More ancient sites threatened by dams

A familiar story, but this time with a twist:

An Iraqi dam under construction on the Tigris River threatens to submerge the remains of the spiritual capital of the ancient Assyrian empire in an act archaeologists liken to flooding the Vatican.

Much of the city of Ashur, which thrived for more than 1,000 years until the Babylonians razed it in 614 B.C., could vanish under a lake to be created by the Makhoul dam, U.S. and European archaeologists said.

More than 60 outlying historical sites are also threatened.

Ashur, or Assur, was of such importance that it lent its name to the Assyrian civilization itself.

"Losing it would be like, I guess you could say, losing the Vatican," said Mark Altaweel, a Baghdad-born doctoral student at the University of Chicago who is using satellite data to study the ruins-rich region surrounding Ashur.

Ashur sits on a bluff about 130 feet above the Tigris between Mosul and Baghdad. Most of the city, including the lower portions most vulnerable to flooding, have never been explored in the century since the first archaeological teams visited the site.

Interestingly enough, the article goes on to quote other archeologists expressing pessimism, not about the flooding, but about the potential losses to looting in case of war. In all fairness to the scholars cited, one has to be careful not to offend the host country lest excavation privileges be summarily withdrawn. Nonetheless, some have really gone over the line in championing the preservation of ancient sites no matter what the human cost. That will be the topic for another essay one of these days.

Posted by David on February 4, 2003 10:36 AM