A new report is due out this December. I am sure it will be a stoic and sobering occasion. A funerary occasion of sorts.....
The report will be a summary of the destruction of the Archaeological sites in Iraq. There are at least 10,000 sites, and since the Occupation of Iraq began there has been systematic looting and Destruction.
There is the destruction by the Occupying forces themselves. Over a year ago, I wrote a diary; Our lost heritage: Halliburton and the destruction of Babylon.
US Troops used the ancient city as part of their base. They bagged sands for use in military operations which contained ancient fragments of the daily life of that city. Clues now forever lost. They dumped sand and dirt from other areas into the ruins. They used parts of the city to land helicopters, forever crushing the delicate remains when they compacted them down first. They rolled tanks over ancient bricks, crushing them. Helicopters churned the sands, pelting the delicate ancient structures with sand.
But as always when it comes to the wanton destruction that is wrought by those who care nothing for the future of the planet and its people, and even less for the history of humanity, Babylon is not the only casualty.
Sunday May 18, 2003, The Guardian.
One of the greatest wonders of civilization, and probably the world's most ancient structure - the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Iraq - has been vandalized by American soldiers and airmen, according to aid workers in the area.
The most prominent monument is the best preserved ziggurat - stepped pyramid - in the Arab world, initially built by the Sumerian's around 4000 BC and restored by Nebuchadnezzar II in the sixth century BC.
- snip -
The Pentagon has elected to build its massive and potentially permanent base right alongside the site, so that the view from the peak of the ziggurat - more or less unchanged for 6,000 years - will be radically altered.
Most will recall the stories of Napoleons armies on their trek across Egypt.
The Story of Soldiers taking target practice at the nose of the sphinx.
That has been shown to be an Urban Legend. Drawings of the Sphinx from before Napoleons invasion, show that the Sphinx had lost its nose already.
In truth, Napoleon was more concerned with preserving antiquities, if only to ship them back to France. In his limited understanding at the time, he did undertake to to investigate and document, by taking along with him a Scientific and Artistic Commission. This is generally considered by many to be the beginning of Archeology and Egyptology as a science, as opposed to just sacking and pillaging for the sake of sacking and pillaging.
The Discoverers, part 2
In our modern 21st century world, no such considerations have been made for the oldest remains of Civilizations. Marines emblazon 4,000 year old walls with SEMPER FE!. (If anyone knows who did that, that person needs a good smack upside the head and a lesson in respect.)
There are reports that walls have been damaged by spray-painted graffiti, mostly patriotic or other slogans, and regimental mottos. One graffiti reads: 'SEMPER FE' - Always Faithful - the motto of the Marines, who stormed through this region on their way to Baghdad, and form a contingent at the base.
I know, time of war and all that. Can't control everyone. But this to me, goes much further than that. This kind of behaviour shows that there is no order from the top Echelons to respect the oldest of antiquities. The top echelons couldn't give a flying fuck about the people currently living Iraq, or its ancient history.
The cradle of civilization, has no meaning to them. They have no awareness of it, and they have no desire to learn from it.
All that history, is just in the way of the Oil rigs and bringing Corporate style democracy........
Ur is believed by many to be the birthplace of the prophet Abraham. It was the religious seat of the civilization of Sumer at the dawn of the line of dynasties which ruled Mesopotamia starting about 4000 BC. Long before the rise of the Egyptian, Greek or Roman empires, it was here that the wheel was invented and the first mathematical system developed. Here, the first poetry was written, notably the epic Gilganesh, a classic of ancient literature.
But not only the Occupying troops have a hand in this destruction. There is also the looters, but these looters are not typical in the sense of tradition. These ones are well funded.....Private collectors are ponying up substantial funds to plunder Iraq. In an organized dig, everything is preserved, and marked and plotted and recorded.
Looters, just dig a huge hole. Through all the layers, down to the bedrock. Walls and buildings are destroyed and removed in huge piles of rubble. artefact's leave Iraq forever. No trace.
Heres a photo of a place called Isin
Heritage Lost
It resembles the craters on the moon, and many Sumerian sites have suffered the same trauma. Satellite photos from space tell the whole sad tale. From July 2005...
Even the local Governments are getting in on the action. Some contractors have been given permission to loot sites of their ancient mud brick and to dissolve it down, make that into "new" bricks, and to sell them. Any artefact's found in the meanwhile would be sold to collectors and traders.
Last year, Dr Hamdani's antiquities department received notice from the local authorities, approving the creation of mud-brick factories in areas surrounding Sumerian archaeological sites.
-snip-
Dr Hamdani bravely refused to sign the dossier. Ms Farchakh says: "His rejection had rapid consequences. The religious parties controlling Nassariyah sent the police to see him with orders to jail him on corruption charges. He was imprisoned for three months, awaiting trial....
Dr Hamdani was released and is now back in his old job, only from pressure by the State Board of Antiquities. The mud brick projects are frozen, but that will probably not be forever.
The City of the Moon, will be no more. A 4,000 year old city, and a priceless treasure of the world, another casualty of George Bush's administration.
Of all the ancient cities of present-day Iraq, Ur is regarded as the most important in the history of man-kind. Mentioned in the Old Testament – and believed by many to be the home of the Prophet Abraham – it also features in the works of Arab historians and geographers where its name is Qamirnah, The City of the Moon
Iraq has lost it's present to the occupying forces. It has lost it's future to Corporations that are buying the right to plunder and take all the spoils, with nothing staying behind for the Iraqi people.
And now it will have no past.
Disaster Capitalism has done it's job well.
Crossposted at A Creative Revolution...come visit for more Canadian, US, and world politics.