Iraq cultural losses update

I've been a bit remiss in keeping up with the news from Iraq over the past few weeks -- so here are some bits and pieces by way of update.

The issue of "blood for artifacts" has largely been danced around to date, but as reported in today's Guardian one American archeologist has taken a stand:

Professor Elizabeth Stone, of Stonybrook University, New York, said that massive damage was being done by gangs of hundreds of armed looters and urged the coalition forces to protect the sites with helicopters.

"I think you've got to kill some people to stop this. The looters are armed and they are going to shoot people. This is a major problem." All the sites she visited in the south of Iraq in May were being looted, except one at Ur - and that was inside an American compound.

The same article also contained the following statements about the looting of the Baghdad archeological museum:

Dr Donny George, the director of research at the Iraqi board of antiquities, said: "There were no objects taken by staff of the museum to their homes, even for protection. We had objects distributed here and there. We have had a lot of experience of hiding things during three wars." In other cases local people had taken precious objects for safe keeping and later returned them, he said.

Dr Muayad Damerji, senior adviser to the Iraqi ministry of culture, said five staff "under oath" had removed objects from the museum at night and hidden them in a safe place - not even the minister of culture had been informed. Only when security had been restored by the American troops did the museum admit to the existence of these caches of antiquities.

There seem to have been quite a few reports of museum staff taking items home for safekeeping; I will have to check the sources of those reports.

And though it is not exactly breaking news, it should also be noted that the loss of some 5000 cylinder seals from the museum's storerooms has been confirmed. While some may dismiss these small items as not being major, exhibition-grade pieces, they are nonetheless archeologically important, as well as being of significant cumulative value to collectors.

Better news, however, regarding the National Library in Baghdad, via the IraqCrisis newsgroup:

1) The library building has been rendered unusable by two successive fires . . .

2) It is estimated by library employees that between 30%-60% of the collection is safe and held in three separate locations:

A: Behind a large steel door that has been welded shut by members of the Haq Mosque's Hawza Group. The welded doors essentially seal off a wing of the library's ground floor.

B: The Haq Mosque's Hawza Group was able to take what they claim to be 300,000 volumes to their mosque in Revolution City (nee Saddam City.) A visual inspection conducted by Hanssen and Watenpaugh confirmed that they have this collection well in hand and that it occupies aprx. 150-200 cubic meters. Earlier reports of books in Hebrew are true; what was also found were 50+ 50 liter sacks of archival materials from the Mandate period through the Revolution of 1958.

C: The library staff also evacuated parts of the rare/forbidden books collection to a "secret safe location." They informed the CPA of the location of this stash two days ago.

3. We were unable to locate any Ottoman archival material whatsoever.

4. While we were able to find books stolen from several Iraqi libaries for sale openly in the Suq, it is unlikely that the collection faces any immediate danger of continued loss and or theft.

A longer report is to be distributed shortly, on July 10th; the above excerpts are from a preliminary report.

As yet, there seems to have been no attention given these findings in the mainstream press, and the popular belief that almost all the library's contents were destroyed by fire remains widespread. Interestingly enough, the role of the Haq mosque crew in salvaging material from the library was reported back in mid-May, but for whatever reason the story was never widely picked up or followed.

UPDATE: Donny George also weighs in on the proper penalty for looting. It should be noted that while Elizabeth Stone was talking about deterrence at archeological sites, George is referring to punishment for those who steal from museums:

''These people are stealing material from the whole of mankind. If they steal from mankind I would say it is fair they should be shot,'' Donny George, head of research at Iraq's Board of Antiquities and Heritage told Reuters in an interview.

This is not the first time George has expressed such opinions. Further quote, same article:

The ransacking of Baghdad Museum, in which at least 13,000 items were stolen, had shown that many of the robbers had been heavily armed and well organised.

''They had guards with heavy machine guns and mortars patrolling outside while the looters were at work inside the museum. It would have been no good walking up and asking them to stop. They would have killed you.''

Oddly enough, many previous reports included moving accounts of museum employees pleading in vain with looters not to plunder their common heritage. This account also seems to contradict George's earlier statements that coalition forces could easily have safeguarded the museum -- likely in response to recent revelations concerning militarization of the museum complex. Finally, the claim that the looters had "guards with heavy machine guns and mortars patrolling outside" does not score high on the truth detector. One does not patrol with a mortar; a more absurd choice of weapon for such a purpose could hardly be imagined. And heavy machine guns would also be unlikely, unless mounted on vehicles.

Finally, George stated that items stolen from the Baghdad museum had turned up in New York and Rome. A few similar hearsay reports have been circulating, but hard facts are still lacking. Once again, George repeated his short list of villainous buyers, which is significantly at odds with other authorities (Japan does appear to be a major destination for Mesopotamian antiquities, but otherwise the main customers are in Europe):

''The major buyers are the Americans and Japanese -- who have the money -- and Israelis who have the history,'' he said.

Posted by David on July 8, 2003 6:11 PM