The Guardian reports
here,
here and
here on significant damage to one of the world's most famous archaeological sites --
Babylon.
Archaeologists worldwide are horrified:
"Outrage is hardly the word, this is just dreadful," said Lord Redesdale, an archaeologist and head of the all-party parliamentary archaeological group.
"These are world sites. Not only is what the American forces are doing damaging the archaeology of Iraq, it's actually damaging the cultural heritage of the whole world."
Tim Schadla Hall, reader in public archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London, said: "In this case we see an international conflict in which the US has failed to take into account the requirements of the Hague convention ... to protect major archaeological sites - just another convention it seems happy to ignore."
More below. Link to ICOMOS , the International Council on Monuments and Sites, for the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
More quotes:
John Curtis, keeper of the museum's Ancient Near East department and an authority on Iraq's many archaeological sites, found "substantial damage" on an investigative visit to Babylon last month.
"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain," says the report...
Among the damage found by Mr Curtis, who was invited to Babylon by Iraqi antiquities experts, were cracks and gaps where somebody had tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the Ishtar Gate.
He saw a 2,600-year-old brick pavement crushed by military vehicles, archaeological fragments scattered across the site, and trenches driven into ancient deposits.
Vast amounts of sand and earth, visibly mixed with archaeological fragments, were gouged from the site to fill thousands of sandbags and metal mesh baskets. When this practice was stopped, large quantities of sand and earth were brought in from elsewhere, contaminating the site for future generations of archaeologists.
Military commanders set up their camp in the heart of one of the world's most important archaeological sites and surrounded the enclosed part of the ancient city. At least 2,000 troops were installed, daily passing iconic relics like the enormous basalt Lion of Babylon sculpture.
As if the 2003 destruction of the treasures of the Cradle of Civilization in the Iraqi National Museum weren't enough damage to inflict upon the world's archeaological heritage!
Listen to NPR stories Archaeologists Say Iraq Antiquities Still Unprotected and Rebulding Iraq's Once-Prized Library.
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has a site dedicated to cataloguing the losses at the Iraqi National Museum and tracking down the lost relics, where you can subscribe to a discussion listserv on the topic.
How do you descendants of the peoples of the Cradle of Civilization feel about YOUR cultural heritage being destroyed by the reckless and feckless Bush administration?
Update [2005-1-15 14:12:45 by Daemmern]:
Interestingly, while exploring the website of the British Museum, which has a webpage devoted to the Iraq Crisis, I found this document, Conference in Brussels on “Archaeological sites in Iraq before and after the war”.
It contains this quote from 2003:
Helga Trenkwalder (University of Innsbruck) described how she had been in Iraq in April-May, when Austria had been able to provide some immediate ad hoc assistance, and again in October. During the latter visit she was struck by the fact that the museum perimeter was still not being properly safeguarded. Also, at Babylon she saw archaeological deposits being removed by shovel to create earthwork defences. This was happening in spite of the protests of Dr Miriam who was now in charge of Babylon.
This report proves that as far back as 2003, military damage to the Babylon archaeological sites had been observed and documented by archaeologists; and, that a Dr. Mirium, who was in charge of Babylon, had protested.
Update [2005-1-15 14:12:45 by Daemmern]: Voila! I found it! Here is the new report recently released by the British Museum, upon which the Guardian reports are likely based.
Update [2005-1-15 16:19:38 by Daemmern]: This next diary assesses the "Babylon Report" of the British Museum.