The damage to Iraqi artifacts in Mosul is the latest episode in that has targeted the nation's heritage.

In January, Islamic State militants ransacked the Central Library of Mosul, smashing the locks and taking around 2,000 books — leaving only Islamic texts. Days later, militants broke into University of Mosul's library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students.

The day after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops in April 2003, looters burst into the Iraqi National Museum in the Iraqi capital, making off with scores of priceless artifacts and leaving the floor littered with shattered pottery. The U.S. was widely criticized at the time for failing to protect the site.

Author: Sinan Salaheddin | Source: The Associated Press [February 26, 2015]

But the 2,500-year-old treasures from present-day Iraq have become part of a thorny archaeological debate over how to handle historically significant relics thought to have been dug up in the fog of war by Mideast antiquities robbers.

Experts in cuneiform writing, one of the world's earliest scripts, say the collection of 110 cracker-sized clay tablets provides the earliest written evidence of the Biblical exile of the Judeans in what is now southern Iraq, offering new insight into a formative period of early Judaism.

The tablets, though, also tell a murkier story, from the present era, according to scholars familiar with the antiquities trade - a story of the chaos in Iraq and Syria that has led to rampant pilfering of rich archaeological heritage and a rush of cuneiform tablets on the international antiquities' market.

The collector who owns the tablets on display this month at the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem, insists they were purchased legally, decades before that looting began. However, an ancient history scholar familiar with the artifacts disputes that.

Leading U.S. museums have pledged not to exhibit unprovenanced artifacts that have surfaced in recent decades, as part of an effort over the last decade to discourage illicit antiquities trafficking. But cuneiform inscriptions have emerged as a notable exception, with some arguing these relics would be lost to history if they did not make it into scholarly hands.

"We are not interested in anything that is illegally acquired or sneaked out," said Amanda Weiss, director of the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem.

"But it is the role of a museum to protect these pieces," she added. "It's what we are here for."

The plundering of antiquities in the war-torn Middle East has become a primary concern for the archaeological community, and some archaeologists even compare satellite images of sites in Iraq and Syria to moonscapes, after antiquities robbers went through them.

Archaeologists claim the Islamic State extremists and militants from other groups are funding their activities in part through illegal trafficking of antiquities, and authorities worldwide have been taking action to try to stem the flow.

What first sparked awareness of the issue, archaeologists say, was a deluge of cuneiform artifacts on the Western antiquities markets after the first Gulf War in 1991.

In the years that followed, archaeologists estimate that hundreds of thousands of small clay tablets with cuneiform inscriptions made their way into the hands of dealers. Many contained incrustations, indicating they were "fresh out of the earth," said Robert Englund of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative.

An American scholar of ancient Jewish history familiar with the tablets on display in Jerusalem said they were purchased on the London antiquities market at the time when cuneiform artifacts were flooding the market, a strong indication that the items were looted. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a potentially illegal activity.

London-based Israeli collector David Sofer, who loaned the cuneiform collection to the Bible Lands Museum, denied any foul play. He said he purchased the tablets in the United States in the 1990s from a person who obtained them in public auctions in the 1970s.

Sofer said a few tablets from the collection were displayed in a New York museum and a Los Angeles museum in 2013, and their import and export in the U.S. was properly reported to U.S. authorities. He would not name the two museums, or the person who sold them to him.

"These things would be lost, and wouldn't be recognized for what they are" if he hadn't bought them, Sofer said.

As common as cuneiform tablets are, few have been as celebrated as those on display in Jerusalem.

The tablets fill in a 130-year gap in the history of the Judeans exiled to Babylon after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century B.C., said Laurie Pearce, a cuneiform expert from the University of California, Berkeley.

The earliest of the tablets, which have dates inscribed on them, is from just 15 years after the destruction of the First Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and the inscription suggests the displaced Judeans were more quickly absorbed into the Babylonian society than previously thought, said Pearce, who studied the collection.

The tablets include administrative documents such as land agreements, showing the Judeans were "integrated almost immediately," she added.

The Jerusalem museum says the tablets likely originate in today's southern Iraq, and reference common Judean names, including Netanyahu, the last name of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The topic of cuneiform artifacts still roils the archaeological community.

The American Schools of Oriental Research, an academic research association, bans scholars from publishing articles on artifacts illegally excavated or exported from their country of origin after 1970, when the U.N. adopted its policy against antiquities trafficking.

But in 2004, the association made an exception, allowing publications about cuneiform artifacts that have no record of how they were unearthed - under the condition that Iraqi antiquities authorities give their consent and that the artifacts are eventually returned to Iraq.

The exception was made because the esoteric wedge script writings are so valuable to historical study, said Eric Meyers of the association.

The policy is now again a point of contention in the field. Over the past year, scholars at the association have debated changing the policy again, with most experts leaning against publishing articles on cuneiform artifacts as these objects continue to hit the markets, Meyers said.

"It is a crisis in the region," he said.

Author: Daniel Estrin | Source: The Associated Press [February 12, 2015]

Residents say the extremists smashed the locks that had protected the biggest repository of learning in the northern Iraq town, and loaded around 2,000 books — including children’s stories, poetry, philosophy and tomes on sports, health, culture and science — into six pickup trucks. They left only Islamic texts.

The rest?

“These books promote infidelity and call for disobeying Allah. So they will be burned,” a bearded militant in traditional Afghani two-piece clothing told residents, according to one man living nearby who spoke to The Associated Press. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation, said the Islamic State group official made his impromptu address as others stuffed books into empty flour bags.

Since the Islamic State group seized a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, they have sought to purge society of everything that doesn’t conform to their violent interpretation of Islam. They already have destroyed many archaeological relics, deeming them pagan, and even Islamic sites considered idolatrous. Increasingly books are in the firing line.

Mosul, the biggest city in the Islamic State group’s self-declared caliphate, boasts a relatively educated, diverse population that seeks to preserve its heritage sites and libraries. In the chaos that followed the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, residents near the Central Library hid some of its centuries-old manuscripts in their own homes to prevent their theft or destruction by looters.

But this time, the Islamic State group has made the penalty for such actions death. Presumed destroyed are the Central Library’s collection of Iraqi newspapers dating to the early 20th century, maps and books from the Ottoman Empire and book collections contributed by around 100 of Mosul’s establishment families.

Days after the Central Library’s ransacking, militants broke into University of Mosul’s library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students.

A University of Mosul history professor, who spoke on condition he not be named because of his fear of the Islamic State group, said the extremists started wrecking the collections of other public libraries last month. He reported particularly heavy damage to the archives of a Sunni Muslim library, the library of the 265-year-old Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and the Mosul Museum Library with works dating back to 5000 BC.

Citing reports by the locals who live near these libraries, the professor added that the militants used to come during the night and carry the materials in refrigerated trucks with Syria-registered license plates. The fate of these old materials is still unknown, though the professor suggested some could be sold on the black market. In September, Iraqi and Syrian officials told the AP that the militants profited from the sale of ancient artifacts.

The professor said Islamic State group militants appeared determined to “change the face of this city … by erasing its iconic buildings and history.”

Since routing government forces and seizing Mosul last summer, the Islamic State group has destroyed dozens of historic sites, including the centuries-old Islamic mosque shrines of the prophets Seth, Jirjis and Jonah.

An Iraqi lawmaker, Hakim al-Zamili, said the Islamic State group “considers culture, civilization and science as their fierce enemies.”

Al-Zamili, who leads the parliament’s Security and Defence Committee, compared the Islamic State group to raiding medieval Mongols, who in 1258 ransacked Baghdad. Libraries’ ancient collections of works on history, medicine and astronomy were dumped into the Tigris River, purportedly turning the waters black from running ink.

“The only difference is that the Mongols threw the books in the Tigris River, while now Daesh is burning them,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. “Different method, but same mentality.”

Authors: Sinan Salaheddin & Sameer N. Yacoub | Source: Associated Press [January 31, 2015]

Invited guests, Archbishop of Thyateira Gregorios and Great Britain, Baroness Maddock,  Lord Luce,  and Lord Turnberg were among a few of the many guests welcomed by Baroness Berridge.  Before a packed room she opened the presentation speaking about the link between religious freedoms and the destruction of cultural heritage.

Sponsor and co-coordinator Tasoula Hadjitofi presented two 12th century looted frescoes taken from the Monastery of Aspinthiotissa in the occupied area of Cyprus, Kyrenia which she repatriated on behalf of Walk of Truth. She spoke about the loss of freedom, identity and human indignity that occurs with war and destruction of cultural heritage.

Mrs. Hadjitofi stressed the importance of engaging global citizens in lending their support to create a world of Peace. From refugee to protector of cultural heritage she engaged the audience on the importance of unity in combating the mass destruction of cultural heritage taking place in Syria, Iraq and Cyprus.

Prof. Dr. Willy Bruggeman, Chairman of the Belgian Federal Police Council, and former Deputy Director of Europol spoke of the need to make destruction of cultural heritage as a crime against humanity.

Baron Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said, “It is imperative for international criminal tribunals to include destruction of cultural and religious heritage into their overall investigative strategies.

Professor Norman Palmer, a barrister practicing at 3 Stone Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, London and a visiting professor of law at King’s College, spoke for the need for a sound legal approach should be complemented with diplomatic and other initiatives that help  us to restitute unlawfully removed cultural treasures.

The MP David Burrows, summarized the key points in a brilliant way and he and the Baroness will bring the findings to the House of Parliament and The House of Lords.

Author: Tasoula Hadjitofi | Source: Walk of Truth [December 17, 2014]

Adel Shirshab, the country's tourism and antiquities minister, told The Associated Press there are concerns the militants will remove artifacts and damage the site, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Mosul. Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, told the AP that the militants had already begun demolishing the Khorsabad site on Sunday, citing multiple witnesses.

On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year old Nimrud and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra — both UNESCO world heritage sites. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has called the destruction a "war crime," and a statement by his spokesman on Sunday night said Ban was "outraged by the continuing destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq" by theIslamic State group.

Khorsabad was constructed as a new capital of Assyria by King Sargon II shortly after he came to power in 721 B.C. and abandoned after his death in 705 B.C. It features a 24-meter thick wall with a stone foundation and seven gates.

Since it was a single-era capital, few objects linked to Sargon II himself were found. However, the site is renowned for shedding light on Assyrian art and architecture.

The sculptured stone slabs that once lined the palace walls are now displayed in museums in Baghdad, Paris, London and Chicago.

The Islamic State group currently controls about a third of Iraq and Syria. The Sunni extremist group has been campaigning to purge ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law. A video released last week shows them smashing artifacts in the Mosul museum and in January, the group burned hundreds of books from the Mosul library and Mosul University, including many rare manuscripts.

At a press conference earlier Sunday, Shirshab said they have called for an extraordinary session of the U.N. Security Council to address the crisis in Iraq.

"The world should bear the responsibility and put an end to the atrocities of the militants, otherwise I think the terrorist groups will continue with their violent acts," he said.

Author: Sameer N. Yacoub | Source: Associated Press [March 09, 2015]

Under the agreement, Pfalzner and his project team – part of the DFG-backed collaborative research center ResourceCultures – plan to expand on surveys taken over an area of 4400 square kilometers in 2013 and 2014, which were aimed at discovering ancient and historical settlements. The archaeologists used drone-mounted cameras to make 3D models of the landscape and have already located 92 relevant sites. Many of the settlements can be dated by finds such as pottery shards.

Cooperation between the archaeologists and the local authorities will enable important sites to be protected. The Bronze Age settlement of Bassetki became famous due to objects such as a bronze statue of the Akkadian god-king Naram-Sin found during excavations in the 1970s. Pfalzner’s latest survey of the area revealed an extensive lower city at the site – and the Kurdish authorities have agreed to suspend expansion there of the main road from Baghdad to Istanbul and to change part of the route to allow archaeological work to be carried out. Going ahead with the road-building would have destroyed this part of the ancient site.

Despite the explosive political situation in nearby regions, Governor Atrushi stressed that Dohuk is one of the safest provinces in Iraq. It is located between two mountain ranges and is protected by Peshmerga troops. The United Nations estimates the region now hosts more than half a million refugees from the campaigns of the IS terrorist movement. Governor Atrushi underlined that it was important to protect the region’s history despite the tremendous political and humanitarian challenges: “We must send a signal that normal life continues. That includes protecting our historical sites. And we will not approve new building applications without a green light from the Department of Antiquities.”

“This agreement gives us the opportunity to survey a region which has largely been a blank space on the archaeological map,” says Pfalzner. “Finding a lower city at Bassetki raised new questions. Until now, we didn’t know why the statue of an important ruler like Naram-Sin was found here on the periphery of his empire. We think now that this settlement may have been a major administrative center.”

In their 2013 survey, the archaeologists discovered that rock carvings at Mila Mergi showing the Assyrian king Tiglat-Pileser III had been badly damaged – probably by modern treasure hunters – and collected the fragments. A doctoral student in the ResourceCultures collaborative research center is now reconstructing and translating the tablets of cuneiform writing, which represent a valuable source of information. They describe the conquest of the land of Ulluba by the Assyrians, listing 20 captured cities. To date, it was believed the expansion of the Assyrian empire was driven by the need for raw materials; now the ResourceCultures researchers will examine whether cultural and religious resources – such as the control of holy places – could have played a role.

Source: Tubingen University [February 09, 2015]

“A sort of ‘blue helmets of culture’ are needed, as there are blue helmets that intervene to protect in situations of war,” said Dario Franceschini told the Guardian, referring to the signature uniforms of UN peacekeeping troops.

“There should be an international rapid response force to defend monuments and archaeological sites in conflict zones,” he said.

Franceschini was speaking following the partial destruction of Iraq’s Hatra, an ancient fortress city that the Roman empire repeatedly failed to conquer. Local residents on 7 March reported hearing a large explosion, as Isis militants went on a destructive rampage through the city.

Such attacks were described by Unesco as “a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq,” coming just two days after the Islamist groups bulldozed their way through the 13th-century BC city of Nimrud.

Isis militants have also decimated collections at Mosul museum, which housed artefacts dating back 3,000 years, and set about razing the ancient city walls of nearby Dur-Sharrukin.

As the extremists continue their wanton destruction of Iraq’s prized heritage, Italy’s culture minister urged the international community to wake up to a new form of warfare.

“At one time great monuments were hit accidentally in wars, during bombing. Now they’re hit precisely because they are symbols of culture, symbols of a religion,” he said. Building a force specifically to protect heritage in crisis situations could not be left to an individual state, Franceschini said, and must be initiated by the international community.

The UN security council agreed measures last month to combat the trafficking of antiquities plundered from Iraq and Syria, but safeguarding culture has yet to be written into the mandate of peacekeeping operations.

As historians mourn the loss of Iraq’s cultural heritage, fears have been raised that the same destruction could be wrought on Libya. Amid growing instability, Isis has been gaining ground in Libya, where five sites have been awarded Unesco world heritage status.

Author: Rosie Scammell | Source: The Guardian [March 20, 2015]

"I condemn this mad, destructive act that accentuates the horror of the situation," UNESCO head Irina Bokova said in a statement.

The Islamic State group on Saturday circulated an undated video showing militants equipped with sledgehammers and power tools breaking artefacts before rigging the site with large barrels of powder.

The subsequent footage shows a massive explosion and its aftermath, suggesting the ruins of Nimrud-- which lie on the Tigris about 30 kilometres (18 miles) southeast of IS-held Mosul -- were largely levelled.

Nimrud, founded in the 13th century BC, is one of the most famous archaeological sites in a country often described as the cradle of civilisation.

"With their hammers and explosives they are also obliterating the site itself, clearly determined to wipe out all traces of the history of Iraq’s people," Bokova said.

Iraqi government reports of Nimrud's destruction emerged in early March, when the UNESCO chief branded the IS's violence against the ancient the site as a "war crime".

Bokova repeated the charge on Monday, after the full extent of the crime became known.

"We will do everything possible to fight against this and document it, to ensure that those responsible are identified and brought to justice," she said.

Nimrud was on UNESCO's tentative list of world heritage sites.

Most of the city's priceless artefacts were moved long ago to museums but giant "lamassu" statues -- winged bulls with human heads -- and reliefs were still on site.

The IS tries to justify the destruction of antiquities by saying they are idolatrous, but experts say the group traffics in them to fund its self-proclaimed "caliphate" and destroys only those pieces that are too bulky to be smuggled.

The UN Security Council in February adopted a resolution aimed at choking off financing for IS from antiquities trafficking as well as oil smuggling and ransom payments.

A ban on looted antiquities in Iraq was already in force, and was expanded to Syria under the resolution.

Source: AFP [April 13, 2015]

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.

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.

Source: AINA News [January 02, 2015]

Nineveh Yakou , Assyrian Archaeologist and Director of Cultural Heritage and Indigenous Affairs at A Demand for Action, exclusively told IBTimes UK that the Mar Gorgis or George (St George or Markourkas) monastery has been "wiped out" by IS militants.

The building, located on the Ba'werah neighbourhood on a hill north of Mosul on the other side of the Tigris river, was founded by the Assyrian Church of the East on the 10th century but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846.

"The current monastery was built on an archeological site containing ancient Assyrian ruins. It was an important show of continuity from the Assyrian to our culture," Yakou said.

"Isis is wiping out the cultural heritage of Iraq. The monastery was classified as cultural heritage. It's a cultural and ethnic cleansing."

The report was confirmed by Dureid Hikmat Tobia, adviser for minorities of Ninawah province, in a report on Turkish Anadolou news agency.

The attack on the monastery came after IS militants reportedly bulldozed the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra and the Nimrud archaeological site near Mosul.

Two weeks ago, the jihadist group published a video showing militants destroying artefacts in a Mosul museum and at the Nergal Gate to ancient Nineveh, taking a sledgehammer to artefacts.

The attacks on artefacts and antiquities in Iraq and Syria are carried out in the name of an iconoclastic and strict interpretation of Islamic law. IS draws inspiration from early Islamic history, rejects religious shrines and condemns Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims as heretics.

Author: Gianluca Mezzofiore | Source: International Business Times [March 10, 2015]

The new project, entitled Endangered Archaeology, has been launched at Oxford and Leicester Universities, funded by the Arcadia Fund. The researchers are using satellite imagery and aerial photos, such as Google Earth, to record and monitor the most endangered, and often undocumented, archaeological sites across the Middle East and North Africa. Nearly all the archaeological remains are made of stone or earth and are visible from the air.

They include tombs, settlements, forts, towns, cities, and field and irrigation systems of all periods – from prehistory to the 20th century.  Many of the countries are currently inaccessible on the ground due to ongoing conflicts. Recent work in Jordan by Professor David Kennedy and Dr Robert Bewley has already shown the scale and intensity of development, and that the methodology works, which is why it is being applied on a larger scale across the region.

Project director Dr Bewley, from Oxford University’s School of Archaeology, said: 'This exciting project is very timely as the threats to the region’s most important archaeological sites are increasing at an unprecedented pace and the situation is only going to become more critical if we don’t act now.'

The research team estimates that across the Middle East and North Africa there could be as many as 3-5 million archaeological sites, many of which are under immediate threat, and even more are likely to become endangered in the future. Information about the historical context and condition of each of the sensitive sites will be made available in an open-access database. The information can then be used by everyone, but especially by local archaeologists and volunteers in each of the countries.

Where possible, the project will cooperate with local authorities responsible for the protection of sites, Departments of Antiquities or similar agencies. It is hoped that through the project, a network of local 'wardens' will be created to manage and preserve the landscape and sensitive sites.

Professor Andrew Wilson, the project’s Principal Investigator, said: 'The project will provide tools and strategies for the future conservation and management of threatened heritage, both individual sites and entire archaeological landscapes. This region contains the world’s richest concentration of significant archaeological remains spanning prehistory, the Persian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic empires.'

The project’s website http://ea.arch.ox.ac.uk will be available next month and the database with images and contextual information will follow later in the year.

Source: University of Oxford [February 20, 2015]

In a letter dated March 26, 2015, the museum’s trustees claimed they are retaining the friezes — sliced off the Parthenon by the notorious Lord Elgin — for British people … for the benefit of the world’s public, present and future.

The letter also cited trustees’ “honest respect for the organization” but also “the already good relationships with colleagues and institutions of Greece”,

Here’s the British Museum’s very “long-winded” response, signed by the chairman of the British Museum board of trustees, Sir Richard Lambert:

“I write on behalf of the Trustees of the British Museum, who at their meeting of 19th March 2015 considered the request put forward by the Greek Government that they should enter into a process of mediation, facilitated by UNESCO, on the subject of the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum. After full and careful consideration, we have decided respectfully to decline this request. We believe that the more constructive way forward, on which we have already embarked, is to collaborate directly with other museums and cultural institutions, not just in Greece but across the world.

The British Museum admires and supports the work of UNESCO, fully acknowledging the importance of its unique ability, as an intergovernmental agency, to address the serious issue of the threats to, and the destruction of, cultural heritage around the world. The Museum has a long history of collaboration with UNESCO, notably in Iraq in 2003-5, and is currently engaged with UNESCO in formulating responses to the crisis in Syria, including the illicit trafficking of antiquities. The Museum would wish always to align itself with UNESCO’s purposes in the preservation and safeguarding of the world’s endangered cultural heritage. However, the surviving Parthenon Sculptures, carefully preserved in a number of European museums, clearly do not fall into this category.

The British Museum, as you know, is not a government body, and the collections do not belong to the British Government. The Trustees of the British Museum hold them not only for the British people, but for the benefit of the world public, present and future. The Trustees have a legal and moral responsibility to preserve and maintain all the collections in their care, to treat them as inalienable and to make them accessible to world audiences.

In pursuit of this aim, the Trustees would want to develop existing good relations with colleagues and institutions in Greece, and to explore collaborative ventures, not on a government-to-government basis but directly between institutions. This is why we believe that UNESCO involvement is not the best way forward. Museums holding Greek works, whether in Greece, the UK or elsewhere in the world, are naturally united in a shared endeavour to show the importance of the legacy of ancient Greece. The British Museum is committed to playing its full part in sharing the value of that legacy for all humanity.

The potential of this approach can be seen in the British Museum’s current special exhibition Defining Beauty, the Body in Ancient Greek Art, which opened to the public today. Here some of the Parthenon Sculptures are displayed with other works that similarly show the intense humanism of ancient Greek civilisation, including masterpieces generously lent by museums around the world. Nowhere else in the world is it now, or has it ever been, possible to see these objects together. The aesthetic impact is considerable, and the intellectual content compelling. This seems to us to point the way forward, as an example of the great public benefit that arises from museums internationally using and sharing their collections in this way."

Meanwhile, the British government also addressed a letter to Alfredo Pérez de Armiñán noting their respect for UNESCO’s work in preserving cultural heritage and “providing a forum for the resolution of international disputes.”

“The issue of the Parthenon sculptures in the British Museum has been the subject of much discussion over the years both within the Committee and elsewhere, and while the UK is not formally a member of the Committee, officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the British Museum have regularly attended and sought to assist the Committee in its work,” the letter stated.

However, while the British government wishes to cooperate with UNESCO, they clearly state that they cannot agree to the Greek government’s request for the return of the Parthenon Marbles since they “were legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the laws pertaining at the time and the Trustees of the British Museum have had clear legal title to the sculptures since 1816.”

“We have seen nothing to suggest that Greece’s purpose in seeking mediation on this issue is anything other than to achieve the permanent transfer of the Parthenon sculptures now in the British Museum to Greece and on terms that would deny the British Museum’s right of ownership, either in law or as a practical reality. Given our equally clear position, this leads us to conclude that mediation would not carry this debate substantially forward,” the British government added

The letters sparked a reaction from the Greek government. In a statement, Culture Minister Nikos Xydakis criticized the British officials’ “unwillingness to cooperate.”

“We are surprised at the ongoing effort to downgrade an interstate issue to an issue between museums,” he said, adding that the Greek government would continue its bid to repatriate the sculptures.

Greece has unsuccessfully campaigned for the return of the ancient sculptures that were removed from the citadel by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s. 

Source: Protothema [March 27, 2015]

Militants attacked Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, last month, officials and local residents said, though the extent of the damage remains unclear as it is in territory still controlled by ISIL.

The video, released overnight April 3, shows a militant on a ladder using a sledgehammer to bang repeatedly on the back of one of the carved faces until it crashes to the ground and breaks into pieces. The video also shows a militant firing a Kalashnikov rifle at another, while men chop away the bases of some of the larger wall sculptures.

The video corresponded with Associated Press reporting on the attack and was posted to a militant website frequently used by the group.

One of the militants, who speaks Arabic with a distinct Gulf accent on the video, declares they destroyed the site because it is "worshipped instead of God."

ISIL, which holds a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate, has been destroying ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law. Authorities also believe they’ve sold others on the black market to fund their atrocities.

    
Local government officials told the AP last month the militant group had looted and destroyed several ancient sites, including the 3,000 year-old Nimrud, another UNESCO World Heritage site. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon called the Nimrud attack "a war crime."

Another video released in February showed militants smashing artifacts in the Mosul Museum and in January, the group burned hundreds of books from the Mosul library and Mosul University, including many rare manuscripts. The majority of the artifacts destroyed in the Mosul Museum attack were from Hatra.

Hatra, located 110 kilometers (68 miles) southwest of the ISIL-held city of Mosul, was a large fortified city during the Parthian Empire and capital of the first Arab kingdom. The site is said to have withstood invasions by the Romans in A.D. 116 and A.D. 198 thanks to its high, thick walls reinforced by towers. The ancient trading center spanned 6 kilometers (4 miles) in circumference and was supported by more than 160 towers. At its heart are a series of temples with a grand temple at the center - a structure supported by columns that once rose to 100 feet.

The video’s release comes after the Iraqi government this week claimed victory against ISIL in Saddam Hussein’s hometown Tikrit. Tikrit is 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Baghdad on the main highway to Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city. Seizing Tikrit was key to an eventual campaign to retake Mosul - and the historic sites near it.

Source: The Associated Press [April 04, 2015]